Virtual avatars are becoming increasingly common on social media sites, most prominently on Instagram.
We take a look at one Instagram account that has everyone questioning it. Until now.
Miquela Sousa is 19 years old and lives in Los Angeles. Her debut single, Not Mine, was even featured at number 8 on Spotify’s Viral List in August 2017.
She is pretty, popular, has great fashion sense and her make-up is ‘on point’. In a recent interview with ‘Business of Fashion’ she said:
“I’d like to be described as an artist or a singer or something that denotes my craft rather than focus on the superficial qualities of who I am.”
Well, funny you should say that Miquela…
Miquela isn’t real.
She is, in fact, a computer-generated virtual avatar testing the boundaries of social media. From the surface, there is no real difference between Miquela and any other Instagram star and you wouldn’t know that she was a fake unless you were told.
It’s unclear who created this persona and why, but their 530,000 followers say a lot about our society today and especially the culture of social media.
We’re so quick to believe the glossy edited versions of photographs that people post online. We admire their perfect make up and curves and marvel at how great their lives are compared to our own.
DON’T.
If Miquela teaches us anything, it’s that Instagram, and all social media really, can fool you into thinking whatever that person wants. Even so far as to make you jealous of a computer generated image.
Do you think this is a key problem of today’s society?
