The Perfekt Cupcake
Have we redefined the meaning of perfection?
A few years ago, I started noticing that people, specifically those under the age of 35, were frequently and erroneously using the word “perfect”. I shared this with friends who later cursed me because they, too started noticing the same phenomenon.
And trust me, once you notice, there is no going back. The genie will not go back into the bottle.
“How would you like to pay?” the girl at Starbucks asked. “Cash,” I replied. “Perfect,” she annoyingly, and absentmindedly answered.
Really? Why is paying with cash perfect? Were you low on cash and were sitting there longing for someone to hand you a fiver? Has it been simply ages since you held a somewhat elusive and crisp $10 bill?
“Do you have a reservation?” The host at our local Italian restaurant asked. “No,” my husband responded. “Perfect,” he replied. Seriously. He did. Why is that perfect? Because if we had a reservation, it would just be one more monotonous moment after the next and now you get to shake things up and seat us without one?
It has happened SO many times that it got my ever curious and somewhat scattered mind thinking.
Why does everything need to be perfect?
Of course, my first thought went to social media, which I often find myself blaming for most of the evils of the world.
We don’t post the pictures of the 11 cupcakes we made for our kids’ class that look like they were actually made by 6-year-olds. We post the shot of the best one. The majestically swirled frosting. The perfect ratio of sprinkles. (Sorry, I am a baker, I get into this stuff.) The one that came out just right. The Perfect Cupcake. I don’t have this particular hang-up as while my baking usually tastes good, it doesn’t often look that nice, but the allegory still fits.
But Social Media with a Capital S and M is too easy of a target. I feel the root cause is much deeper and more complicated. More of a chicken and an egg really. However, with that said, social media and all that it represents is likely behind some of this need for perfection, or at least the need for the perception of it.
The generation(s) this seems most prevalent among is of course, the ever tormented and ridiculed Millennials with a dash of Generation Z thrown in. Both of which have grown up with technology and are considered to be the first true “global citizens”, meaning the world was accessible to them since birth through exposure to the internet and all it had to offer.
But is it that the social media they now see fuels the need for perfection, or is it that all they have ever seen since they came into being was portrayed as such and therefore, they almost don’t have a choice? Everything is and always has been…perfect.
Millennials, also known as Generation Y, were the first to get a trophy for just showing up. It was an incentive to be there. You did great. You were here. It wasn’t about winning. It didn’t matter that you didn’t know which was your team’s goal Jessica, Ashley, Matthew and Christopher. You were on the pitch in your overpriced, polyester soccer uniform and you stood there. We are so proud.
Parents in the 1990’s were really the first to redirect their children’s play to a more “safer-oriented” environment. More indoor vs. outdoor. Less autonomy of the prior generation’s, “Be home in time for dinner!” philosophy. As a result, these young adults, some who have recently graduated from college, are perhaps less fortified as a result of this over-protection. Simultaneously, they were brought up with social media. Their every move documented, examined, archived. With no escape in sight.
Is it any wonder that according to the American Psychological Association, in 2022 Generation Z was the most stressed population, reporting that 90% of Gen Z experienced psychological or physical symptoms as a result of stress in the last year.
On some level do they know that they aren’t ready for the truth? The reality that the world is complicated, and a bit messed up? That they aren’t going to get a trophy for just showing up for their shift at work? That if they get called into their manager’s office it isn’t likely that it is to be given a promotion but to be reminded to show up on time?
Perhaps making everything “perfect” is a coping mechanism. A way to make it perfect even if things really aren’t. It does help a bit to have some understanding of where this might be stemming from. How it is so widespread. What might be going through these less than perfect minds.
But it doesn’t make it any less annoying.
