Week 7: Digital Citizenship and Software Literacy: Instagram Filters
This week's discussion ties in closely with that of last week, where we discussed visual social media's growing issue of body modification through apps and procedures and the effects this has on the viewing audience. This week, we discuss more specifically social media filters and digitised dysmorphia.
(Image: Women's Health)
Western society's focus on the beauty and sex industries have long been using the female body as a commodity to sell products and bring awareness to brands (Coy-Dibley, 2016). As social media has matured, filters and editing softwares have been developed to provide users with an easily-accessible tool to modify one's body, face or any other feature.
As discussed previously, this can include not only Instagram and Snapchat's built-in filtering options, but also apps such as FaceTune, which "are designed to analyse, rate, evaluate, monitor or enhance appearance” (Elias & Gill, 2018, pp60). These filters and editing programs mask insecurities, often smoothing skin texture, thinning the face and body and altering features to the user's desire. These filters can lead to an online phenomenon known as digitised dysmorphia.
Digitised dysmorphia (coined by Coy-Dibley, 2016) helps to outline the pressure placed on women online by societal beauty standards. Filters and editing programs create beauty standards whereas users are expected to physically and aesthetically present in a specific way online. This can lead to dysmorphia in terms of users viewing themselves through the lens of these filters, and losing a true sense of their physical self. This also invites insecurities and comparison as users compare themselves to their own edited pictures and those of others. Seeing an unfiltered, unedited image of themselves may be shocking and cause great discomfort, as the "perfect" image is no longer visible.
I believe it to be so important to keep in mind just how much these filters and editing apps can effect our psyche, and try to maintain a real sense of self through avoiding these tools wherever possible. After all, true beauty comes from within.
References Coy-Dibley, I, 2016, “Digitised Dysmorphia” of the Female Body: The Re/Disfigurement of the Image", Palgrave Communications
Elias, AS & Gill, R, 2018, "Beauty surveillance: The digital self-monitoring cultures of neoliberalism", European Journal of Cultural Studies, SAGE Publications











