Over the past few weeks it has been trending on Instagram and TikTok videos showing the (supposedly genuine) reactions of teenage boys and young women trying the beauty filters of both social networks. And I say original, because there are videos where audio is even used that has been tested in other videos, which means that the person recording has done some practice before, to lip-synchronize their lips with your audio. last video.

The detail is not that, the detail is that with every video published, at the same time there is a kind of duel between self-esteem and what can be considered “beautiful” in social networks: a battle to overcome the real pressure between uploading content with filters, or publishing it online. experience.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology analyzed filter phenomena, taking into account their evolution over time and the appropriations they have made on the platforms that offer them. These uses have increased to such an extent that, in less than a decade, their perception has changed.

For this, it suffices to recall how it was in the era in which Snapchat broke into our phones. Between 2011 and 2013, when the term “selfie” was coined, filters were used for fun; but today, despite the fact that they are still used for that purpose, they are also mostly associated with enhancing the aesthetics of a photo or video, and of a person himself. Just take a look at the different options, either on Instagram or TikTok, to get a sense that there’s some sort of competition to be the platform that offers the best automated face editing.

This may interest you, aside from filters: Instagram creates self-esteem issues in teens and has tried to hide it

According to the MIT Technology Review, “filters may be the most widely used augmented reality product” on the Internet; data published in the magazine states that at least 600 million people use this technology every day on the social network Meta.

Filters created with Artificial Intelligence are able to identify facial features and change them in real time, according to the aesthetic rules of the creators themselves. And while there are still no conclusive studies on the possible impact on a younger audience and especially on teens, despite figures showing that 90% of young people in countries like the US, France and the UK, they use augmented reality products. , their risks and some of the consequences have been disclosed, such as an increase in patients who, in some areashave started asking plastic surgeons to perform surgical procedures based on edits made by filters that sometimes border on the unreal.

The physical distortion of a person known as dysmorphia is, for MIT, a consequence of the “selfie culture”: a phenomenon that has become so popular worldwide, only one-fifth of Meta (that is, nearly 10,000 employees) is dedicated solely to perfecting augmented reality tools that , in essence, can make individuals recorded via cell phones “more fun” or “prettier”.

Image: Photo by Laura the Owl in Remove splash