The unrealistic reality behind beauty filters on society

In today’s society, it’s normal to want to look good and impress your followers with a quick selfie posted onto Instagram. But with the rise of users over different platforms, comes a race to become prettier or more attractive than someone else. 

The instant gratification from comments complimenting how gorgeous you are, how smooth your skin is, or how tiny your waist is and how they wish theirs was the same. And to get that wish instantly and at a low cost? Beauty filters. The question is, are filters on social media creating unrealistic expectations behind the meaning of being attractive?

By conducting a questionnaire on Instagram, I gained an insight of what todays users really think about filters on social media. One user stated, “I think filters should be removed within moderation, but don’t remove the dog filter on Snapchat!” showing that some filters can be fun and lots of them are completely harmless. Whereas another user juxtaposed this, admitting, “Filters that completely change your face shape and give the standard “Botox-filler” look should be removed. They make it easy for young people to strive to look like something that’s virtually impossible. It’s completely okay if people do get these procedures, but it’s likely that when young people see themselves with these filters, they will try to achieve the result by harmful routes.”

Plastic surgeons have noticed that more clients are going to them with pictures of themselves with a filter on rather than a picture of a celebrity or someone they want to look like. This has created the term ‘Snapchat Dysmorphia’, where people are turning to filters to determine how they should look. The issue with this is that a lot of filters are extremely unreachable and some people, even with the money to spend on plastic surgery, will never be able to look extactly like their favourite filter. A strong contender is the ‘Smokey Eyes’ filter on TikTok, which shrinks your forehead, chin, cheeks and nose, enlarges your lips and eyes and adds tan and adds the generic beauty convention of bright blue eyes. Thanks, TikTok.

The ‘Glow Look’ filter on TikTok has had claims that they don’t work on POC and that it’s eurocentric. Comments on some videos say: “unfortuantly I am not white, so it doesn’t work on me.” and “another filter trying to white wash, I am so sorry.” This creates a divide on a popular trend that some people in society cannot participate in.

“I genuinely don’t know why it’s a thing… This is going to contribute to so many people hating themselves. C’mon TikTok, this isn’t great.”- A comment on a TikTok talking about how dangerous filters are, especially for young girls. Credit: @natalianotfromitalia video- TikTok

Through the questionnaire, about half of the responses stated that filters on social media have harmed their mental health and confidence. One response said, “I think filters contribute to body dysmorphia because they create this very narrow minded, idealised way to look and rarely do we ever actually look like that.” Some contributors admitted that they spend too much time worrying about how they look and filters have caused them to “obsess over appearance.” 

But maybe filters aren’t so bad? … Maybe?

Some TikTok filters create a natural ‘glowy’ makeup look, which is trending in the beauty world currently. This is a trend more people can get behind, as it doesn’t alter beauty standards. These filters are enhancing natural beauty, just like makeup can, rather than creating the expectation that to be beautiful, you need to change. The ‘Natural Makeup’ filter on TikTok adds some light eyelashes, a bit of blush and a slight blur effect to smooth out the skin.

However, the more people using the filters brings awareness to the realisation that nobody looks perfect. A healthy trend on TikTok to the popular TwentyOnePilots song, ‘Tear in my heart’, shows people with a filter on and then without, openly showing the difference of how fake filters can be. This is so important and beneficial to a society which is already so damaged by beauty expectations. 

“We live in a society where we are scrutinised based on how a person looks. For example, when a picture is posted, people will criticise harshly based on how you look solely because social media has decided we should look a certain way instead of being comfortable in our own skin.” – Anonymous response

Ultimately, the imapct of filters on society is undeniably massive. The tools to create beauty filters are so advanced, it can be difficult to see what is real and what is fake. Some influencers use extremely realistic filters or microedit their Instagram pictures in order to create a slightly thinner waist or face. It is understandable how it can be so easy to compare yourself to a physically impossible standard, creating low self-esteem within society.

We can all have fun with filters and ‘perfecting’ our skin… but isn’t it time to stop with perfection obsessions and start to accept our natural beauty?