The Mirror Stage is not only about looking at yourself as a subject, but also how you yourself as a subject affect others. Before digitalization, it was not so easy to adapt one's outward appearance to fit the ideals of our society. Nowadays, with very simple image editing, we can manipulate our external appearance so that we upload a kind of ideal version of ourselves that others should see in us. Especially on dating portals there is a lot of cheating. As an individual you present yourself, with the consciousness of sociality to make the picture of yourself that you want topresent. Profile picture and profile text usually overlap each
other, so that the documentary of the picture is always already provided with its (self-)interpretation and (self-)commentary. A mirrorselfie is never a simple, innocent reflection, it shows a kind of copy of the actual individual with the intention to present the best possible picture to a potential partner. Sadly, this leads to false data and images, only to force oneself into the ideal image of society. Through social media we are presented with a completely unreal world which still seems desirable and realistic for some people. We should be able to set our own ideals and strive for them without being criticized by society and is what we should all should strive for. We should be able to set our own ideals and strive for them without being criticized by society and is what we should all strive for.
This is a great point of view! This really is a big and extending problem in todays society. Society and its expectations obviously always change which means according to the changed ideals, the related problems emerge as well. But I feel like the even bigger problem with this is realizing and accepting the new problems and doing something against it. So what can we do, to prevent people from teaching other people to feel like they have to be perfect or that they have to fake things to look perfect?
I agree with you and would like to add something:
Nowadays, dating has mainly gone digital. We swipe right and left and look at photos or profile pictures. But what are we looking for? Supposedly, we look for a face with similar symmetries in our future partner as we have in our own face. There is then an unconscious moment of recognition and we automatically feel comfortable with this person because a similar face looks back at us like the face we see in the mirror every morning. I also see a connection here with the mirror stage. How are you?