We all have a need at different stages of our life (or maybe all?) to show others a mask to hide the real ourselves. Mainly to hide the dark areas of our childhood that plague us in adulthood, they make them gray. Areas we are afraid to illuminate because we cannot bear the pain that will come.

Because that’s how the mask works: it hides our true face not only from others, but also from ourselves. The inner search is an “uphill” that only a few are willing and have the courage to climb. After all, despite the rise of psychoanalysis, we do not have the tools to do so. As if we are locked in a room with many mirrors that confuse us, where is our face and where is his protective mask.

The distortion process is now terribly amplified by social media. There we show our online face and hide behind it at the same time. And the more our presence in them grows, the more their magnetic power over us grows.

Facebook, Instagram, TikTok is a modern space where everyone can test the reaction to the range of their acceptance from the reaction of online friends.

But this is a fantasy, a utopia. On social media, conversations can’t describe appearance, can’t capture style of speech, written language and emoji can’t convey the inner gem. No sincerity, just a false statement of “friendship” and “communion”. “The big problem is the addictive culture of likes, which makes the easy pleasures and satisfactions that come from our social interactions in the real world feel less satisfying. Consequently, we replace the hard work required to create intimacy in the real world with the lure of instant gratification through virtual euphoria. So it affects our ability to build relationships in the real world,” James Davies, professor of medical anthropology and psychology at the University of Roehampton, told K (sheet 15-16/4/2023).

The society operates through the prismatic, in fact, operating image of social media and is immersed in it. Honesty has been lost on social media.

If we can teach – the school should be the family’s helper in this – the younger generation how to avoid artificial beauty and how to save themselves from the ravages of mediocrity on social media, it will be a great achievement. Teach them that looking at people without a filter can reveal their mental cracks, betray their darkness and insecurity, make them look “uglier” but still be real. The unfiltered truth is their beauty, and that’s what matters in life.