{"id":990938,"date":"2025-12-09T15:08:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T12:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=990938"},"modified":"2025-12-09T15:08:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T12:08:00","slug":"self-care-or-self-erasure-welcome-to-the-age-of-bio-optimisation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=990938","title":{"rendered":"Self-care or self-erasure? Welcome to the age of bio-optimisation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The other day, while scrolling through Instagram Reels, I came across a guy rubbing dog paw medicine onto his hands. He then demonstrated a planche, an already difficult calisthenics move where you lift your body into a horizontal hold above a pull-up bar. But he wasn\u2019t gripping the bar. His palms were open, and his entire body weight was balanced on the tiny patches of sandpapery skin touching the metal. I clicked onto his account (<\/span>@swholeanimal<\/span><\/a>) and watched as he contorted his body in all kinds of freakishly inhuman ways, all part of something he calls \u2018Biomoding\u2019. The account is rapidly growing, closing in on a million followers. People are invested.<\/span><\/p>\n

Biohacking has existed on the fringe for decades, from Professor Kevin Warwick giving <\/span>himself ultrasonic abilities in the 90s,<\/span><\/a> to Lepht Anonym implanting <\/span>magnets which allow her to sense electromagnetic radiation<\/span><\/a>. These experiments remained mostly within niche but fervent communities. What\u2019s new is how modifying our bodies has become a mainstream cultural preoccupation. Figures like @swoleanimal\u2019s Samuel Carr now pull massive audiences \u2013 and actively influence followers to replicate their hacks. Of course, most people aren\u2019t doing <\/span>plasma transfusions with their children<\/span><\/a> in an attempt to live forever, or <\/span>shuffling their veins around<\/span><\/a> on social media. But over the past year, a wave of new tech, procedures, and products has entered the mainstream, fuelled by a widespread, almost obsessive fascination with personalised bodily upgrades, whether aesthetic or performance-based.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you remember the first time you saw a set of mouthguard-looking turkey teeth<\/a>, or spotted an obvious BBL<\/a>? What about the time you came across the terms \u2018looksmaxxing<\/a>\u2019, \u2018tweakments\u2019, or \u2018morning shed\u2019? Probably not that long ago \u2013 and yet, none of it feels shocking anymore. With celebrities reportedly spending <\/span>$150,000+ on facelifts,<\/span><\/a> this aesthetics culture has trickled down to the rest of us, who, unable to afford Hollywood plastic surgery prices, are turning to \u201cnon-invasive\u201d procedures like filler instead. The tweakments market is growing so fast that it is expected to <\/span>more than triple <\/span><\/a>between 2022 to 2030, from $61.2 billion up to a projected $190.5 billion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even the seemingly harmless practice of layering your face with skincare, lip masks, mouth tape, jaw straps, and whatever else is lying around to \u201cwork their magic\u201d overnight (AKA the morning shed<\/a>) starts to feel weird when you really think about it. The originator of the term, influencer Devon Kelley, later <\/span>posted a TikTok<\/span><\/a> clarifying the then-hyperbolised trend, defending herself with the line: \u201cself-care is my favourite hobby.\u201d It\u2019s a broad, inoffensive phrase that\u2019s difficult to argue with. But these expensive, time-consuming rituals all point towards a single goal: constant optimisation, with not a second of the day left idle. Should we really have hobbies whose sole purpose is to beautify in our sleep, like a TikTok glow-up jump cut? And who are we really performing the ritual for, when it\u2019s broadcast to millions?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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