A Wrinkly Statistic Of Human Regression

Listening to the radio the other day I heard a statistic that made me wonder about the nature of human beings these days and how such intelligent creatures have evolved to the point that they seem to be regressing. In other words becoming a lot less intelligent. I’m trying to refrain from using the word stupid here but anyone who knows me knows that refraining while ranting is not my strong suit.

The radio show/podcast Under The Influence with Terry O’Reilly focuses on marketing trends, advertising campaigns and influences on human behaviour both past and present. It is very entertaining and often enlightening. I love when I turn on my car and it happens to be broadcasting. This week’s episode was about various trends during Covid.

Not surprising masks are a whole new product for most people and sales are off the charts. But there are other effects as well. To quote Terry O’Reilly: For starters, masks have had many unanticipated effects. Celebrities must be loving it. They can walk down the street and not be besieged with selfie and autograph requests. Welcome anonymity. That anonymity is also welcomed by criminals these days as armed robberies are up.

This is no surprise to me. Neither is the fact that he mentioned lipstick sales are down and eye makeup sales are up. Wearing masks has greatly changed our priorities in the makeup department. Terry also stated that deodorant sales are down because people are not going out as much. I suppose I can understand this one; but personally, even if I lived alone, I would not want to smell my body odor. 

The big surprise, the one that leaves me speechless, is the fact that, because of Zoom where everyone’s droopy faces and wrinkles are up close and personal on the screen, plastic surgery and Botox treatments are up. Some plastic surgeons have seen their business increase by 200% and have had to double their working hours just to keep up. Things like Botox injections and other fillers are up 90 per cent. The revealing stat here is, and I quote Terry O’Reilly: In the initial consultations with surgeons, 9 out of 10 people specifically said they noticed their wrinkles on Zoom.

Now I ask you. How vain and unintelligent (ok stupid) do you have to be to do this when leaders are asking you to stay home, stay safe, don’t make any unnecessary outings and don’t take any unnecessary risks? I would venture to say that plastic surgery and Botox procedures would, no doubt, fall into both the unnecessary outing and the unnecessary risk categories.

Do these people not know that zoom has a filter that will improve their appearance on screen? That the average person doesn’t look good in phone and computer video cameras? Plus those who do look good have likely done a lot of prep work to do so. Are these people really that self absorbed that this is their priority right now? I’m afraid that the answer is yes.  

The whole thing leaves me flabbergasted. The same way I felt some years ago when a mother I knew told me that she drove ten kilometers in a snow storm so her kids could have a play date with friends since classes and school buses were cancelled due to bad weather and treacherous roads. Again what was she thinking? Apparently she wasn’t.

My biggest question is, what to hell happened to common sense? If parents don’t have it, you can be darn sure that their kids won’t grow up with it. This regressing of human beings has led us into an era of warped priorities with little or no thought given to the consequences of our actions. We are in a sad, sad state when a few wrinkles take precedence over our personal safety and the safety of others.

Thank you for reading. 

Reference: Under the influence. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/undertheinfluence

Photo: Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash

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