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The Problematic Allure of Social Media Aesthetics

October 18, 2021

Society

aesthetics, Binati Sheth, guest post, philosophy, social media, society

Today’s post “The Problematic Allure of Social Media Aesthetics” is authored by Binati Sheth. She’s a writer, a gardener, and an amateur artist. Check out her blogs and essays. You can find her living her writerly life on LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram.

When do you want to live? The past? The future? The present? If I were to give you a choice right now, what would you choose? Ideally, we want everyone to say the present. “I want to live in the present” should be the healthy choice. Sadly though, many people on social media are choosing not to. Enter, social media aesthetics.

Aesthetics is classified as a branch of philosophy (of beautiful things). These things could be natural, artificial, or hybrid. We all love beautiful things, and we all have unique definitions of beauty. Social media aesthetics are no different. A social media user creates or takes photos with a particular aesthetic framework in mind, to establish a brand identity, tone, and personality. It all sounds like harmless fun.

But, as they often do, humans end up ruining things.

During the pandemic, cottagecore, dark academia, and Y2K aesthetics trended globally. It began as a love for warm colors, rustic life, and a fondness for knowledge and nostalgia. I personally dabbled in dark academia while turning a blind eye to some of its problematic aspects. I wrote Victorian era letters to my pen pals while spinning a pirouette around all the oppression, instead focusing only on the opulence. As I was not alone in doing this, I noticed the problematic allure of chasing aesthetics. There’s an incredibly literal problem with aesthetics – it is not about impact; it is about beauty.

social media aesthetics
Social media aesthetics – such as cottagecore, dark academia, and Y2K aesthetics – can be alluring, but also very problematic
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Write What’s Burning Inside – but Beware of Its Fuel

June 7, 2021

Philosophy, Writing

affect, guest post, Igor Livramento, writing

Today’s post – “Write What’s Burning Inside But Beware Of Its Fuel” – is authored by Igor da Silva Livramento. He’s a fellow academic from UFSC, fellow author, fellow creative-writing advisor, and overall a great fellow. He’s also a composer, music theorist, and producer. Check out his papers on Academia.edu, his music on Bandcamp, and his personal musings on his blog – in Portuguese, Spanish/Castilian, and English. You can also find him on LinkedIn.

Chris mentions this time and again: Write honest to heart, from the fire burning inside. I’d like to add: Indeed, but beware of your flames’ fuel. Not for comedic tone, may I claim.

write burning inside
Write what’s burning inside; but beware of its fuel
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Man Talk – a Short Story by a Reader

April 26, 2021

Fiction, Society

bigotry, feminism, guest post, LGBT, masculinity, society

Today’s post, “Man Talk”, is a short story (offering fictional truths, I would add) authored by a reader of Home for Fiction, who would like to remain anonymous (their identity is known to me). I would not normally accept a text for publication under these conditions, but the nature of the text and the importance of its message compel me to make an exception.

“I want you to prove you’re a man”; “claim you’re a man”; “if you don’t do this, you’re not macho”; “you look like a faggot”.

Since childhood, a man loses decades of his life proving his masculinity. With friends at school, inside the house, on the street with the girls, in adulthood with the women and the booze friends.

He is tested in every moment. At the club or at the barbecue. On the sidewalk or at the stadium. Being a man is not natural, it is a conditioning. An endless test of intellectual testosterone. An incessant ordeal that begins in infantile fights and does not end with death.

man talk
“Man Talk” is a short story (a fictional truth, in a sense) by an anonymous reader
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