The Role of Filters & Editing Apps in Creating False Online Identities – by Ella Jones

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to discuss the role that social media platforms play in forming and shaping a young woman’s online identity and sense of self. Specific focus will be placed on the role of augmented reality filters and third-party editing apps, such as Photoshop and Facetune, in perpetuating false and extreme beauty standards for young women, as well as the detrimental effects this can have on a young women’s sense of body image. I will be focusing on the photo-based social media platform Instagram, as well as the role that influencers and beauty accounts on this platform have played in perpetuating these ridiculous beauty standards, which encourage young women to present an inauthentic online identity. They instead resort to heavily editing their images, and in some cases, even altering their appearance in reality, through cosmetic and plastic surgery. Extensive research into this topic has proven that falsifying an online identity through highly edited images can strongly impact the well-being of adolescents.

Keywords – online identity, filters, social media, editing apps, augmented reality, body image

Social media platforms are online communication tools that have emerged over the last two decades, building on the ideological and technological principles of Web 2.0, and are now an integral part of many people’s lives. These platforms allow for user-generated content, where users can create customised online profiles, interact with others and create and share information (e.g. thoughts, photos, videos, etc.) with others online (Alharbi et al., 2021; Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Social media platforms are highly visual and instantaneous. They allow users to generate their own content and receive feedback in the form of likes and comments. Advertising is personalised, and the line is often blurred between commercial and user-generated content. All these features combined make social media platforms a more powerful influence compared to traditional media (Paxton et al., 2022, p. 158-159). According to Pescott (2020), profiles are “a deliberate presentation of self, an identity that is presented to the community in which socialization occurs” (p. 2). According to Goodyear (2020), social media “is a key resource in young people’s life for the development of identities and relationships as well as emotional regulations, self-expression, learning and much more” (p. 48). With the emergence of online social media profiles, also comes the ability to curate and create an online identity, which is typically quite different from the true identity of the user. Instagram, a photo-sharing social service where users can post images and share them with people online as well as like, comment and share other people’s images (Siebel, 2019), is one example whereby identity is curated. Instagram allows young users to create their own online identity, with the use of filters and editing apps, which are inspired by the influencers they idolise. This false identity can have repercussions on users’ well-being and sense of self.

The introduction of ‘influencers’ on Instagram has made it next to impossible for adolescents to create authentic and truthful online identities. Influencers are “everyday, ordinary Internet users who accumulate a relatively large following on blogs and social media through the textual and visual narration of their personal lives and lifestyles” (Abidin, 2021, p. 5). According to Abidin (2021), these users “engage with their following in “digital” and “physical” spaces, and monetize their following by integrating “advertorials” into their blog or social media posts and making physical appearances at events” (p. 5). These influencers typically perpetuate an idealised lifestyle, as well as physical appearances that are “unrealistic and unattainable for many young people” (Maltby et. al., 2005, p. 18). They perpetuate these beauty rules and encourage adolescent users to abide by them.

According to Anders (2009, as cited in Pescott, 2020), “identity is not static, but is ever-evolving and constructed according to the society in which we live” (p.2). Identity formation starts in early childhood and grows in importance during the teen years. Teenagers and tweens can have trouble discovering their identities. This can lead to “temporary instability and confusion as they struggle with ego growth, alternatives, and choices” (Pescott, 2020, p. 1). This portrayal of identity is a crucial element of social media; however, “the contrived nature of social media platforms makes identity more of a constructed reality compared with real-life interactions.” (Pescott, 2020, p. 1). Social media users have the freedom to post whatever they please about themselves, whether the information is true or not. They have the ability to create and curate their own online image, and in that, their online identity – the way in which others view them and their life. “The distinction between online and offline subjectivities is not always clear and boundaries are not rigid” (Burnette et al., 2017, as cited in Pescott, 2020, p. 2). In a sense, adolescents may only be seeing a user’s “highlight reel”, and are not viewing the moments where they feeling down or perhaps not looking as great. Siedman (2013, as cited in Pescott, 2020) argues that “social media cultures tend to prioritize a need to belong and encourage self-disclosure that is innately bound up with issues of self-presentation” (p. 1). This idea of self-presentation is “behaviour that attempts to convey some information about oneself or image of oneself to other people” (Baumeister & Hutton, 1987, p. 71). Young people online typically put a lot of thought and work into self-presentation online and the way in which their peers perceive them. (Baumeister & Hutton, 1987). “It is well established that self-presentation on social media is of central importance to young people and can drive the ways in which young people participate, interact and communicate” (Handyside & Ringrose, 2017, as cited in Goodyear, 2020, p. 48). The driver for self-presentation “encompasses both the idealisation and beautification as well as the more realistic and inclusive representation, which is traditionally absent from mainstream media.” (Throuvala et al., 2019, as cited in Javornik, 2022, p. 2). For young adolescents, curating and displaying an online or digital identity involves “first steps in social positioning in terms of gender and culture” (Pescott, 2020, p. 1-2). It also allows them to use words and images to create in-the-moment identities online. (Bourdieu, 1991, as cited in Pescott, 2020).

The introduction of augmented reality (AR) Filters on social media platforms has only helped to advance the curation of false online identities and self-presentation. Javornik (2022) describes AR filters as “a popular social media feature affording users a variety of visual effects” (p. 1). These filters are “digitally based responsive interactions applied to the user’s face or surroundings to extend or change what is being viewed in the actual environment” (Rios et al., 2018, as cited in Ibáñez-Sánchez et al., 2022, p.560). AR face filters originally became available online for commercial purposes, e.g. trying on make-up virtually, however, has since been adopted by social media platforms with the intent of being fun and entertaining. (Javornik, 2022). One of the first experiences users had with AR filters on social media was a simple dog-ear effect on Snapchat in February 2016. (Javornik, 2022). Since then, the filters have adapted from silly and fun to now mostly beauty and glamour. They have also grown immensely in realism, with some of them looking so realistic it is difficult to figure out what is fake and what is not. (Goodyear, 2020). These filters can “automatically and easily change facial attributes such as making lips appear fuller or thinning a wide nose; interestingly, these filters can also be used while taking videos” (Varman et al., 2021, p. 182). Users now also have the ability to create their own AR filters, for example, the popular Instagram account @face.effects regularly introduces new filters, mostly beautifying filters, for their 258,000 followers. (Javornik, 2022). Influencers often use and share AR filters in their Instagram stories, allowing their young audience to try them out for themselves. However, it is now rare for an influencer to post a story without a filter, therefore portraying a false image to their audience and perpetuating unrealistic beauty standards. There is also an issue raised when young users become uncomfortable with posting a photo without a filter, as they can develop low self-esteem and view themselves as not being “pretty enough” as they do not look like these unrealistic filters in reality.

It is also typical for Instagram users, especially influencers, to heavily edit the images that they post, using third-party apps such as Photoshop and Facetune. These apps allow the user to “airbrush” and “smoothen” their skin, get rid of unwanted features, whiten their teeth, resize features (e.g. their nose, eyes, waist, etc.), and so much more. (Boyd, 2017). Editing apps like these are used religiously by influencers and celebrities alike and are so realistic in their use that it is impossible for young users to figure out what is and is not real. Accounts like @beauty.false, which has over 1 million followers, are famous for calling out these celebrities and influencers by posting before and after pictures. Tana Mongeau, a popular Instagram influencer with nearly 6 million Instagram followers, is commonly featured on their page. See Figure 1 below.

Figure 1

Tana Mongeau Before & After Images on the @Beauty.false Instagram Account

Note. From Tana Mongeau on Instagram/Reality, by @beauty.false, 2019, Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs-1-aSl9Ow/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=9c6412cf-a35a-422e-977c-817fd65d8317). Copyright 2019 by @beauty.false.

However, it is not only the celebrities and influencers who edit these pictures and perpetuate a distorted view of beauty. It is also beauty and editorial accounts, such as Cosmopolitan Philippines. In 2018, the account posted highly edited pictures of actresses Lili Reinhart and Camila Mendez to their Instagram page, in which both women’s waists had been edited to appear far thinner than they actually are. Reinhart called the magazine out on her own Instagram account, posting side by side photos to her story, see Figure 2 below.

Figure 2

Lili Reinhart Before & After Pictures for Cosmopolitan Philippines.

Note. From This Is Me From Cosmo’s February Shoot, by L. Reinhart [@lilireinhart], 2018, Instagram. (https://www.instagram.com/lilireinhart/). Copyright 2018 by Lili Reinhart.

Reinhart went on to say:

Camila and I have worked incredibly hard to feel confident and comfortable in the bodies that we have… to see our bodies become so distorted in an editing process is a perfect example of the obstacles we have yet to overcome. (Reinhart, 2018, para. 1)

While celebrities continue to call out businesses like this, and Instagram profiles like @beauty.false expose celebrities and influencers, it does not change the fact that most adolescents are being exposed to ridiculous beauty standards online. They are inspired to use AR filters and to heavily edit their photos to create a perfect online identity; however, when this does not match their true identity, an issue arises.

Virtually altering one’s appearance to appear more beautiful online can heavily influence the users’ feeling of self-worth, as well as their body image and mental well-being. This only accentuates the unrealistic and ridiculous beauty standards online, as well as the never-ending cycle of social comparison and the devastating consequences this can have. (Chae, as cited in Javornik, 2020). In a study undertaken by Livingston et al. (2020), it was found that “viewing idealized images of a thin and attractive woman led to an increase in women’s body dissatisfaction and negative mood” (p. 153). However, most of these idealized images are highly edited and unrealistic, so young people are therefore setting themselves impossible expectations and goals, which therefore is extremely damaging to their own sense of identity as well as their mental well-being and even their physical well-being, with some young women going as far as to starve themselves to achieve this ideal body. (Tiggeman & Zinoviev, 2019). Virtual modification of facial and body features has even had a significant impact on young people’s desire to undergo cosmetic procedures. (Varman, 2020; Javornik, 2022).

An intriguing trend reported among plastic surgeons is that more patients are arriving at clinics with such social media–altered photos, in contrast with past trends wherein patients would present with celebrity photos or generic descriptions of what alteration was desired. (Varman et al., 2021, p. 182)

It is clearly evident, that heavily edited and filtered images on social media can have extreme and devastating effects, not only on a young woman’s sense of self and identity but also on their mental and physical well-being.

It is crucial to be made aware of the devastating effects that these false online identities can have on the well-being of young social media users. They are given a model that they must perfectly fit into, or they are deemed as not good enough or not pretty enough. Influencers have only accelerated these standards as they present identities that are not truthful, curated from highly edited images, which are not authentic to their true self. Young women have begun to measure their own self-worth and beauty on a scale of likes and comments. They receive compliments on their edited photos, which creates a sense of dislike towards their authentic and unfiltered selves. It is therefore clear that filters and editing apps on the social media platform Instagram heavily influence and form adolescents’ sense of identity and self-worth, with a large influence from the influencers whom they idolise.

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