Afternoon Tea: So, Shall Media…?

I personally love Sundays. It’s a fresh start to an exciting week, everything you want to accomplish lies ahead of you and today is your day to enjoy, prepare, and relax. Today is also a perfect day to reflect on what happened last week and discuss on what's on your mind.

Meeting up with friends for a weekly afternoon tea has become tradition - obviously with Devon Scones, clotted cream, jam, and a fine brew of Earl Grey with a splash of milk (I have truly become one with the British way of life!) In between panicked, cliched student conversations on “how dissertation is such a pain” and how the job application process is more difficult than “The Hunger Games” the talk of the day revolved around social media and the impact on the economy. (Such hardhitting discussion topics, we like to refer to as #DeepTalk)

Anyway, the crux of our deep talk revolved around last week’s big story, reading Brooklyn Beckham shoots the new Burberry fragrance campaign. I assume you have heard of Burberry- Brooklyn Beckham is the 16 year old son of Victoria and David Beckham. The issue at hand is Beckham Jr. has no professional photography training, is still in high school but no matter… he has 6 million followers on Instagram. I understand the marketing intention from Burberry's end, but in the long run is this killing future talent?

While I am not questioning Brooklyn's passion for photography or intentions (he seems like a very kind kid, brought up by extremely hardworking, role model parents- shout out to Posh) - it is a slap in the face for many professional photographers. The ones who have “made it” lost blood, sweat, and tears over  many decades of hard work while the majority of aspiring professional photographers are  struggling to excel - pulling multiple part time jobs to afford an education, working for free in order to gain experience in the field, all waiting for their big break… such as shooting for an iconic fashion house.

But what does this message of Burberry hiring a 16 year old “Instafamous” boy send to the 12 year old who aspires to create imagery like Annie Leibovitz and Richard Avelon? “Sorry Kid…  nice photos, but…you only have 150 followers.”

Can we really value an individual’s worth, talent and suitability based on the number of followers they have on social media instead of experience, education, and personality? This path of prioritizing social media popularity is not only stifling innovation, but encouraging a generation of  folks to market their lives to others instead of living it, creating things, experiencing...

We have entered an extremely dangerous relationship between social media and the fashion  industry. Just look at who today’s “Super models” are. Even the backstage crew of campaign shoots - stylists, make up artists, and producers are also hired based on their following influence. HOW IS THIS HAPPENING?!

Inspiration comes through education, seeing, feeling, touching, smelling… spending hours of clicking, and scrolling will never substitute the real world. How can we generate brilliance if 99% of us are just on our phones all day comparing ourselves to others, staging life's too short moments into the perfect photo (instead of living it), all in the name of a higher follower count… treating ourselves as a business simply is not healthy.

Conclusion- I still am a true believer that if you work extremely hard and are kind to others, good things will happen (as I am graduating this summer, my motto is still quite optimistic, but of course am a bit nervous to see if that pays off). I think if you have a passion, a dream, go for it. Learn everything and more about it, every. single. day. Make real life connections with people who inspire you, be present in the real world and don’t spend hours on end scrolling through the Instagram of the blogger du jour.

We cannot let social media control what it means to be human. Put down the phone and CREATE.