Sydney Lees

Impacts of Social Media with Photoshopping- My One

Around the world, many young people, especially teenage girls experience

the pressure of living up to society's standards. Our society has a beauty standard so high that

many find it impossible to live up to, except for women who already fit within the standard.

However, photoshopping can edit your insecurities or flaws and turn you into the “perfect” girl.

It could make a young girl feel powerful, or skinny but it does not show their true self, it shows

them as a teenage girl with absolutely no imperfections. These two articles recognized the fact

that everyone is supposed to fit within the standards of beauty. No one is telling you that you

have to be skinny, but the standard is always floating around and will reach one of us eventually.

Photoshopped images make teenage girls feel inferior about their looks and body by lowering

their self-esteem and confidence.

On an average day, you could be scrolling through Instagram and see a model who is on

the cover of a magazine. The chances of that photo being edited are around 90%. 90% of people

who seem like they have the perfect body, in reality, probably have flaws that big companies do

not want people to see. Real people who have modeled for a large magazine company called

Modelist, such as Zendaya, shared her response and compared the edited and unedited photos.

The differences between the two are astonishingly different and fit perfectly within the beauty

standard. If someone simply looks up celebrities or models on the covers of magazines, there is a

high probability that they are edited somehow. Olivia Mutener, author of There’s No Such Thing

As #NoFilter Anymore, interviewed a psychologist, Dr. Alexander Bingham who stated that

through her research, editing apps have drastically increased a young girl's feelings towards the
size or shape of their bodies. There are many emotionally damaging aspects of these editing

apps. Olivia Mutener stated, “… but Dr. Alexander Bingham, a psychologist in New York, says

that the use of apps like FaceTune “multiply the pressure” to be perfect” (Muntaner). Overall,

one of the biggest issues of photoshopping is the mental effects that are hidden behind the

shadows that no one sees.

Foremost, the roots of this issue come from society, where likes on a photo determine

how people see you. This simply means that the more you look like the “perfect” person with a

perfect body, people will like you. However, smartphones come with cameras that can edit your

face or body within seconds. This beauty setting could be helpful to you, according to Rhiannon

Cosslett, an average woman on Instagram posted a comparison of her edited photo and her real

photo. The woman who took the photo was completely shocked and horrified that her camera

completely changed her facial qualities. The author supported this photo with research and

proven evidence, “As many as nine out of 10 teenage girls in some schools would doctor

themselves to appear thinner, she claimed – with disturbing psychological consequences”

(Cosslett). This conveys the fact that the majority of women of any age would edit themselves to

fit within the narrative, rather than showing their authentic selves.

However, some believe that the editing of the photos can make you feel better but it

does not make you confident in your own body. Some claim that it has transformed the beauty

industry into encouraging young teens to be “fit.” According to Ohah Fried and Jennifer Jacobs,

social media has helped inspire women to change for them to feel more confident in themselves

and their bodies. Jacobs explains how this is happening and why it seems so easy to be perfect.

She reveals, “Camera-equipped smartphones greatly increased the number of people who could
photograph themselves. Similarly, social media platforms amplified the ability to share personal

portraits with others” (Jacobs/ Fried). This is referring to what was stated before about phone

cameras altering your bodily features and appearance. She continues explaining why and how

this makes young girls feel more productive and confident. Social media apps set an example and

can be a huge influence on people, especially girls' lives.

Overall, the photoshopping of your photos can lead to low self-esteem and confidence by

not making you feel comfortable in your skin. Even though social media posts can give you a

boost of confidence, it is not the right way to motivate yourself because you should always feel

comfortable in your skin. No matter what, photoshopping can have astonishing effects on your

mental health. If editing apps are used less often, and not for the wrong purposes, we could live

in a society where everybody respects each other and is confident in themselves.

 Works Cited

Agrawala, Ohad Fried, Jennifer Jacobs, Adam Finkelstein, Maneesh. “Editing Self-Image.”

Cacm.acm.org, 6 Apr. 2020,

cacm.acm.org/magazines/2020/3/243031-editing-self-image/fulltext. Accessed 15 Mar.

2022.

Cosslett, Rhiannon Lucy. “Thinner, Smoother, Better: In the Era of Retouching, That’s What

Girls Have to Be.” The Guardian, 28 Nov. 2017 (Image also in article

MUENTER, OLIVIA. “There’s No Such Thing As #NoFilter Anymore.” Girls’ Life 26, no. 2 (October 2019):

64–65.