In today’s youth culture of the ‘millennial’, many subcultures arise with varying fashion styles, music tastes, political views and artistic differences. Yet, I will argue that there is one overarching idea connecting the majority of modern youths, and that idea is ‘perfection’. It is often supposed that the ‘teen’ years are the years of self-actualisation and developing identities. It is a time of great stress and anxiety caused by the absolute need to appear both physically and socially ‘perfect’ whilst simultaneously being original, unique - being yourself.
Consumerism and ‘perfection’ are intrinsically linked as companies exploit this time of insecurity and exploration of the teen by bombarding the media with products that will lead to the ‘perfection’ they so crave. Yet the conflict arises when we ask the question: ‘Why do we focus so intently on appearances?’. Has it become so ingrained in our culture to seek visual perfection, that we cannot escape the impossible demands of being constantly faultless? To explore this question, I will look at the use of social media and technology as a tool for endorsing the over saturation of the image of perfection.
Millennials.