From TikTok Filters To Facelifts

How filters have perpetuated an unrealistic beauty standard and warped an entire generation’s perception of themselves.

BY: Cassandra Jenkins

Despite launching years after well-known social media apps such as Snapchat and Twitter, short-form video hosting service TikTok has become one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. With over one billion monthly active users worldwide, TikTok has set itself apart from other social media platforms in a number of ways. One of the app’s most popular, and controversial, features is its filters. Though it is impressive how hyper-realistic many of these filters are, many TikTok users have described them as “scary” and “harmful” for their ability to change a person’s entire appearance.

One of TikTok’s taglines reads “trends start here.” Unfortunately, this statement has proven to be true with TikTok’s ability to popularize a particular beauty standard. Though filters can be a source of fun and self-expression, they often do more harm than good. Filters like “Bold Glamour,” are criticized for perpetuating unrealistic beauty standards, specifically by promoting Eurocentric features. These filters are capable of making your skin lighter, nose smaller, eyes bigger, and much more.

Even more alarming is how seamless the technology behind these filters is. Filters on Snapchat, one of the original social media platforms to introduce augmented reality, often glitch or turn off completely when you wave your hand in front of your face, which many people found annoying in the past. However, TikTok users are now alarmed by the fact that the app’s filters don’t even glitch if you cover half of your face with an object.

The majority of TikTok users are teens and young adults, two of the most impressionable age groups. As an estimated 62 percent of TikTok users are between the ages of 10-29, the influence that TikTok has on beauty trends is monumental. Although things like makeup tutorials and using filters aren’t necessarily harmful on their own, they can ultimately lead to warped perceptions of what beauty is.

Oftentimes, young people don’t even realize when someone is using a filter and begin comparing themselves to a person who doesn’t actually exist. Since filters are so widely used across TikTok, it becomes easy to believe that people look a certain way naturally.

“It’s important that we constantly remind ourselves, Gen Z, and everyone who uses social media that it is a one-sided reality,” said 21-year-old CarNya Sutton.

Unfortunately, filters are capable of destroying a person’s self-esteem to the point that they feel the need to get cosmetic surgery. Many young people get nose jobs, lip fillers, facelifts, and more because they want to look like the filters they use on social media. In an article by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, it’s stated that “a growing number of teenagers are undergoing plastic surgery to alter their appearance.” Though this may not be the intent, TikTok filters teach young people that there is an ideal way to look. Resorting to plastic surgery to gain confidence may sound drastic to some, but for many it may feel like the only solution.

As technology continues to evolve, filters are only becoming more advanced.

“Filters can have a negative impact on people, especially young people, because they warp people’s perceptions of themselves,” said 22-year-old Maya Brown.

This is why it’s important to continuously remind ourselves what’s real and what isn’t. It’s true that some filters can be fun, harmless, and even helpful, such as filters that show how you would look with a nose piercing or bleached eyebrows. However, the problem comes when we allow filters to shape how we view ourselves and what we define as beautiful.