Like

La Voz de Galicia – July 16, 2021 →

Maruxa asked me for a pen and picked up the Burda style magazine from March 1980. She had heard me say that one of the fabrics that she had next to her sewing machine would be perfect to make me one of those vests that conceals the body. So she began to search in the Burda from forty years ago for a pattern to make my vest. When she found it, she wrote, «This one for Cris,» and she sat down to copy the pattern.

In the meantime, I was trying to answer some of those emails on which I was lagging behind, and then Xan came in to remark that he already had three thousand «followers» on Instagram, and my mother asked what that was good for. And then I began to explain to her what Instagram was and realized that I am not very clear on what it is because I was not able to say anything better than «it is a place on the web where people post their pictures to see if others will like them.» Then she asked if people like other people’s photographs, and I responded that people not only liked them but that success on Instagram meant getting lots of «likes.» And we began to talk about the importance of «likes» and about how much they influence the way of understanding and showing the life of the young (and not so young) generations.

I mentioned as well what I learned in that documentary I had seen about the so called «influencers,» and about the business existing in search of «likes» and «followers.» Because on the web one may buy followers, likes, and even comments…

She looked at me somewhat confused, and at that moment I thought about how little I had reflected on the unreality of the situation («buying likes»?). She picked up her glasses again and began to cut the fabric. She finished the vest at the end of the day, just when Xan got three thousand and one followers.