Carmelania Bracco's 'Fase Due' Essay Critiques Youth and Social Media

Carmelania Bracco, a 1997-born artist and graduate of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Foggia, published a personal essay on Artribune titled 'La Fase Due e i giovani' as part of a series on the post-lockdown phase. The text is a first-person critique of contemporary youth culture, social media addiction, and the pressures of being young in Italy. Bracco describes the performative nature of online identity, the hollow pursuit of likes and validation, and the disconnect between real emotions and digital personas. She contrasts the idealized image of youth—partying, rebellion, carefreeness—with her own reality of anxiety, migraines, and working as a waitress out of necessity. The essay references the pandemic lockdown, Jeff Buckley's music, and the generational divide, accusing older generations of misunderstanding their children's struggles. The piece is accompanied by a digital photograph 'Frenetica' (2019) by Lucia Pompa. The essay is part of a series that includes previous installments on sustainability, contempt, contemporary art, death, fiction, tradition, and connection.