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05 August 2012

I am uneasy about something, but i’m not sure why and there really is nothing i can do about it.  It really isn't my business, anyway.

Someone we know but not well - i'll call her Aida - has posted pics of herself on Facebook. She is 16 now, and tho we are distantly related, we don't see her often. I thought, "Wow. She has really slimmed and is looking good." It did occur to me that she has learned to take shots that are flattering.

The shots are all face pics, obviously taken in the mirror. The thing is, i saw some pics of her at a family event recently. She looks NOTHING like the pics she posts on FB. The difference isn't just make up. The pics at FB show her to be a normal weight, and the pics of her in reality show a very different reality.

 She has obviously learned to use Photoshop very effectively. It is like the vids you can now find where a model goes in and gets transformed with make up, and then with Photoshop. But that is a situation where a company is trying to sell something. What is going on with this young lady?

I looked at her pics at FB, and not one of them shows reality.  There is one pic she took with her mother where she has been Photoshopped, but mother hasn't.  That pic is probably the closest to reality, but it still probably shaves at least 30 pounds from her weight.

I guess i'm a bit worried that Aida is living in a fantasy.  I understand that.  I think i often see myself in the mirror as slimmer than i am - and then catch a glimpse of myself in a store window or in a picture, and don't like the result.  I wonder how i can picture myself so different from reality?  But Aida is going so much further.

What is more, why does this bother me so much?  She's not my child, and even at family functions i can barely get two words out of her.  I would have no influence on her one way or another.  The discrepancy between the two pics (i wish i could show them to you but it wouldn't be fair) makes me very uneasy.  But why?  I don't understand.


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2 comments:

Mrs. Mac said...

I think there are a lot of people that 'play it up' on line. Sad .. when reality and fantasy meld into one. You remember the Brad Paisley song, 'On-line' ...'I'm so much cooler on-line ....'

Lord help us.

Cathy
http://vevo.ly/gqKDvH (here's a link to the song video)

Kathryn said...

I think we all play it up, a bit. I choose the most flattering pics i can. But this is something else entirely. The girl wouldn't be recognized by a lot of people. Sad.

Thanks for the link, Mrs. Mac. :)