This is Hidden Brain, I'm Shankar Vedantam.

They're on our TVs, on our phones, and on highway billboards.

Flawless air-brushed images of beautiful people people living beautiful lives.

Their complexions glow, their wealth seems effortless

and their children are always smiling.

All of us are surrounded by these pictures of perfection,

pictures that contrast all too starkly

with our own complicated messy lives.

Social media platforms exacerbate this.

Friends post pictures of their idyllic vacations.

Colleagues announce promotions. A lot of people use the hashtag, blessed.

Meanwhile, divorces, demotions and despair or the challenges of making ends meet, these

show up rarely or not at all.

What is the effect of the sharp contrast between the worlds we are shown and the worlds we

ourselves inhabit?

We may remind ourselves that what we are seeing has been airbrushed and filtered, but the contrast

still burrows into our unconscious minds.

Some researchers have argued that this contrast produces in us nagging feelings of

inferiority, shame, and resentment.

It causes us to feel we never have enough and to reach endlessly for the next ring, the next achievement, the next milestone.

The Casts of Chasing Perfection

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