How FaceTune use on Social Media is Destroying our Self Esteem
“Influencers” are instagram users with large platforms that attract a following that look up to them for inspiration, news sources, and entertainment. With the pressures to be perfect on social media, photo editing apps like FaceTune and Photoshop are warping our sense of reality, and negatively affecting our self-esteem. Many of us are on the mission to achieve perfection, and to be like all of our “idols” that we follow on instagram and get down on ourselves when we don’t look the same. However, what if it was all a lie?
FaceTune has allowed for unrealistic beauty standards to take place on social media for millions of users to see and be affected by this. This not only affects self-esteem, but also affects the people looking up to these influencers.
Twitter users have been extremely vocal about the negative impact photo editing apps have on a person self esteem, one user going as far to say that “Women want to look like other women that don’t even look like that,” (@Shelbylthoburn). When impressionable young adults log onto social media, and see these extremely unrealistic and false images, they then get upset they may not look the same even if it’s unattainable even for the person in the image.
The negative mental health effects that come from FaceTune use on social media ranges from depression, to anxiety, to eating disorders. Young individuals look images that may be FceTuned beyond bodily possible, and get depressed that they don’t look that way, or get panic attacks when it comes time to posting an image on social media due to them thinking they are “fat” because of what is being portrayed on social media.
Khloe Kardashian recently had an unedited photo uploaded onto social media, and when press publications began posting about this un-altered image, her and her team began efforts to wipe the image from the internet. Although she did come out with a statement, many people believed trying to have the photo removed set a bad example for her young followers.
All-in-all the constant pressure to look “perfect” on social media, fueled by photo-editing apps like FaceTune and Photoshop can have a drastic impact on the mental health of social media users. People across social media are speaking up and beginning to hold celebrities, influencers, and publications accountable for the unrealistic standards that are being upheld with groups like the body positive movement being vocal about the importance of authenticity. Do you think FaceTune should be banned from social media, should its users just be more authentic, or is it a non issue?
