Last year, Instagram executives flirted with the idea of weaning narcissistic users off addiction to likes. They failed – as I duly predicted they would in “Testing Social Networks Without ‘Likes’ … Because a ‘Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste’,” September 26, 2019:
The CEO of every social network already knows that taking away likes would be like a drug kingpin taking away drugs. … Alas, social networks can’t quit likes. Because networks are as hooked on the money likes generate as users are on the high they stimulate.
In fact, the women of Instagram seem hell-bent on proving not only that their narcissism knows no bounds but that there’s no selfie they wouldn’t take for a like (or fix). Only that explains this:
Over the past several days, many Instagram feeds have been overrun with black-and-white images of women both famous and not.
These photographs are often posed and filtered, taken from flattering angles and accompanied by benign captions about ‘supporting women [a] simple way to lift each other up.’ #challengeaccepted.
(The New York Times, July 28, 2020)
And this from women who already spend most of their time on social media posting filtered images of themselves just to elicit likes. Frankly, this challenge amounts to nothing more than women obliging friends and followers to tell them, for the umpteenth time, how beautiful they are.
Indeed, the way these mostly bourgeois women primp with selfie pride for this self-indulgent challenge speaks volumes about the addictive and delusional nature of their narcissism. But for Covid, their shameless fishing for compliments would be laughable.
I gather a few women had the presence of mind to not only reject but denounce this challenge. Unfortunately, those who accepted denounced those who rejected as veritable heretics. How twisted is that! No surprise, then, that Instagram executives got far more than they bargained for – with this challenge causing many women to reject Instagram itself.
But, instead of accepting this perversely vacuous challenge, imagine the real effect if more women had reframed it. Again, you primping, pouting, posing women of Instagram, we’re in the midst a friggin’ pandemic, so how about this challenge?
Instead of me, this is a black-and-white image of Lisa. She’s a housekeeper at the hospital where my mom is being treated for Covid-19. She is one of those “frontline workers.” I asked if I could give her a little cash for lunch because she seemed to be working so hard. And then I asked if I could take her picture for this challenge so that all my friends on social media could join me in hailing her as the unsung hero she is! Her smile says it all, no?
Instead of posting a selfie, I challenge [name drop] to reach out in similar fashion to a woman working on the frontlines and post her story.
Women supporting women? #accepthat!
[Note: I hope it’s clear that my challenge is not based on personal experience. It and the stock photo of “Lisa” are only meant to be illustrative. Also, what you offer the frontline worker you approach can range from money for lunch to enough for a new car, a la Oprah, or more. It’s entirely up to you.]
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