A KISS ON THE CHEEK, A KISS ON THE MOUTH, A LICK ON THE EYE?
Round
the age of twelve declaring your love to someone did go by an
immemorial action plan:
- First you tease each other a bit.
- You send your best friend to your crush with a note 'Do you want to be my date? Yes or No?
- You're holding hands across the playground.
- You give each other a kiss on the cheek.
- You get a kiss on the mouth on Valentines day
- During recess you hide together behind a tree and firework is happening, your first real kiss.
But
in Japan they invented a different action plan. The newest trend
under 12 year old Japanese teens called 'Eyeball licking'. You
declaring your love to someone by licking each others eyeball. Why?
Nobody seem to have the answer, unless “ because everybody does it
“ is a scientific answer.
Beside
that it's an 'unusual' trend, is also a dangerous trend. The
eyeball can be prone to bacterial conjunctivitis caused by a bacteria
called trachoma. It's the same bacteria that causes chlamydia.
Teachers noticed that there was something wrong when several teens
sitting in class with an eye patch. At first the teachers didn't pay
much attention to it. But when the number increased, they started to
worry.
THIGH GAP
The
American high school girls are already obsessed by this new beauty
trend, the 'thigh gap'. A 'thigh gap' is a small space between the
inner thigh. You also can say that the upper thighs can't touch each
other when you're standing straight up with your legs next to each
other. Spotted on the catwalk and now a beauty ideal under young
teens. The bigger the gap, the better.
On
social media you can clearly see how serious this girls strive for a
'thigh gap'. As disciplined top athletes they train there but of,
taking diet pills and some are even on baby nutrition. On the Tumblr
page: fuckyeahtighgap.tumblr.com you can find a photo collection of
models/girls with a 'thigh gap' and then you start wondering if this
is healthy. The subscription of the blog calls:
“
FYTG
is not promoting crash diets or unhealthy weight loss.
All bodies are
different, and everyone is beautiful regardless of their weight.
Please keep in mind that this blog may be triggering to people
with
Eating Disorders or people who self-harm. “
If
you know in advance that the blog can trigger to an eating disorder
I'm asking myself, why did you start the blog at the first place?
But
also on Twitter it's a trending toppic. Fans of model Cara
Delevingnes even created a Twitter page for Cara's thigh gap
(@CarasThighGap). There are more Twitter pages about thigh gaps with
quotes as: “ Size = Fat “ or “ I feel so much better when I
haven't ate. “. This pages have hundreds followers. With these kind
of quotes it going more towards a Pro-Ana website.
EVOLUTION OF A FRIEND
We
turned out as such social animals. We all have at least 200 friends
where you share your emotions with, you share your embarrassing
pictures with, that knows everything you like and is there for you
24/7. Sounds like friends forever, right? But how much does these
social media 'friendships' really mean? Can you really call all 200
of them 'your friends'?
Designer
Colin Pinegar took this matter into question and created the Best
Friends
project. He arranged his 451 Facebook friends by value based on
several questions as: “Do
I know this person’s phone number? Can I recognize this person by
their name alone? Do I know where this person live? etc.”, and
rated them with 1-25 points. The higher the score, the closer you end
up on the 'best friend' scale. Pinegar visualized the outcome with
miniature wax busts of himself arranged on a color spectrum. The
higher the score, the darker the color. The value of his social media
friendships certainly became an eye opener: 1% of his 'friends' he
never met, 14% of his 'friends' he didn't recognize by there name
alone, 24% of his 'friend' residence were unknown to him and 55% of
his 'friends' he hadn't even seen from a distance for over a year.
Secretly
we know all to well that 70% of our social media friendships are weak
ties. But why are we putting so much value on our social media
status? That during a real time lunch with a friend we prefer to
check out our latest Facebook updates over a 'real' talk with a
friend who's sitting across the table.
It's
amazing that social media made it possible to be quicker & easier
connected to one another and that news & information never been
shared as fast as now. Digital solidarity is rising, but slowly we
forget the importance of physicality in relationships. That's what's
the Best
Friends
project is about. We put so much effort to feed our cyber friends
with display communication that we reduce in feeding our friends with
physical communication.
Amigo,
vriend, ami, rafiki, freund, friend, all words for the definition: 'a
person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal
regard'. A friend is someone special. But the definition of 'friend'
changed. It's not as powerful as it use to be. Back in the days you
had to earn to be called 'friend'. Noways, thanks to the growth of
social media, the word 'friend' has become like pushing the 'accept'
button. No personal attachments at all. The word friend doesn't sound
so 'special' anymore, it's losing his value,it doesn't fit the
definition of a 'friend' anymore. So which word can reflect the
definition of a 'friend'? How will we call a 'real best friend' in
the future? I think that the word 'friend' will still exist, but that
there will be created a new word for a 'real time best friend'.
THE ALCHEMIST
Body and beauty care, caring for one self became the obsession of this time. And I don't particularly mean that in a negative way. Texture designer slash material designer slash trend forecaster slash visual artist slash art director Nina van Bart made the short film 'The Alchemist', a trend forecast on the wellness industry.
" Life has been hectic in the society in recent years. After the economic downfall one starts wondering what is really meaningful in life. Caring for one self, spending time with attention and a deep sense of importance intensifies the experience of wellbeing.
The bathroom will become a laboratory. In this laboratory one transforms components like liquids, minerals, emulsifiers and powders into body care products, performing a quest for the ultimate treasure of wellbeing. An exploratory way of making one’s own body care products. Substances will react with each other. These reactions will give new super-sensory experiences: grown crystals that exfoliates the skin, slippery matter that massages the feet, titillating tonic that nourishes the nails or drifting mist that cleans the face.
One will be an alchemist. "
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