INTRO

While scrolling through social media platforms have you ever looked at a photo and
thought, “That person is so beautiful, they look almost inhuman”? We notice people
having smooth and bright skin, clearly defined facial features-everything looks flawless.
That’s because most photos on social media aren’t real – they’re filtered or edited to
wipe out signs of imperfections. The fine lines are erased, the textured skin is
smoothened, noses are made slimmer and teeth are whiter.
Social media sites offer a variety of filters which are a creation of augmented reality
which make us look different or maybe appealing or attractive which most social media
users wish to be.

Filters have become an integral part of social media culture, enabling users to enhance
their visual appeal and also contribute to the overall aesthetic of an individual's social
media presence.

On our Instagram feed or Snapchat stories, we get to see photographs of people of all
age-groups with heart eyes, animated depictions, Disney-inspired graphics which are
created using funny and cute filters which are quite fun and harmless.

However, not all filters are meant to be cute or funny. There are filters termed as
‘beauty filters’ which allow us to smooth out your skin, sculpt your face or even change
our skin color. Beauty filters are inherently racist, by changing the skin color to look
fairer, narrowing noses, sharpening, shrinking and enhancing our faces and even
altering the eye shape only to shift the users' facial features toward the Eurocentric
beauty standards. These filters geared towards beauty modification have advanced
greatly so much in recent years that the usage of these beauty filters is harming our
collective mental health.

Back in the physical world, we’re real humans with blemishes and other
“imperfections” which we often do not want to accept.