It is safe to say that some interesting trends have emerged within the twenty-first century's timeframe: these are typically associated with shifts in aesthetic in artistic industries, such as in fashion or in music. After all, we are witnessing a reoccurence of tendencies from the 1980s, from the popularization of oversized sweaters and high-waisted jeans to the reappearance of synthetic sounds as seen in bands such as "Panic! At The Disco" and "Bronski Beats". However, we will find that the 2010s have brought a new trend into the public eye that has swept nations worldwide: wellbeing.
Now, I know what you're thinking: Julia, ideals surrounding wellbeing have existed for centuries. From physical activity to mental health, individuals throughout generations have opted for different ways of self-care, from skin care regimens to differing eating habits. We must therefore ask ourselves how were these trends popularized- and why they're so especially relevant in today's capitalist society.
The notion of wellbeing is synonymous with the idea that we have become aware of ourselves and our mental/physical state: as a result, we can attribute historic ideals of wellbeing to concepts surrounding physical aptitude, mental health, and spiritual sanctity. These aim to restore a comfort in one's skin, through a serenity both in the body and in the mind. We all desire to feel this kind of comfort, which is why wellbeing is such a fundamental concept in modern societies. The propagation of self care is mostly completed through cultural ideals: In a multitude of Asian cultures, many spiritual practices that have dated for thousands of years - yoga in India and Qi Gong in China - have been said to help rehabilitate the connection between the body and the soul, something essential to personal wellbeing. The British poet Lord Byron popularized dieting in XIX century England as a way to maintain the Romantic beauty standard of the time.
These trends have since been modernized- and spreading them has never been a more easier task. The twenty-first century has created a new vessel of communication that has bonded individuals and civilizations together in a way we have rarely seen before: social media. A study in 2018 proved that Instagram had reached more than one billion users on a monthly basis, another study of the same year showed that Snapchat possessed almost 200 million daily users. With this many people being active on the same social platforms, it is not surprising that so many new trends have emerged.
Millions of people can exchange ideas and concepts through posts, stories and messaging; making social media an incredibly feasible platform for creative innovation. It is for this reason that in our fundamentally capitalist society - based on consumerism and financial gain - social media has become the new gateway for entrepreneurs and corporations to showcase and market their ideas. In other words, if companies are the spoiled, silver-spooned children during Christmas Day anticipating their new gifts, and social media is that shiny new toy that their parents' hope will shut them up- you know they'll be playing with that toy until they've wrecked it to pieces.
But how does this tie to the new trends surrounding wellbeing that we see today? What is the correlation between social media and this ideal of self-care?
One of the elements that constitute social media's fascination and mystery has largely to do with that makes it so popular.
Prior to its existence, an ascension to fame took an exuberant amount of hard work and/or raw talent: to be able to amass an audience and to create a public identity for oneself would have taken a copious amount of time and effort. However, this is no longer the case in the age of social media: everyone has a small audience, and everyone has a small public avatar; no matter how small their following may be. Due to online identity being easily moldable, it becomes clear how anyone can manipulate public perception in a way where can can create ideal versions of ourselves. Seeing as we experience deep discomfort towards emotional vulnerability, especially in public settings, we would never share the most intimate and raw parts of ourselves for the world to judge. People would much rather like a picture of yourself smiling on a beach in the Bahamas with a gorgeous sunset shining in the background then watch a story of you having your third mental breakdown this week because you can't get over your ex-boyfriend.
Generation Z is notoriously known for its exposure: we grew up in a world dominated by social media and online presences, leading us to feel the need to put up façades of sorts both online and IRL. This is where the idea of wellbeing comes in: when we have to constantly remind our followers that we are leading our best lives, despite the harrowing reality behind our picture-perfect posts, we begin to aestheticize the idea of self care. When we post a Snapchat story of our Pilates class, or a photo of our vegan avocado smoothie, we are announcing to the world "I take care of my body, I take care of myself, watch me do it as you debate whether to get out of bed at 1PM".
We begin to believe in the lies we are projecting onscreen, because in many ways these activities surrounding self care ARE real- after all, we did use that GlamGlow facemask that supposedly "rejuvinates the follicles of the skin by elevating our complexion levels". What we fail to tell the world is that we spent close to 5$ on one single sheet mask in hopes that we would forget about our failed exam- and that we could have achieved the same result simply by purchasing a 1$ moisturizer at CVS. It's a giant middle finger to anyone who believes they are alone with their insecurities- not realizing that so many have them too, including the girl promoting their charcoal teeth whitening strips with a smile so sickingly sweet you'd think she'd get cavities.
This is crucial in understanding how wellbeing today interplays with capitalism: you would think that both would initially be polar opposites, seeing as the former promotes ideals of self care and inner happiness, while the latter promotes a constant need for competition. Wellbeing centers itself around acceptance, while capitalism maintains the belief that what we have is never enough. With that said, this has dramatically changed since the spread of social media: this has become the medium joining these two antitheses together.
We have established previously that social platforms have become exeedingly popular in the eyes of corporations: to exemplify this point, Instagram receives most of its ad revenue from major companies and entrepreneurs hoping to succeed within their lines of business. As a result, these will latch onto anything that is reverred as "trendy" in the eyes of the public, so much so that marketing executives make it their sole objective to predict the next up-and-coming tendencies that they can profit off of. The main goal of any capitalist society is ultimately to accumulate as many financial benefits as possible.
This new trend surrounding wellbeing ideals has been much profitable: from vegan cafés selling the oh-so-infamous avocado toast (which does get a bad rep, it is delicious with a tad bit of lime squeezed on top) to Tai-Chi classes to organic skin care treatments, businesses all across Western societies have opted the wellbeing route, because they have understood something fundamental about humans: we hate feeling bad about ourselves.
We all have our ups and downs. That being said, we obviously would much prefer to remain content, satisfied and overall happy individuals. We don't want to be reminded of our shortcomings, our flaws and our vulnerabilities. This is where corporations thrive: capitalism capitalizes on our insecurities. We have been incessantly told that there is something fundamentally wrong with us by corporations all over the word: skin whitening companies target people of color who have constantly been told their skin makes them undesirable, weight loss companies have tried to sell anything from lollipops to teas that will supposedly remove body fat- because thinness is the dominating beauty standard. This is how wellbeing has commercialized: our desire for self care has been turned into a tool for financial accumulation by our capitalist society.