2024-04-18 00:05:45
(ANSA) – ROME, APRIL 17 – “My desire is that social media become more real, that faces are shown without filters, that experiences are told in 360 degrees. That we show ourselves imperfect, fallible, lacking. That we show themselves real, not ideal”. This is what Federica writes, telling her story in the latest issue of ‘Bullone’, a monthly magazine created by B.Liver, young people suffering from serious and chronic pathologies, together with professional illustrators and journalists. Federica suffered from anorexia: “I spent hours and hours – she remembers – comparing my body with that of others, even those I only saw online. Always perfect, always immaculate, always precise. They never showed themselves imperfect or natural. Eating Disorders are not the desire to ‘be like models’ or, nowadays, like influencers: they are the mix of numerous triggering factors – adds Federica – they play a huge role within the maintenance of the dysfunctional behaviors of the disease. Comparison, the sense of inferiority and the idea of being imperfect push fragile people to implement disordered behaviors in order to achieve that goal. Unreal, cut out, edited, measured and calculated goal unattainable, because it is fake.”
Federica underlines that social media “are a preferential channel for accentuating a sense of exclusion, called Fear of Missing Out, or Fomo. It is defined as the set of negative emotions that a person experiences at the thought of not participating in pleasant experiences that involve known people. Constantly having others’ photos and updates before your eyes is a constant reminder of your own absence. Furthermore, everything that is done and posted by others on social networks always seems better, incredible, beautiful ‘other: social networks are not real because they cannot collect the totality of an experience, nor of a person. It is the person who shares a post – he concludes – who chooses what to show and how to show it: have you ever seen it photos of a holiday of some friend or relative? White beaches, crystal clear waters and warm sun. Well, is it possible that during that holiday it rained 4 days out of 5, that the sea water was always too rough to swim? and that behind the cell phone camera that frames the paradisiacal beaches there are actually piles of rubbish. It is those who photograph, edit and share who choose what to show and this is usually not the reality. Or is it just part of it”. (ANSA).
2024-04-18 00:05:45