Chris Duffy

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We will be back next week with even more How to Be a Better Human.

You're listening to How to Be a Better Human.

I'm your host, Chris Duffy.

In today's episode, we're going to switch things up a little bit.

We're going to question some of the assumption behind our title, that we should always be trying to improve ourselves.

Look, becoming thoughtful, kinder, emotionally aware and mature, those seem like clearly good things.

Definitely worth trying to be a better human on those fronts.

But there can be an insidious side to the idea of better.

The idea that we always have to be optimizing and improving ourselves, that we're never just enough.

That is not healthy.

And that is what today's guest, journalist and author Elise Hu often found in her exploration of global beauty culture.

Elise had a special focus in her book on South Korea, but this is really an issue that is worldwide.

And like in so many other aspects of society, technology has accelerated and exaggerated global beauty standards and expectations.

A small personal experience with this.

I take almost all of my remote meetings on Zoom.

And when I'm on Zoom, I have the touch up my appearance feature enabled.

So my skin's a little smoother and clearer.

The bags under my eyes are lightened.