There’s so much pressure nowadays to have a great aesthetic online. Instagram users curate their feeds and use the same filter on every picture to create a cohesive photo album. TikTokers use filters and editing to portray their lives as more picturesque than an A24 film. We’re all so hyper fixated on things being beautiful and perfectly aligned that sometimes, unaesthetic pics are actually a breath of fresh air. This is something that the creators of Things That Are Not Aesthetic have certainly figured out, as their Facebook page has amassed an impressive 3.3 million followers in only 5 years online.

The account’s intro welcomes readers to “walk into [their] world and become one with the Internet's demise through an intricate mix of unaesthetic,” and clearly, many Facebook users have taken them up on the offer. The page has shared over 6,100 images over the years and serves as a constant reminder that just because an image isn’t beautiful doesn’t mean that it holds no value. The page shares hilarious memes, funny screenshots and even some wholesome pics that definitely bring joy to followers' lives, but wouldn’t necessarily end up on a highly curated aesthetic account. 

Things That Are Not Aesthetic rebels against what the vast majority of the internet shows us. Sure, we all know that realistically we wake up with bedhead and might be guilty of taking our dogs outside to potty wearing Crocs and sweatpants (clearly, I’m talking about myself). But we’re human! We can’t ever be flawless, and there’s no point in pretending we are online.

That being said, there are valid reasons why so many of us value aesthetics. According to Jodie Locklear, the woman behind Simple Minded, there’s a connection between beauty and happiness. Gallup has found through their happiness surveys that living in an aesthetically pleasing city can actually boost residents’ happiness levels. We also tend to associate the same feelings with our perception of beauty that we do with happiness, such as calmness, appreciation, reflection and hope.        

According to some experts, the connection between happiness and beauty actually comes down to economics and evolution. One study from Yale University found that being beautiful can actually add to a person’s overall life happiness by a ratio of about one to ten. The possible explanations cited for this were that attraction comes down to evolution, and if someone is beautiful they are likely to be healthy and therefore happy. And attractive people tend to earn more money, which provides them with more resources and makes it a bit easier for them to enjoy their lives and be happy. 

Apparently, it’s also been scientifically proven that attractive things simply work better than unattractive things. In 1995, researchers Kurosu and Kashimura in Japan conducted a study where participants were faced with two different ATM interfaces, one that was aesthetically pleasing and one that was not. Overwhelmingly, participants found the more attractive option easier to use, despite the fact that the only difference between the interfaces was their appearance. Donald Norman suggests that this might be because of the positive impact beautiful things have on our brains. Without having the feel-good effects of looking at something pretty, our brains just can't figure out ugly things as easily.

As humans, we’re heavily impacted by aesthetics, likely more than we even realize. When it comes to online casinos, for example, using an attractive croupier can make a player more likely to stick around. They see a beautiful dealer as something that adds to the overall experience, and they’re “more likely to play longer and spend more money when they feel immersed in an attractive and engaging environment,” Paul Davies at Player explains. This ties into the same aesthetic-usability concept that the two different ATM interfaces addressed. 

The aesthetics of anything can impact our emotions, including buildings and structures. In The Architecture of Happiness, Alain de Botton compares how one might feel when entering a McDonalds with harsh lighting, plastic furniture and the bright red and yellow color scheme with how you might feel when entering the gorgeous Westminster Cathedral in London. “Although the Westminster Cathedral has the same principle elements of architecture as the McDonald’s—windows, doors, floors, ceilings, and seats—the cathedral helps people to relax and reflect, where the fast food restaurant causes one to feel stressed and hurried,” Cody C. Delistraty at The Atlantic explains.

While beautiful things and people aren’t always attainable, some believe that nice aesthetics do bring us hope and something to aspire to be or have. “Beauty manifests a hope that life would be better if the object of beauty were part of it,” writes Princeton philosopher Alexander Nehamas in Only a Promise of Happiness: The Place of Beauty in a World of Art. And this doesn’t have to only speak to vanity. We can work on making our homes more beautiful, creating beautiful pieces of art to hang on the walls and aim to prepare our meals in the most gorgeous ways just for the fun of it! If seeing something stunning will bring us a bit more joy in our days, why shouldn’t we aim for the beautiful?

I can’t help but think that these unaesthetic images that audiences love are the equivalent of someone who has a wonderful personality but would not necessarily win any beauty pageants. We don’t care at all about the physical appearances of our friends and loved ones, we value them for their warmth, love, intelligence and the wonder they bring to the world. So why judge a meme or an image just by its cover? If it makes you chuckle or amuses you, its existence is worth it!

Are you feeling inspired to care less about your aesthetic, pandas? Or perhaps this list is having the opposite effect, and you suddenly feel like your aesthetic is extremely important? Regardless of where you’re at, we hope you’re enjoying these amusing, unaesthetic pics. Keep upvoting all of your favorites, and then if you’re interested in checking out Bored Panda’s previous articles featuring Things That Are Not Aesthetic, you can find them right here and here!