By Quincy Bohne
Perfect skin and white teeth can all appear instantly with a tap. Filters on social media can change how we look easier than ever before, but as edited images become a normal part of what we see everyday, could they be negatively impacting the way we view ourselves?
Filters often distort and change us in unnatural ways. They are inescapable and what we see every time we scroll. Filters make us feel better in the moment, but what effect do they have on our self image and mental health?
We all have something we are insecure about. Maybe it’s a crooked nose or chubby cheeks. Insecurities are an unfortunate part of reality. People use filters to mask the things they wish were different about themselves.
Filter technology is becoming more widespread. According to the article Social Media Beauty Filters Impact on Mental Health, “more than 400 million people reportedly use snapchat filters everyday, and Meta has reported that more than 600 million people have used its filters on Facebook and Instagram.”.
So what is the mental impact on the use of all these filters? Coming from an article titled Snapchat Filters Changing Young Women’s Attitudes published by PMC “[young women] begin to see problems in their appearance that no one else even notices, such as the shape of their face or a broad forehead. They spend a lot of time taking and retaking selfies, then editing them to get their ideal shot.” It continues to say, “They ultimately desire to change their appearance because they believe that they should look the way they appear in the filtered version of themselves. Young women frequently react by feeling self-conscious when they see a photo of themselves without filters.” Research is showing that filters and editing can cause us to look at ourselves as not enough when what we see on our phone isn’t what we see in the mirror.
The idea of people taking repeated selfies interested me so I asked Kate Fernan, a freshman at BHS, how many duplicate selfies she takes before deciding to post one. “A lot,” she said, “ I’d say 10ish, maybe more.” She went on to say that she took that many photos because, “I want to have a variety so I can pick the best one.”
A filter may make you feel better in the short term but long term use can harm how you view yourself. So is it worth it? Perhaps your mental health matters more than your latest instagram post. So next time you are about to post on social media ask yourself do I really need to use a filter?
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