'Fridgescaping' is the latest sign society has lost touch with reality

A ludicrous trend turns a household appliance into a stage for social media performance, reflecting a society that's dangerously disconnected from reality.

Inflation is soaring, people are living in their cars, and families are struggling to afford basic groceries. Meanwhile, a ridiculous trend is sweeping social media: fridgescaping. That’s right, influencers like Lynzi Judish are promoting the idea of decorating the inside of your refrigerator to “beautify your food,” as if turning a functional appliance into an art project will somehow bring order to life’s chaos.

According to CNN, Judish has even themed her fridgescapes around shows like “Bridgerton,” swapping out condiments and cartons for picture frames and figurines. Judish admits it might sound excessive (you think?). Yet, she claims fridgescaping helps her cope with disordered eating, as if meticulously arranging the fridge contents and placing porcelain busts next to bell peppers and orange juice carafes offers therapeutic value.

@realhomesofficialSay hello to fridgescaping, the kitchen decor trend aiming to romanticize the most mundane part of your day; deciding what to have for dinner 🍽️ Think of it as the cousin of tablescapes, assisting on the beautification of the end-to-end dining experience. @lynziliving is the master of the clean and curated fridge, and has offered her insight into the pros and cons of the trend taking over our feeds. We love it, do you? Head to the link in our bio to read more about how to achieve an aesthetic fridge 🔗 #myrealhome #fridgescaping #fridgeorganization #fridgescape #kitchenorganization #interiortrends

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Let’s be honest: spending time perfectly aligning cans, arranging containers, and color-coordinating veggies is not self-care — at best, it’s absurd, offensive, and disconnected from reality. At worst, it’s a mental disorder.

Fridgescaping isn’t about health, mindfulness, or even practical organization. It’s a pathology — another pathetic attempt to project “perfection” onto a space meant for function, not for an Instagram audience. What’s next? Terrariums in our toilet bowls?

For people who are genuinely struggling to put food on the table, this trend is a slap in the face. Influencers promoting perfectly curated fridge shots are peddling a fantasy that’s not only wasteful but untethered from the bleak existence millions here in America face every day. It’s vacuous consumerism at its most tone-deaf, encouraging people to spend money they don’t have on pointless bowls, vases, and frames just to make a fridge look “pretty.” And for what? A few likes on TikTok? A fleeting sense of control that disintegrates the moment real life gets messy?

We’re already immersed in a virtual reality, where everything is filtered through the glossy lens of social media. Every meal, every vacation, and now even the inside of our refrigerators must be sanitized, curated, edited, and put on display for the world to see.

Fridgescaping turns a utilitarian tool meant to store food and sustain us into yet another performance piece. It’s a glaring symptom of a society with a dangerously loose grip on reality, and it’s affecting us in ways we might not fully understand; it’s the Potemkin Village that now exists in every facet of our lives, every corner of our brains. A crisis of delusion, really.

Said another way, we are at a point where the line between reality and performance is so blurred that we’ve lost sight of the difference. Worse still, people feel a relentless pressure to maintain alternate realities, embracing artifice and abstraction to quell the nagging inadequacy, anxiety, and ever-present desire for likes and virtual social credit. This has long skewed perceptions of success, happiness, and self-worth and it is widening the gap between who we are, and who we think we should be, ultimately pushing us further into a fantasy world.

When, as a society, we spend our energy chasing a fantasy, we lose sight of what really matters — navigating an increasingly difficult and hostile world, addressing genuine needs of our neighbors and communities, and building real connections between us all. Instead, the time, money, and mental bandwidth devoted to curating every corner of our lives, down to the insides of our fridges, represents the ultimate waste in resources — physical, mental, and otherwise.

This may come as a shock, but a fridge doesn’t need to be a statement piece; it just needs to function. Better yet, a refrigerator full of leftovers, mismatched containers, and a hodgepodge of groceries isn’t a failure — it’s real. It’s a sign that families are being fed. And that moldering half-cucumber? Consider it a sacrifice to the deity of a busy life. That stack of pre-packed Lunchables for the kids? Proof you’re doing the best you can. All this is far more valuable than a fridge styled with baroque portraits and a bouquet of flowers.

As a society, it’s time we reconnect with reality. Let’s prioritize nourishment over nonsense, practicality over pretension, and authenticity over the relentless pursuit of vapid fantasy. And let’s try to do better — not in spending money decorating the fridge, but in swapping out the Lunchables for more nutritious options. In making connections with local farmers to stock those fridges with whole foods. And let’s skip the frozen meal for a family cooking dinner, putting the fridge back in its rightful place as part of the heart of the home.

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