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Comment by Neliquat | Hacker News Reader

I can't put my finger on it, but this phenomenon makes me profoundly sad for reasons I cannot fully elucidate. Maybe the notion of documenting the experince in place of actually having the experince. Maybe the feeling of all these lost people, posing with all their money and might, for the acceptance of others, all based on a snapshot. Sure, it becomes a self-sustaining lifestyle if you do it "good enough", but where is the fun in that? I want to live a life I enjoy, not just project that image.

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I know what you mean. I think this caption hits the point home:

> you can see the couple become better at tailoring the images to what their followers want. “They want to see Emily in a bikini, they want to see a sunflare, they want to see the van,”

My partner and I have labelled this behaviour as living the "Instagram Lifestyle" - directing your life so that it looks, on social media, as if you're having the best life ever, rather than actually doing what you want regardless of how photogenic it is. Labelling it helps us (attempt to) avoid succumbing to it.

An important part too is that it all has to appear effortless. So we see in the article how much work went into getting that deal with Outsiders where 70 emails, a half hour photo session, which is then photoshopped all go into making a single post where they talk about how the whole experience has made them reconsider what work means. And of course it has to be published at 11:00 AM, since thats when engagement is the highest.

Quite. Not quite Stanford Duck syndrome, but something similar...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxVZYiJKl1Y

That was great! Thanks for sharing it. Good spoof of the lifestyle. Now we need a good one for the playboy types who seem to effortlessly get piles of women and cool vehicles always doing just what they like. In reality, most I meet hide the enormous amount of time they waste plus huge costs. I love messing with them. One joked about a guy with no style that he should pay to get that guy a girl but wouldn't ever pay for sex himself. I pointed out he paid thousands extra for a car, parts, and detailing to get women. "What's the difference other than number of chicks and nights with them vs dollars spent? And how much time on those parts, stuff they like but you don't, and hanging out faking appreciation?" He didn't like me then lol.

So, something like the video you posted but for those guys. Needs to capture each of the aspects above since they're the most common. And mockable.

Real good.

Caption: Facebook can be depressing because everyone else's lives are better than yours... But are they really?

By the HightonBros https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo5or9Rhz3X5b9qr-hd2-AQ/abo...

I feel the same way. I think the article mostly describes the "travel porn" phenomenon which can also be found in a lot of "digital nomad" blogs: people making a living out of exhibiting a seemingly glamorous lifestyle.

To me, that lifestyle is only attractive if it can be combined with other fulfilling activities and relationships - which might be in their case, but isn't conveyed through their social media image.

I see it differently. Everyone needs money to live. If you can get that money doing something you find fun, having control over your life, and hanging out with people you like... as long as you don't buy into the image you're presenting it sounds like a great life to me. I feel sorry for the people who buy into the fake reality presented to them via Instagram, but that's a different issue.

Part of the failure, in my eyes, IS not buying into it. They know their profession is 'faking it'. Living a life you actually embody seems inherently more fufilling to me, having been on both sides of the phenomenon.

Are you as an individual not responsible for your cultural impact at all?

Yes, but the idea that someone posting pictures of themselves in a van is a negative cultural impact is kind of ludicrous.

What's ludicrous about it?

Especially since it's not just "someone posting pictures of themselves in a van", but promoting a certain untenable lifestyle, helping to sell more crap to people, faking experiences, and a whole lot more besides.

Yeah, I'm with coldtea here. This is very similar to the phenomenon where the "attractive" women in media were a specific type for a long time. Implication was others weren't or should look like them. All the fake experiences those media outlets pushed vs lower number many women experienced that were contrary made a lot of them think less of themselves or try to fake themselves into what "worked" (but was lies). I had similar trouble trying to get modeling agencies to take in women outside the fold who were utterly beautiful with long list of people that would want to date them. Not skinny enough, not tall enough, blah blah blah.

The BS the vanlife people are promoting might do something similar. Even worse, them faking the difficulty and reward ratio on many people who might have never heard of such scams on social media might lead them to waste money on a van or loose real opportunities. This can actually damage people like other forms of fraud. So, I certainly discourage doing it or aiding those people in any way.

> utterly beautiful with long list of people that would want to date them.

You're arguing out of both sides of your mouth. You're saying that media constructs what "attractive" means for women, and now you're saying that "attractive" is something that is inherent to a woman irrespective of media pressure.

Also, having a long list of people who want to date you does NOT means you'd be a good model. Models exist to make the product look good, not to look good themselves. A lot of fashion models are very skinny and tall because it makes the clothes they wear look good.

> Even worse, them faking the difficulty and reward ratio on many people who might have never heard of such scams on social media might lead them to waste money on a van or loose real opportunities.

You've basically just described all of advertising and marketing. It's not fraud or a scam - it just takes much more hard work than they show. They're not deliberately lying, they're just leaving out parts of it. Just like programming is a good job with high pay except you have to spend a lot of time learning it and working hard to get the good job with high pay.

"You're arguing out of both sides of your mouth. You're saying that media constructs what "attractive" means for women, and now you're saying that "attractive" is something that is inherent to a woman irrespective of media pressure."

You're pretending all people act the same to accuse me of some false argument. Some people will follow what the media says a lot, some a bit, and some not at all. The fact that local + some remote people thought those women were beautiful doesn't change the fact that media were trying to say otherwise and shove a specific profile in people's faces.

" It's not fraud or a scam"

It really is if it's dishonest to get people's money. There's legal and illegal scams, though. ;)

Posting pictures, writing a blog, etc of your trips/experiences is one thing, spending the entire day trying to capture the perfect pose, shot or moment in time to push a lifestyle brand is inauthentic.

But how much control do you really have over your life, if your life is all about going to places your followers want you to go and striking poses your followers want to see you strike?

Who says it's mutually exclusive?

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