Am I the only one on Instagram that hasn’t been following Lil Miquela on Instagram?

Am I the only one wondering whether or not it’s a good use of my time?

On the off chance you haven’t been following along (I wasn’t), Miquela is a celebrity virtual Instagram model. That’s right: She does all the things a real celebrity Instagram model might do--but she’s computer generated. Or at least a part of her is. Or at least a part of her is real. But nobody really knows.

Miquela’s creator (or Miquela herself) seems to blend real-world photos with a computer generated character. She does all the sorts of things a real social media influencer might do: endorse products, hang out at exclusive Hollywood parties, look lovely on the beach. She even poses with friends that look a whole lot more real.

The thing is, you can tell she’s not, at least entirely, real. But in an age when nearly everyone tweaks their Instagram photos with filters or extreme facial touch-up, how much realer are the rest of us; that’s the question I’ve been left wondering.

Oh, but it gets better: Miquela just got into her first celebrity feud, according to The Cut; See, Miquela is known, not just for her funky photos, but also for a commitment to progressive causes. A few days back, a more conservative faux internet model named Bermuda hacked her account and pulled all the photos. And now, get this: they’ve made up and are taking photos together.

I’d probably laugh the whole thing off if this weren’t going to become a whole lot more common. As I said, people already radically alter their photos to the point where they’re practically avatars. Why bother starting with a photo at all? We’re all just projecting the image we want on Facebook and twitter anyway; why not start from scratch?
If nothing else, this is making a whole lot of people think about whether they’ve taken altering their social media presence too severely from real life. Or maybe it’s all just good fun.

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