To me, saying there is nothing new about Instagram, is like saying the combustion engine is the same thing as fire. I can see what you are saying on one level, but this company and its impact on human users was bought for a billion dollars. There is something new here.

I don't know whether you read the whole thing or I had my head in the sand, but I found it to be very enlightening and new to me. Procedures that are not permanent, that will fade over time, yet give you a physical progression towards a current ideal (be it Instagram Face or whathaveyou).

Comparing that to Make Up was very relatable and way more insightful than any other article on Instagram Face.

What's new is that everybody is doing it now, instead of only vain aristocrats.

And that makes a difference.

I'm not sure whether that makes it good or bad in this case, but mainstream activity is different from fringe activity, even if the thing done is the same.

Yep, suddenly it's a problem now that poorer people can participate, whereas the rich and powerful have been doing this for centuries if not millennia.

Was it good when they did it, though?

My mom was incensed in the 60s when her freckles were erased from her school photo -- our family is far from aristocratic. And fwiw, I still have the same frustration with photo filters to this day.

It was never “only vain aristocrats.” Life is not a cartoon. Cosmetics, tattoos, and jewelry have been in use for thousands of years.

And the Internet is just another form of the same old communication we have always done.

Yes, in some senses, but completely different in others. The availability of it to nearly everyone, and the sheer volume of content are unprecedented. It's also way more visual. Photos used to have the constraints of being developed and printed on paper. You might have a hundred photos of you in your life. Now we have that many in a year. All of these things impact societal expectations, which impact individual behavior. Sometimes it's a harmless impact, but it's a new ballgame to be sure. And it doesn't have to be a drastically different game for wellbeing to be dramatically altered for the worse.

> It looks at you coyly but blankly, as if its owner has taken half a Klonopin and is considering asking you for a private-jet ride to Coachella.

Writing this good never tires me.