With Pumpkin Spice Lattes back at Starbucks, ‘tis the season to be basic. And no one appreciates that more than “Socality Barbie.”

An Instagram user depicting a hipster doll named Socality Barbie has taken the Internet by storm. The account is hilarious because it’s true, and we shouldn’t be afraid to laugh.

Having gone viral in its spot-on jab at Generation Y, the account’s posts feature the Barbie in a variety of scenes just like those on the popular page. One photo shows her dramatically wrapped in an American flag, while another pictures her on a mountaintop with a mug and an entire fleet of coffee appliances. Barbie even posts her legs peeping through bubbles in a relaxing bath, noting that she is #blessed.

Though entertaining, the problem Socality Barbie ought to be targeting is less about the trendy, mainstream content of young people’s profiles and more about their motivations behind incessantly sharing it.

Expectedly, commentary surrounding Socality Barbie has been critical of millennials, and the account’s anonymous creator gets why: The satirical genius was struck by the homogeny on her Instagram feed.

“I couldn’t tell any of their pictures apart so I thought, ‘What better way to make my point than with a mass-produced doll,’” she told Wired.

Still, there is nothing new about trendiness, and every generation had its mainstream fads. Apparently, in the 1950s, everyone wore poodle skirts and hair gel, and hung out at diners. Legends from the 1970s imply that everyone wore bellbottoms and went to Woodstock. The typical ‘90s American sported frosted tips and collected Beanie Babies.

If geeky glasses, Starbucks, hunter green and overly artsy Instagram posts are the generational stamps of the 2010s, so be it. Trendy Instagram users are not necessarily basic. Rather, they are defining the #aesthetic of Generation Y.

Clichés are not inherently bad, either. Clichés are clichés because they are true, and young people cannot be faulted for wanting picturesque lives. The problem is not that Generation Y is inauthentic or superficial. That being said, things go from zero to basic real quick when users act for the Insta instead of the experience.

On social media, people try hard to present themselves in a way that others will admire online. A typical user’s stream of consciousness relates largely to how others perceive them. Almost every young American has thought too long about a caption to make others laugh or has strategically timed posts for maximum likes to appear popular. With every heart and comment, users are validated as interesting, cool or beautiful.

In addition to being approval-seeking, thoughts while surfing social networks are comparative in nature and can detract from happiness.

“A photo can very powerfully provoke immediate social comparison, and that can trigger feelings of inferiority,” said Hanna Krasova of Humboldt University Berlin, co-author of a study on Facebook and envy.

Socality Barbie makes the Internet giggle because she is right and everyone is guilty. The doll satirizes not only mainstream content of Instagram posts, but millennials’ tainted motivations for oversharing.

In real life, it takes people years to find themselves. Online, it only takes seconds for millennials to decide who to be, based on what image gets the most positive reaction, before they pump out posts accordingly.

A #reverent #artsy #adventurous life lived for oneself? That would be something worth sharing.

Alison Gala is a senior public relations major and Spanish minor. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at aegala@syr.edu and followed on Twitter @alison_gala.

Published on September 14, 2015 at 11:16 pm