These days it is almost impossible to take a picture of yourself without tweaking it. Whether you're on Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok, chances are you've dabbled in playing with the filters on these apps. Filters can be fun, especially ones that turn you into Pixar characters or give you a whole new face.
These filters range from the funny - changing your face to look like a kitten or puppy, to the absurd -finding yourself in space, to the terrifying ones that allow you to completely alter how your face looks.
Dalisay Amena, from Melbourne, says she regularly uses filters mainly when she wants to look
"presentable"
but doesn't feel like wearing make-up.
However, aside from offering a fun distraction, some of these filters are increasingly having an impact on beauty standards and how people see themselves.
Impacts Of Beauty Filters
Though, often time spent on social media using these filters can do more harm than good by altering one’s expectations. Beauty filters on social apps are notorious for highlighting euro-centric beauty features, like lighter eyes, a smaller nose, and flushed cheeks. And others completely change the face by smoothing out every pore, enhancing the size of the lips, and changing the shape of the eyes. It seems like every time there’s another filter that turns you into completely different versions of yourself.
You may have come across several videos of women upset at how much these filters change their faces on these apps. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, this impact is real and it isn't a secret. In an internal document that was revealed, it stated Facebook is aware of the harmful effects these apps have on women. The document reported that 32 percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse. Among teens who reported suicidal thoughts, 13 percent of British users and sic percent of American users traced the issue to Instagram.
However, this issue extends beyond teenagers. Dr Leela R. Magavi, a Hopkins-trained psychiatrist and regional medical director for Community Psychiatry and MindPath Care Centers says children and adults of all ages have confided in her and shared that they are ashamed of posting photographs of themselves without the use of filters. “I have assessed some teenagers, men, and women who have discussed the idea of getting plastic surgery to look more like the filtered version of themselves, she says.
The research agrees studies show that social media significantly influences plastic surgery trends, and people are bringing in photos of their filtered selves as their inspiration pictures.
In addition to cosmetic procedures, experts say there is a direct link between social media filters and lower self-esteem, self-confidence, and higher cases of body dysmorphia. According to Dr Josie Howard, a board-certified psychiatrist who specializes in psych dermatology, people begin to expect themselves to look like their filtered self and can become obsessed with achieving that in the real world, which leaves them depressed, anxious, lonely, and disappointed.
A Canadian study published in 2019 showed that time spent on social media could exacerbate studies have coined "Snapchat dysmorphia" or "selfie dysmorphia" as terms to describe this phenomenon.
On top of low self-esteem, these filters can also perpetuate feelings of loneliness and isolation.
"The same time that we are seeing people's self-esteem eroded by exposure to social media, we are also seeing an increasing sense of isolation because these filters create a self-reinforcing feedback loop that leads to people spending more time on social media, seeking virtual validation, and less time connecting with others in the real world," explains Dr Howard.
My Beauty, My Say
Based on the insight that most women will edit or retouch images of themselves before posting them online, Dove China is encouraging them to forgo the filters to tackle damaging and unrealistic beauty standards.
The societal pressure for women to retouch their images to appeal to the beauty standard has never been more commonplace, and with more filters available on apps than ever before it’s increasingly easy for everyday people to alter the images of themselves they post online. The issue is particularly prevalent in China, with 78 percent of women saying they retouch and edit their images.
To encourage more women to post without filters and dismantle unrealistic beauty standards, Dove has released its ‘My Beauty, My Say’ campaign in collaboration with Forsman & Bodenfors Shanghai.
On the other hand, U.K. recently introduced a bill would fight unrealistic images by making advertisers, social media influencers label edited photos. The proposed U.K. body image bill, formally known as the Digitally Altered Images Bill, has resonated with people around the world, says the member of Parliament behind it.
"We're creating a society where no matter how hard you try, the image doesn't exist. And that's having a negative impact," Luke Evans, a former doctor and the MP for Bosworth in England said.
The bill aims to make it clear to consumers what a realistic portrayal of the human body looks like, by requiring any commercial images featuring digitally altered bodies to be labelled.
"These edited commercial images do not represent reality and are helping to perpetuate a warped sense of how we appear, with real consequences for people suffering with body confidence issues, which I've seen first-hand in my role as a GP," Evans said in an online post.
Sources:
Everyday
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