Maybe it’s time for us to stop trying to be so human.
from its app. Spark AR, the platform that allows people to create the filters, cited a survey from 2018 as the reason for the decision. Research found that the popular filters that smooth blemishes, widen eyes, and craft Kylie Jenner lips are bad for our sense of self and our confidence. But, despite the ban and Instagram's attempt to regulate how we present ourselves, the opportunities for us to alter our lives online will only increase.
Somehow, almost in 2020, we still culturally function under the assumption that social media is supposed to be where we present our most natural selves, but that’s never been true. Even in the early days of 2012 Instagram where we used in-app filters to yellow our lunch photos or add a grain to our low-quality shots of our favorite books, we’ve never sought reality on social media.
A question I have for those of us who regularly use social media, especially image-driven platforms like Instagram, is if we even know how to be our realest selves. Because presentation has always been a lie; it’s a performance. Even “no makeup makeup” is performative. As Jessica Teas wrote inin 2018, “When we say ‘no-makeup beauty,’ we’re no longer talking about leaving the house right after a shower.
The filters I turn to most are the ones that utterly warp my face. “Beauty 3000” by @johwska adds a thick gloss to your skin; “BOSS diana” from @ilovediany aggressively alters every part of you, enlarging your lips, sweeping blush across the middle of your face, and adding floating dollar signs; “CHERRY ON THE CAKE” by @barbaramalewicz places two large, smiling cherries on your cheeks, or all over the screen, depending on your selection.
I’m not at all saying that Instagram filters and social media editing can’t be problematic. The idea that people are taking their filtered selves to a plastic surgeon to recreate digitally imposed features is jarring at best, and dangerous at worst. But this issue predates the existence of Instagram filters, and social media as a whole. The cultural “preference” for Eurocentric features, or of Black features appropriated by white bodies, didn't begin with IG filters.
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