Pretty Vs Useful

I recently watched a reel where an influencer showed off her room. It was fully decorated with lights, artificial flowers, and more. She was flaunting how aesthetic it was. It was colorful, and it did look good.

But the first thought that came to my mind was, "Is this necessary?"

The comments were full of people praising how good her home looked. Meanwhile, I was still wondering whether any of it was needed, and why people spend so much on things that don't matter. This got me thinking about something bigger.

Lately, I've noticed that people value what looks good over what is useful. We praise people who look good more than we take inspiration from people who work out. We value things that make our homes beautiful more than things that are actually useful. A woman with a lean body gets praised far more than a woman with a strong body. Someone with good looks gets praised, again and again.

Maybe it's because usefulness doesn't photograph well. A strong body's strength doesn't show in a picture. Social media rewards what can be seen in two seconds, and what's useful usually takes longer to notice.

I feel we, as a generation, are becoming hollow in our thinking.

To be clear, I'm not against things looking good. The best things are both useful and beautiful. The problem starts when looking good becomes the only goal.

So next time you praise something, ask yourself: am I praising how it looks, or what it does?