We’ve all seen them on social media. Super filtered pictures of people that make them look unnaturally pretty. The animal filters where people look like gorgeous dogs or cats. Now, this might help our self-esteem when we are feeling like we are having an off day and make us feel pretty. But is there a negative side to all these filters? I think so. Today, I’m going to go over a few examples of why I find these filters so disturbing and why I think that you shouldn’t allow young kids and teenagers to use them.
Snapchat filter surgery?
Imagine this scenario, you’re a parent of a 16-year-old teenage girl who uses Instagram and Snapchat regularly. She becomes so used to the way she looks with filters that she begins to think that she needs surgery to be more beautiful and look like that all the time. A 16-year-old girl asking for plastic surgery. Does that not seem surreal to you? Well, it is happening. It is actually called selfie/Snapchat dysmorphia, and it is a real issue in our current culture of photo editing for more likes.
We also cannot forget that teenagers are impressionable and when the people they look up to consistently post edited and/or filtered photos they start to believe that people really do look like that and that they should look like that too. One of the most notorious celebrities to constantly post altered and filters photos and videos is Kylie Jenner. As a young mother, with millions of young fans, she should be more mindful of the impact she has on her following.
Body positivity?
The body positivity and body acceptance movement has been running wild on social media in the last few years. And yet, people are still editing their photos, adding filters, hiding what they actually look like and refusing to accept who they really are.
How do we move away from filters and embrace our authentic selves? I don’t have an answer. What I would like to see is a push from celebrities to embrace the #nofilter movement and the #bodypositivity movement while forgoing the overly edited photos and filtered posts. We need more people to show real nice instead of an unrealistic, unattainable standard of beauty.
Do you use filters? Do you let your kids use filters? Tell us in the comments!
Facebook: Examining the negative effects of filters in social media. Should kids be allowed to use them? Let us know in the comments!
#filters #instagram #beauty
https://algonquincollegesocialmedia.wordpress.com/?p=98757
Twitter: Filters in social media: great tool or dangerous enemy? #beauty #filters #reallife https://tinyurl.com/y2n46pgs
Reference List:
Snapchat dysmorphia: Depression, cosmetic surgery and addiction. (2019, January 27). Retrieved October 17, 2020, from https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/2183589/are-photo-filters-harmful-how-snapchat-dysmorphia-drives
Teenagers are getting plastic surgery to look like their Snapchat selfies. (2018, August 06). Retrieved October 17, 2020, from https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/plastic-surgery-cosmetic-snapchat-teenagers-millennials-dysmorphia-bdd-a8474881.html
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 
Very insightful read! I am not a parent, however I do agree with you. It is saddening to see the impact such aspects of social media has on young children. We have faced this issue in previous eras with magazine covers and tv/print advertisements as well. And now with social media it is being proliferated to a higher degree through digital communication. I feel as though this is something we have to address within other areas of life as well to negate it in the digital world.