Snapchat Made Me Hate My Face!
Snapchat Made Me Hate My Face!
By Jill
It is natural to compare ourselves to other people especially when we are immersed in the daily habit of using social media. According to the social comparison theory, we are more likely to compare ourselves to someone who we think is better looking and this negatively impacts our own self-evaluation. However, with the birth of Snapchat, we are now comparing ourselves to the better looking, extremely modified, versions of ourselves. These filters can become addictive and downright damaging to our self-concept and self esteem.
I know what you are thinking, “Here I am standing tall on my soapbox telling you to give up Snapchat because it hurts your self-image and you will be overall happier with yourself (and selfies) if you do without it!” This simply isn’t true. I am also one of the 166 million daily users of Snapchat. My husband makes fun of me every time I want to use a filter in our rare couple selfie. He always points out, “Look at my eyes! What does this filter do to my eyes!?” See Exhibit A:
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His boyish cartoon eyes made me wonder if Snapchat is only targeting females, as most of their filters seem to make my eyes bigger, lips fuller and sometimes does me the favor of applying makeup so I don’t have to. I know that I am not the only one who takes most of their selfie’s on Snapchat only to upload them to Facebook and Instagram later! So where and when did all these filters and unrealistic expectations start?
A Brief History of Snapchat
The app was created in 2011 by two men, Evan Speigal and Bobby Murphy out of Stanford University. The main goal and concept of Snapchat was to help users send photos to their friends that would eventually vanish.
“Snapchat is now going against everything they originally wanted to offer their users by conforming to unrealistic ideas of beauty and perfection. ”
In 2012, Speigal published Snapchat’s first blog post discussing the benefits of Snapchat which was to interact with the “entire range of emotions and not just conforming to unrealistic ideals of beauty and perfection”. This includes the stress that can result from photoshopping, permanency, use of one's data and memory, unwanted tagging and notifying users when someone has screenshot their images, etc.
By 2014, 40% of adults in the United States were using Snapchat. Filters and lenses were introduced in 2015 and by then Snapchat had over 75 million daily users!
Here we are, present day, and Snapchat is now going against everything they originally wanted to offer their users by conforming to unrealistic ideals of beauty and perfection. The ideal beauty includes almost all of their filters changing a person’s bone structure by slimming their face, enlarging their eyes, filling in eyebrows, smoothing skin, lightening skin, bigger lips, smaller nose, huge eyelashes, and pearly white teeth. Even though Snapchat has over 166 million daily users studies have suggested that is ranked second to lowest for users wellbeing when it comes to anxiety and depression (Instagram ranked the lowest). Participants within this study noted that they had a “fear of missing out” and pressure to “create-to-compare” a less realistic portrait of themselves.
Snapchat Dysmorphia
“55% of facial plastic surgeons report seeing patients who are seeking operations to look better in their selfies.”
This is almost a real thing! Snapchat Dysmorphia is an unofficial disorder which leads people to request surgery to make them look as if a Snapchat filter has been applied to their face. This is a subset of a disorder known as Body Dysmorphia Disorder (BDD). BDD is defined as a type of OCD in which an individual is obsessed with fixing their flaws in their physical appearance. Which leads them to create an unrealistic version of themselves. According to the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 55% of facial plastic surgeons report seeing patients who are seeking operations to look better in their selfies.
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Are we all doomed?
“All those fine details now allow us to view ourselves under the microscope and, as my mother always tells me, “No one is looking at you that close!” ”
Probably not. However, there are flaws that I have noticed about myself because of Snapchat. Our cameras on our phones are only improving, which is great for taking landscape photos but not so great for the selfie era. All those fine details now allow us to view ourselves under the microscope and, as my mother always tells me, “No one is looking at you that close!”(words to live by). Perhaps we should not be allowed to control our editing as it can lead to over-editing. Not to mention how much pressure it is to keep up that perfect face in real life! Here, at The Boudoir Studio, we do edit our client’s photos but it can be done without completely changing your bone structure. Our newest philosophy is simple,
Love YOUR body
and this includes your face. Accentuating your natural beauty can be difficult when we are our own worst critic so perhaps this is best to leave it to us, the professionals.
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