Are you the kind of person who uses the same filter on every photo you post to your Instagram feed? Or do you religiously post mirror selfies only featuring your OOTD? Or what about only posting photos with a similar color palette?
The age of the Instagram aesthetic is, according to some, undergoing a bit of a revolution, but in this week’s episode of The Manqué, Mary and I attempt to dig into what drives a person to cultivate an aesthetic in the first place. For Mary, it’s soothing and enjoyable. For me, it’s become a bit of a burden.
A lot of that has to do with my feeling that the pressure to adhere to a certain texture, palette, or whatever is a thinly-veiled way to fixate on how a post tracks. But, as we talk about on the podcast, I don’t know who I’m even doing that for. And as Mary points out, it’s truly wild that an online platform even generates that much stress — and, I’d argue, fixation.
As usual, we don’t know much and we discover very little, but we do have fun along the way.
We began without any seed money and rely on reader support to fund our operations. This includes costs like managing our website, hosting our podcast, as well as our mission to begin paying contributors.
If you like what we do, believe in platforming conversations about literature and mental health, and want exclusive access to bonus content, please consider joining our Patreon.
One-time contribution
Make a one-time contribution. You may contribute as much as you’d like.
$5.00
Leave a Reply