Great angles, flattering filters, fun locations. Everything is (always and only) exciting, interesting, better if it’s enviable. Most of us quietly obey the rules of life on social media, producing posts that show everyday life as anything but ordinary.
But these perfect lives, filtered and faked to make everyone else feel under-tanned, under-partied, and under-glamorous, have finally generated something of real substance: the wonderfully plain Instagram account, @hombre_normal.
Hombre Normal (Spanish for “normal man”) is just your average guy. His description reads ”We are neighbors, but you don’t remember me,” and promises pictures that use ”only normal filters.”
A plastic doll resembling Mattel toy ”Ken,” Hombre Normal has a normal mother (@madre_normal, “Like your mother but someone else’s”), normal friends, and credible adventures (#credibleadventuras, #credibleadventures).
Brainchild of Marc Torrell, a copywriter and co-founder of Barcelona’s boutique agency Usted, @hombre_normal has been thrilling Instagram with its total lack of edge for three years. The account now has over 65,000 followers (which is really good for a normal person).
“Everyone on social media tries reflect a unique way of life,” Torrell told Quartz. “Why not start a feed reflecting the life of a normal person, which nobody does?”
Torrell believes that normalcy has a universal resonance, and argues that Hombre Normal captures the most intimate and human qualities of people’s lives. “I think everyone feels represented somehow—everybody has these moments,” he told Quartz. “People from the USA, Indonesia or Iran understand [Hombre Normal] and feel represented.”