Smiles and fish heads

And, it’s rather sad. Anyone who received those postcards in the past would have immediately imagined exotic dream holidays in an erotic sunshine paradise… beaches and boobies.

In some places, there are small signs that this tradition remains. In Faro, for instance, we found a hoarding boasting a lovely sexy pose – with the model gazing sensually and mysteriously back at one, resplendent with belly-button piercing and emerging from transparent waters. Beneath her, the word: «Allgarve». Hmm… but what’s that behind her? Looks like mountains covered in dense tropical foliage… No matter. One of the reasons for the extinction of the old Algarvian postcard lies, of course, in new technologies.

Why buy stamps, write messages by hand and send photos of half-naked strangers, if all this and a whole lot more can be sent over the Internet? A specialist who has been studying the trivial aspects of digital photography and their consequences on contemporary civilization, is our consultant, sociologist Dr Manfred Bolos.

His recently published doctorate thesis, “Photographs shared over the Internet – facets of Modern Man, portrayed by himself”, has highlighted an unattractive new phenomenon.

According to Dr Bolos’ extremely scientific research, one of the most shared types of photograph over the Internet is that of a “gathering” – usually festive, around a table. “The idea is to register and share a happy moment”, explains Dr Bolos who has spent two years analysing thousands of depressingly dull photographs of group dinners and birthday celebrations.

A common example of the new phenomenon is that in pride of place before the smile that’s frozen for an eternity is, very often, a large plate of fish heads. A toast among friends, for example, is garlanded by chicken bones or some other dismal remnant of a meal devoured.

“Filthy napkins, ashtrays filled with fag ends, glasses with greasy fingerprints, spilt bottles, tablecloths full of stains, used toothpicks, bits of crust and breadcrumbs – all these are common accoutrements in many photos shared over the Internet” tells the sociologist, who did his Master’s in birdlife prevalent in the deserts of Mongolia.

What his latest thesis shows is certainly not pretty – but what’s really scary and depressing is that nearly all of us have, or appear in, images like these: virtual postcards of the technological age. Yikes, in other words. Send them on, fast!