The Dilemma of the Display Picture

Who doesn’t want to look good? Who doesn’t want an alluring appearance? Of course, everybody. People often go lengths to present the best version of themselves. Some go as far as to have corrective surgeries on specific body parts such as the nose, lips, etc. Sometimes such an extreme (and conscious) step is taken under pressure to be de rigueur, or in search of the ideal figure to outdo your contemporaries. Or it might be the case of body dysmorphic disorder, which is a mental disorder characterized by the obsessive belief that some feature of one's own body part is imperfect and necessitates a cover-up or repair. And then there might be people out there who are neither suffering from any disorder nor are they willing to take any conscious step to go under the knife. These people are content with their characteristics but just crave for some more splendor. The majority of the people fall under the last category.

With the entertainment industry making the standards of beauty so exaggerated, every single moment demands flawlessness. Add to that the thrill of social media, the desire to appear more charming has never been as high as it is now.

People seem to have found themselves a friend in the latest technology. Advances in technology have been kind enough to offer a more subtle and cost-effective approach to make people look more attractive. App stores are filled with all kinds of apps that click an exquisite picture of you which outshines your real self. Photos with filters are the new trend. Filters, for sure, are better than Fair ‘n’ Lovely, they actually make you fair.

But this trend has brought with itself a grave problem. It gives rise to unrealistic expectations for people and they start living with a sense of false pride. It tends to disappoint people and creates an air of delusion and illusion.

It breaks hearts. You see someone’s charismatic display picture and instantly find yourself attracted to them. And if and when the day comes of a rendezvous, you feel duped. Truth be told, you can’t have faith in anything you see online.

Sometimes you are the deceiver and other times you are deceived. This present scenario perfectly fits with the definition of romance that Oscar Wilde put forth in his 1890’s philosophical novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. Wilde had put in writing, “Deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance.”

Narcissism is being taken to the next level. There are no problems in taking and uploading such photos but one should not move away from reality. Whether or not we succumb to this new extreme of narcissism depends on us. One ought not to live with a misleading opinion of one’s own self. People need to be content with themselves. They need to accept themselves the way they are. Life in such a delusional world might lead to a feeling of self-adulation, depression, inferiority, and a feeling of deceit. The fact is that you can't change your face but if you really feel like changing something, change your eating habits, change your lifestyle; it might bring some real glow on your face.