Far from being a simple channel of influence, today’s digital world has become a framework for structuring our relationship with ourselves.
For generations Z and Alpha, the personal image is constructed in an environment marked by an overabundance of visual content, the rapid circulation of trends and the omnipresence of social networks. Against this backdrop, more than one in two young people say they feel less comfortable in their bodies as a result of these exposures.
This observation reflects a fundamental change: beauty is no longer based on stabilized standards, but on multiple, shifting and highly mediatized frames of reference.
Changing uses and representations
Three generational dynamics coexist:
- millennials, the first users of social networks, have turned them into a space for self-staging and self-aggrandizement
- generation Z favors more spontaneous, visual and conversational formats
- generation Alpha is moving into immersive environments, where the boundaries between real and virtual are more porous
This evolution reflects the shift from a digital world of representation to one of experimentation and identity-building.
A tension between lucidity and exposure
While the younger generations are aware of the potentially negative effects of filters and retouching, this lucidity does not neutralize their influence.
It coexists with continuous exposure, helping to set new standards that are sometimes difficult to achieve.
Beauty as a means of expression
In this context, beauty tends to move away from a strictly aesthetic logic to become a medium for individual expression.
It plays a part in the construction of identity, self-assertion and inclusion in specific cultural universes.
For industry players, this transformation implies moving beyond a normative approach to a more detailed understanding of the logics of appropriation and usage.
