If the boot fits

Authors note: I don’t know why some words are coloured and I can’t remove it again. Anyways, I’m too lazy to change it 

Overconsumption and Identity have been a lot on my mind lately and more specifically their link to the inconsistency of both. 

Identities make us individual, tell us who we are or who we’re not. Yet it feels like today no one has an identity anymore. Everyone does the same, acts the same, consumes the same. Especially the consumption. 

We are what we consume. 

Of course we are. What we see, eat, feel, remember and learn shapes our brain. And if we all see and learn and remember the same? If everyone sees this and that trend on TikTok or Instagram?

This overconsumption overwhelms me, so I deleted TikTok and Instagram. Again. It feels cut off but better, realer. I realise I actually have free time. 

But overconsumption is easy to fall into. Algorithms push behaviours like shopping addictions. A skirt becomes popular, if it’s popular many people will like it, we think: if more people like something it must actually be good AND bring social acceptance. And that’s what it’s all based on: social belonging and acceptance. However, wanting to belong into society or a group is a deeply rooted concept that kept us alive thousands of years ago, one that is not of necessity anymore but one that we still follow because we haven’t evolved to not need it yet. And this is used against us, or better for the platforms to generate revenue while pushing consumerism. 

Now to our inconsistent identities. Inconsistent identities aren’t the main issue, the main issue is us striving for consistency and solid identities when it isn’t even possible anymore. We’re now accustomed to something called Patchwork-Identity, to identities being flexible. When was the last time I heard someone say “I am an artist” or “I am an athlete” or “I am a mathematician”? All I hear is “I run”, “I do art” and “I like maths”. That is what we do not what we are. But we are what we create and perform, aren’t we?

The more options are available, the harder it is to make decision. The contradiction of freedom. 

Because maybe there’s waiting something better around the next corner, after the next scroll. Something that, for the time being reflects my identity better. Something that, for the moment, promises a better future. And social media is the perfect platform for presentation of these things. 

I think it can be heavily observed in clothing and aesthetics. When the clean girl aesthetic gained fame, everyone followed it. ‘What the masses are doing must be right.’ And then, to justify the existence of other aesthetics, there’s videos promoting ‘find your aesthetic’ ‘which fits you best?’

And perhaps we jump from aesthetic to aesthetic trying to find ‘the right one’, even if there isn’t one anymore because aesthetics mustn’t be fixed in the first place.  

Nothing in this world is desiring perfection as purposefully as humans. 

Perhaps that is our biggest flaw. Our greed for perfection. Perfect looks, perfect living conditions, perfect life. No matter how big the illusion. 

We aim for something stable, something that stays the same and consistent because something that doesn’t move feels the securely.

And social media might give the illusion of providing a solution for this, even when it reinforces it all together. So we consume, built a forever flexible life in case something better comes along, hoping for it to manifest itself as a set item so it won’t change at all, so it’s secure and safe. Even if it is probably the biggest contradiction of them all.