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I started using Photoshop when I was maybe 12 years old. I learned to be skeptical of every image, every advertisement, and there is so much more psychology, ph
by cheatsheet 12y ago
I started using Photoshop when I was maybe 12 years old. I learned to be skeptical of every image, every advertisement, and there is so much more psychology, philosophy and art theory I could go into. I am 'female' and I grew up thinking the Photoshopped pictures of myself on social sites were the 'right' pictures, the 'right' self. To put a long story short, an eating disorder very mildly describes the kind of maladaptive clash I experienced between my physical form and my intellectual one.
I imagine the same thing happened when journalism was revealed to be yellow journalism, and other technologies slowly reveal their effect through generational adaptation.
In one sense, it's the same thing that happens because of the cycles of birth and death; technologies and cultures are born, and they are subject to death too. It's not surprising, but it is surprising, because the stuff that changes is not always the stuff you expect to change. In another sense, it's screwed up, and the only thing I can really hope for is that some kind of overarching balance can be intelligently directed towards and balance can be achieved. The idea that this is actually progress, and not just yet another side of the same coin that will eventually flip again.
- Shinkei 12y agoI agree with the dissonance between physical and psychological self you mentioned and it's great that you have achieved that insight. Unfortunately, it seems like most people do not understand this dichotomy and there are also many (maybe the majority?) who do not understand how commonly images are photoshopped to be almost unrecognizable from their original.
- cheatsheet 12y agoThere's little point to understanding it unless it affects you. Most people think things don't affect them, and sometimes it can seem like just thinking about it can make it affect you when it didn't affect you before. Even I suggest I have a higher level of skepticism than the norm. But I can't really measure that without affecting my level of skepticism. So my psychological understanding might be high right now, but my logical correctness and scientific methodology are probably reduced. This might have made me upset when I still had my eating disorder, but otherwise I chalk it up to a habit of complaining. The other insight I guess is that people can have correct, rapid switching thoughts and ideas that continuously contradict one another until they achieve a kind of abstract balance. To me it's one form of maturation. Other people could experience the same thing without the capacity to verbally express it. They may have the insight without the words.