Women who want to be more like the filters on Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok have seen a dramatic increase in plastic surgery. The negative impact of social media filters on body image and self-esteem cannot be underestimated. We will discuss why this is dangerous for your mental and physical health and what you can do to address it.
The Negative Impact of Social Media Filters
Social media filters are now very popular. These filters, which use AI technology and the Bold Glamour filter, are almost impossible to distinguish from real-life faces. Old filters were less seamless and could often glitch back to the original face if you touched your face with your hand or hair. The latest technological advances are far more seamless and will not cause your unfiltered face to look the same as the old filters.[1]
Facebook and Instagram reported that more than 600 million people had tried the augmented reality effects of the platforms. This is in addition to the 63% of Snapchat’s daily users, over 375 million. As a result, we must begin exploring their impact.[2-3]
Filters are very convenient. Filters are similar to makeup. They allow you to present a more confident version of yourself. However, the technology goes beyond adding color or some makeup. Bold Glamour uses AI technology to sculpt users’ faces, smoothing out their skin, brightening their eyes, and enhancing their complexion.
It may increase your confidence in the short term. However, these filters have a negative long-term impact that can cause you to feel more confident. So let’s look at the effects through two lenses.
Mental Health
One obvious place to begin is these AI “beauty” filters’ impact on users’ self-worth. Social media’s comparative nature is already a problem. Social media’s comparative nature is already a problem.
The filters mentioned above can reinforce low self-worth by allowing people to be validated for someone’s appearance. Although these filters can boost self-worth, people may be complimented for who they are not.
Finding self-love isn’t skin deep. It’s more than just eating well and exercising.
It can lead to dissociation from our bodies if we exercise from a place where we feel self-hate or eat well to change our bodies that we don’t like. Other challenges, such as body dysmorphia, can cause us to eat less and exercise more to attain the perfect body we believe will make us feel worthy. The trap of not feeling good enough can lead to a slippery slope. Our excessive efforts to achieve perfection will only make it worse.[4]
Physical Health
Beauty filters can set high standards for us, which can cause many problems in our physical health. In addition, these alterations can cause extremely high toxicity, including toxic makeup and plastic surgery. Let’s look at three common ways that we alter our appearance.[5-6]
Makeup
Conventional cosmetics can be a nightmare. You must be careful about what products you apply to your skin. Your bloodstream can be accessed directly through your pores.
Dermal Fillers
Injectable fillers can fill in wrinkles, increase facial volume or enhance facial features. These fillers last for a short time as the body absorbs them. Fillers in question include poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA), a biodegradable, synthetic material, and polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) beads, tiny round plastic beads suspended in a collagen solution. Fillers can cause serious injuries, such as long-term pain, infection, and permanent scarring.[7,8,9]
Side effects:
- Acne-like skin eruptions
- Asymmetries
- Bleeding at the injection site
- Bruising
- Scarring and damage to the skin can result from sunburns.
- Infection at the injection site
- Lumps
- The skin feels the filler beneath the surface
- Skin necrosis results from blood flow disruptions that cause skin loss or ulceration.
- Itching and skin rash
- Skin redness
- Swelling
- Over-correction or under-correction
Botox
Botox is a medication that reduces the appearance of wrinkles by injecting toxicity into your body. This causes paralysis. Botox reduces wrinkles by injecting toxicity into the body that causes paralysis.[10,11]
Plastic Surgery
The biggest elephant in the social media filter discussion is that women, especially, get plastic surgery to make themselves look better.[13]
There are many side effects to plastic surgery, including:[14]
- Scarring that is abnormal
- Blood clots
- Blood loss
- Anesthesia complications, including respiratory problems during the procedure.
- Fluid build-up (edema)
- Infection
- Neuropathy can be caused by nerve damage
- Scarring that hinders natural movement
- Incisions that heal slowly and take longer than expected are slow-healing.
The Solutions
Get rid of the filters.
We must eliminate social media filters to address our root causes of insecurity. This will lead to insecurity and fear and help us make lasting, positive life changes. Real-life confidence is built by facing ourselves and finding self-love that transcends filters. Hiding behind apps that alter your appearance will continue to promote anxiety and low self-worth.
You must stop looking for filters and seek the support you need to feel more authentic, embodied, and whole. They aren’t the most beautiful, but they can accept themselves and be beautiful. To fix low self-worth at its root, we must look at the consequences of removing the masks.
Mental Health Support
While permanent cosmetics, such as plastic surgery, can help us feel better about our self-worth, they do not provide long-lasting peace of mind. It can be difficult to accept and understand aging and the imperfect nature of our bodies. Unfortunately, many of us didn’t grow up with the inner peace and vitality needed to care for our mental health.
Finding support can be difficult because we feel unsafe sharing our feelings. However, you can contact a friend or hotline or join a support network. These are all common problems that we face when it comes to our self-worth. These challenges are not unique to you; it is important to connect with others to overcome these beliefs and patterns.
Detox
Our bodies are designed to detoxify naturally, but modern lifestyles often overload them with more than they can handle daily. As a result, we accumulate a toxic load of fat and tissue, leading to many health problems, including obesity, neurotoxicity, sleep disturbances, energy loss, insomnia, fat-loss resistance, and other issues. CytoDetox® is a powerful liposomal Zeolite Clinoptilolite with Fulvates. CytoDetox is a powerful liposomal zeolite clinoptilolite with fulvates that supports the safe and natural removal of environmental toxins such as heavy metals, chemicals, and pesticides.
It is impossible to replace a toxic lifestyle. We cannot completely avoid the many toxic substances we are exposed to daily (like car fumes). Therefore, reducing toxicity and using CytoDetox products to eliminate accumulated toxins is important.[15]
Summary
Although they may seem harmless, the negative impact of social media filters can be significant to your mental health. They can hurt your mental health and drive people to have plastic surgery to make themselves look better. Women’s psychological and physical well-being is affected by how they can alter their appearances with plastic surgery, fillers, and toxic makeup. A holistic approach to dealing with the impact of AI filters in modern times requires women to be physically and emotionally supported.
References:
- Wigmore, Ivy. “What Is Snapchat Dysmorphia?” WhatIs.com, TechTarget, 20 Feb. 2019, www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/Snapchat-dysmorphia.
- Ryan-Mosley, Tate. “Beauty Filters Are Changing the Way Young Girls See Themselves.” MIT Technology Review, MIT Technology Review, 20 Oct. 2021, www.technologyreview.com/2021/04/02/1021635/beauty-filters-young-girls-augmented-reality-social-media/?mc_cid=9cca5880ef&mc_eid=UNIQID.
- “Snapchat Revenue and Usage Statistics (2023).” Business of Apps, 3 Feb. 2023, www.businessofapps.com/data/snapchat-statistics/.
- Tin, Alexander. “Nearly a Third of Teen Girls Say They Have Seriously Considered Suicide, CDC Survey Shows.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 14 Feb. 2023, www.cbsnews.com/news/teen-girls-suicide-depression-mental-health-cdc-survey/.
- Laura N. Vandenberg et al., Hormones & Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: Low-Dose Effects & Nonmonotonic Dose Responses, 33 Endocrine Rev. 378-455 (2012), http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22419778.
- Veldhoen N et al., The bactericidal agent triclosan modulates thyroid hormone-associated gene expression and disrupts postembryonic anuran development, Aquat Toxicol (June 2007), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17011055.
- Andrea C. Gore and colleagues, Executive Summary to EDC-2. The Endocrine Society’s Second Scientific Statement about Endocrine-Disrupting Chems, 36 Endocrine Review. 593-602 (2015), http://press.endocrine.org/doi/10.1210/er.2015-1093.
- EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, www.epa.gov/endocrine-disruption/overview-endocrine-disruption.
- Commissioner, Office of the. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA, www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/dermal-filler-dos-and-donts-wrinkles-lips-and-more.
- Nigam, P K and Anjana Nigam. Indian journal of dermatology, vol. 55,1 (2010): 8-14. doi:10.4103/0019-5154.60343
- Henryk Witmanowski and Katarzyna Blochowiak. “Botulinum Toxin: The whole truth – A review.” Postepy dermatologii i alergologii vol. 37,6 (2020): 853-861. doi:10.5114/ada.2019.82795
- Kelly, Samantha Murphy. “Plastic Surgery Inspired by Filters and Photo Editing Apps Isn’t Going Away | CNN Business.” CNN, Cable News Network, 10 Feb. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/02/08/tech/snapchat-dysmorphia-plastic-surgery/index.html.
- Ramphul, Kamleshun and Stephanie G Mejias. Cureus vol. 10,3 e2263. 3 Mar. 2018, doi:10.7759/cureus.2263
- “Plastic Surgery: Types, Benefits & Potential Complications.” Cleveland Clinic, my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/23999-plastic-and-reconstructive-surgery.
- Mastinu, Andrea et al. “Zeolite Clinoptilolite – Therapeutic Virtues Of An Ancient Mineral.” Molecules, Basel, Switzerland vol. 24,8 1517. 17 Apr. 2019, doi:10.3390/molecules24081517