Latte art. Jewelery artfully arranged on a marble slab. Impractical shoes dangling off of a ledge over water. “No Makeup” (read: BB cream, mascara, and a light contour) selfies. Beanies, fingerless gloves, and blanket scarves.
Chances are, I’ve either just described your Instagram account or the posts on your feed. Instagram is one of the big three of social media (the other two being Facebook and Twitter), especially for the 15-25 age group – and especially for women.
It’s no surprise, then, that countless parody accounts have sprung up on Instagram; it’s easy to look at the carefully curated “authentic” posts ubiquitous on the platform accompanied by a novel’s length of hashtags and see the potential for satire. With 1.3 million followers at last count, Socality Barbie is one of the most popular parody accounts. It features a flannel and beanie wearing Barbie doll poking fun at the typical hipster Instagram girl.
I’ll be the first to admit that Socality Barbie is genuinely really funny. She takes the most ridiculous parts of the whole hipstergram trend and makes them just a bit more ridiculous – the featuring tiny Barbie-sized high heeled hiking boots crack me up every time. Socality Barbie is making fun of the idea that Instagram posts are in any way real or authentic – she’s pointing out that everything you see on Instagram is carefully considered by someone, whether that someone is a multi-million dollar corporation or the 12 year old down the road.
But we all know full well that the pictures we see on Instagram aren’t real life. I don’t know about you, but my hair doesn’t look artfully disheveled and adorably messy when I wake up every morning – it’s a tangled disaster. And I’m obviously not going to post a picture of my morning disaster hair, because I don’t particularly want to remember how stupid it looks every day.
Sure, we can all go a little too hard with hashtags or spend a little too much time with the selfie photoshoots. And sometimes we should definitely just put our phones away and enjoy the moment. But there’s no harm in snapping a picture of a pretty sunset or a really good lunch. Socality Barbie is pointing out that we don’t need to Instagram and hashtag our entire lives, and we shouldn’t obsess over other people’s perfect feeds – after all, we all know what goes into that no makeup #wokeuplikethis selfie!
Nobody’s perfect and sometimes the carefully considered photos on social media can make us forget that. So scroll through Socality Barbie’s page! Laugh at how excessive her photos are! And just remember that you don’t have to be perfect, but it’s okay if your Instagram is a little more polished than you morning breathed, messy haired self.