There is comfort in conformity

It is true that parallel to a strong desire to differ, to stand out, to be distinguished and individualistic, there is also a perhaps-more-insecure-but-nonetheless-pretentious Self, who yearns to just be part of, to be classified and even stereotyped. Of course, one must do this from within the type we are given, finding ways to be suitable, appropriate or, in other words, socially flattering.Reassuringly, nowadays we can actively direct the perception and definition of our own type by others. Because we have the Internet! Oh, and the apps! We can hyper-profile our interesting individualities on FB with pictures we carefully select and photoshop to only portray our most perfect smiles. We add our greatest memorable events attended in the hope of, most importantly, being liked by the hundreds of friends we show on our page as testament to our popularity. And as we are being liked, we like hundreds of other events and pages, through which we broadcast our interests and hobbies. These we can also display through our membership of groups: the common open ones and the most aspirational closed ones… Of course, for the more creative of us, FB is not enough: if you need more space for expressing yourself, why not try Twitter, TripAdvisor, visually mighty Instagram or one of the hundreds of other options out there…?Here comes Italian manifesto Il deboscio to curb your enthusiasm, rein in your digitally boosted Super Ego and generally try to tone it all down a notch…Witty, ironic and convention breaking, it tends to attack everything established, particularly all that is “correctly” acceptable and intellectually expected.

Finally I ask him to place himself within a social group of his choice. Here is what I get:"Elderly people affected by Alzheimer's!"I have recently discovered Il deboscio and now follow it on FB, just to give you an idea of my likes and interests… Although I have always considered myself to be an outsider (check Albert Camus as one of my favourite authors…), the question I have asked Davide is for anyone to answer:If you were asked to place yourself within a social group or definition, what would you choose?