Opinion By J1 Reporter Niamh McGarry

From bedroom LED light to drinking matcha out of a glass jar, Gen Z has begun to turn everyday life into a Pinterest Board. In a generation that emphasizes authenticity, it’s ironic that so many aspects are curated and color-coordinated. 

As the first generation to experience growing up in a largely social media dominated society, we begin to look at life through vibes rather than substance. This obsession has gone too far and is fueling unrealistic expectations. 

Aesthetics started to boom throughout TikTok and it felt as if there was a new one each day. These aesthetics became everything and influencers were able to gain popularity through feeding into the obsession of aesthetics. 

The “clean girl” aesthetic became popular with creating a natural appearance and lifestyle— only it is a filtered version of natural. Not only would influencers post unrealistic and strictly “clean girl” lifestyle videos (slick back hair with gold hoops and going to pilates followed by a green smoothie), but there are other flaws behind this aesthetic. 

The “clean girl” aesthetic reinforces traditional gender roles of women always needing to be polished, soft and composed. It glamorizes the idea of women performing tasks, while still looking perfectly put together. This aesthetic purposely excludes women who are categorized as loud, messy, and edgy. Although not all aesthetics have additional and oppressive meanings, they still create an exhausting cycle of performing to fit in. 

Are aesthetics creating us to perform and act while expressing ourselves for validation? New trends of individualism often appear— encouraging us to embrace our flaws, but rather this just encourages us to act differently in the same way. It is hard to embrace our individualism when we are all chasing “main character energy” and lose aspects of ourselves just to fit into this term. 

Aesthetics appearing is not just the problem— it’s the influencers feeding into the ideas for fame. While scrolling on TikTok, do you ever see influencers who preach they are living their best life after adopting new clean and unattainable habits? A majority of influencer’s careers are solely focused on social media, which gives them an advantage in maintaining habits that are unrealistic. Waking up early to go workout, followed by a healthy breakfast, and a grocery run is not an ordinary day for most people. Influencers promote lifestyles that are not attainable for ordinary people. 

The publicizing of aesthetics from social media and influencers has a negative impact on the young generation consuming them. Gen Z has lost sight of individualism and replaced it for aesthetics.