Every day, we construct our ideal image on social media: flattering angles, filters and post-processing, expensive items in the frame, deliberate coincidences, and transparent hints of successful success. In its twelve years of existence, Instagram* has become more than just an online photo album for keepsakes—it teaches us to feel and dream, shaping not only our visual experience but also the objects of desire themselves.

Media and celebrity culture researcher Katya Kolpinets explores how the images of the ideal life on Instagram were created, how they have conquered society, and what this says about us. What do dream apartments/trips/relationships/jobs look like? Why do successful Instagram bloggers become role models for millions of followers? How did reality shows become the harbingers of social media? How did the fight against stereotypes turn into another stereotype?

At the center of 'Dream Formula' is the comical discrepancy between the external and the internal, the cherished dreams of millennials and the problems of modern society, in which everyone must be 'visible' to participate in the economy of likes and shares.

Author: Katya Kolpinets
Publishing House: Individuum
Year: 2022
Number of pages: 240
Cover type: Paperback
Age group: 16+