🧠 Issue #26 – We Don’t Want Perfect. We Want Real.

🔍 The Spark

At first, social media made life look slightly better than it was.

Filtered breakfasts. Vacation sunsets. Curated chaos.

But now, with AI in the mix, life no longer just looks better—it looks impossible. Picture-perfect kitchens with 37 thriving plants. Couples who speak in scripts. Cabins that look like ad sets for Scandinavian design brands.

Only… none of it is real. Not the people. Not the homes. Not the stories.

And something strange is happening.

We’re not just scrolling past.
We’re starting to crave something we didn’t even know we missed: authentic imperfection.

💡 The Insight

Humans have always tolerated a bit of digital curation. But there’s a shift in the air—call it post-perfection fatigue.

It’s not just that we can spot AI content.
It’s that we don’t want it.

We want:

• The kitchen with one cabinet door slightly off its hinge.

• The video with the kid yelling in the background.

• The dog barking in the middle of a serious Zoom call.

• The real cabin with water stains and stories in its walls.

Why? Because perfection doesn't move us anymore. Presence does.

🤯 The Tension

Social media once promised connection through aspiration.

Now it risks disconnecting us through simulation.

And here’s the paradox: AI-generated content is getting so good, it’s forcing us to remember what being human actually looks and sounds like.

We’re at a turning point:

• Some are doubling down on frictionless AI polish.

• Others are leaning into the raw, the ordinary, the unfiltered.

This isn’t nostalgia. It’s a recalibration.

We don't need more tools to make our lives look perfect.

We need spaces to show what life really feels like.

🧭 The Human Prompt

Before you post something this week… pause.

Ask: Am I curating a fantasy—or inviting someone into my reality?

Because maybe your cluttered kitchen, your messy porch, your foggy morning walk… are exactly what someone needs to feel less alone.

🔗 Curiosity Clicks

1. The AI Boom in Content Creation vs. The Rise of Authenticity – Orange SEO How genuine visuals are winning trust as AI-generated content saturates our feeds—and why brands are pivoting back to real, human-centered storytelling..

2. The Atlantic – When Social Media Felt Real
   Reflects on a cultural shift away from overly curated feeds to authentic, mundane moments (like Venmo), and why that transition reflects a deeper longing.

3. The Rise of Unfiltered Authenticity on Social Media – MAD Digital Agency Explores the growing backlash against perfect, polished content and why Gen Z is leading the charge toward transparency and genuine connection.

💬 Quote That Hits

"What we miss isn’t the aesthetic of the past. It’s the presence. The proof that someone actually lived there."
— from a recent comment on a video of a crooked bookshelf and a sleepy dog

🤔 Worth Considering

AI-generated content isn’t bad.
But it’s not enough.

The real question is: What kind of reality do we want to share?

Because humans don’t bond over perfection.
We bond over the weird. The flawed. The specific.

So post the crooked chair. Show the half-eaten breakfast. Film the bark and the spill and the off-key singing.

Perfection may go viral.
But imperfection makes us feel something.

Let’s make space for that.

Stay curious, — Jesse