It’s in the fine-tuning behind the scenes of a selfie. A screen offers a different kind of truth, edited, yes, but more forgiving. It gives you a sense of control that you’re in-person face, with its tired lines and unpredictable emotions, can’t.

I find a strange honesty here. In the pixel-perfect ad, a filtered sunset, or that endlessly looping video. These are aspirations. They’re the portraits we choose to hang in the gallery of our mind. We built these mirrors to affirm what we want to be.

So I work with that light. I find meaning in the refresh. The prettiness is the language. It speaks directly to desire without life’s unpredictable rhythm. It is, for better or worse, how we see ourselves now.