2023-05-22 16:33:00
Skin problems are familiar to everyone: acne, uneven surface, wrinkles, pigmentation, but you never know the nuances! Not everyone can boast of perfect skin in real life, but on social networks, an increasing number of people resort to the help of special filters. Perfect hair styling, full lips, healthy complexion, white teeth – modern computer technology helps the user to get rid of many external features that do not suit the owner or do not fit into the general idea of beauty.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the market for programs that allow you to process an image and change your appearance is developing at a rapid pace. The FaceTune app from the Israeli company Lightricks has been downloaded more than 200 million times. The Taiwanese developer’s “YouCam Makeup” and the Singaporean company’s “BeautyPlus” have been downloaded by more than 100 million users. Until quite recently, only photographs could be processed using filters, but now a similar “transformation” can be achieved in video content.
Why beauty filters are criticized
At the end of February, a new mask “Bold Glamour” appeared on TikTok, later another one – “Teenage-Look”. The advent of these filters, which adjust the appearance to popular beauty standards, has revolutionized social networks. And if in earlier versions it was quite easy to recognize the use of the filter – for example, with fast movements, now it is almost impossible to notice technical changes. At the same time, it should be noted that many users wrote that they can no longer look at their real reflection in the mirror.
Beauty filters that smooth the skin, make dark skin lighter, fair skin rosier, and also give the effect of a full facetune, when the lips become more voluminous, the nose is smoother, the eyebrows are more expressive, are in pursuit of the ideal of beauty. Katja Gunkel from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main (Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main) sees this trend as a big problem, as filters actually thicken stereotypes. And while the technology itself is modern, it caters to outdated clichés. “There are many rather problematic filters that are available to everyone and that have a group effect of pressure on users,” the German expert said.
For the psyche, the use of such masks has enormous consequences. Two-thirds of young people, according to a British YMCA study, feel the pressure of beauty standards set by social networks. Polls by the British youth organization Girlguiding show that a third of girls aged 11 to 21 are not ready to put their photo on the Web without processing. “It’s playing with fire,” says German YouTube star Silvi Carlsson, who has been outspoken against the use of beauty filters. “As soon as we use the mask on the Web, we immediately receive positive feedback, hearts, likes. This gives us a feeling of recognition, and during this positive experience, the level of dopamine rises,” says the blogger. But what happens to a person when he meets real people, without imposing virtual filters on himself? “Social media constantly trains us to look perfect,” Karlsson says, “it destroys us.”
How they try to solve the problem
The disease, which develops under the influence of the pursuit of external beauty on social networks, even has its own name – Snapchat-dysmorphophobia. This is a mental disorder in which a person is overly concerned about their selfie or social media image. Feeling inconsistent with the “beauty standards” that social networks impose can cause depression, write the authors of the specialized journal of plastic surgery experts JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery.
To cope with this phenomenon, several states are already making attempts to regulate at the legislative level. In Norway and Israel, users are required to indicate the use of filters in photographs used for promotional purposes. In France, a similar bill is being developed, which provides for fines of up to 300 thousand euros or criminal liability in the form of imprisonment for up to six months. There are similar discussions in the UK. There are no legislative initiatives in Germany yet. Last year, Sylvie Karlsson launched a petition calling for a change in attitude towards this issue. Separate calls are also heard from German politicians.
Katja Gunkel from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main supports the idea of introducing regulation in this area: “We are only talking about the commercial sector. Private selfies cannot be covered. Who will control this? It would be already censored.
She emphasizes that it is much more important to start working with children and adolescents and teach them social media literacy at an early stage. “We live in the times of capitalism, and it works great: people are taught that they must constantly optimize themselves, their appearance, which pushes them to consume certain goods and services, such as plastic surgery,” says Katya Gunkel. “Everything is tied to a feeling of constant lack that pushes us to further consumption. Therefore, the main task, according to the expert, is to develop resistance to images that adjust our appearance to general standards.
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