The desire for body diversity is growing, and ideals of beauty are increasingly being questioned. Despite this, more and more people are being seduced by beauty filters on social networks. The filter on Instagram and TikTok, in particular, is causing a stir because it allows users to conjure up flawless makeup and a few beauty corrections on their faces in their videos with the click of a button. The end product looks relatively real compared to other filters, which often look like they've been image-edited. In an interview with the NY Times, communication and media psychologist Rebecca Klineman explains why many people find such applications exciting, but they can also skew our perceptions.

Ms. Klineman, common ideals of beauty are increasingly being questioned and challenged these days. Why do so many people still use filters - on TikTok or Instagram, for example - to make their noses look smaller, their skin look finer, and their mouths look fuller?

The bodies and faces we see in the media, in advertising, and on social networks like TikTok and Instagram have indeed become more diverse. This is welcome. At the same time, it gives the impression that ideals of beauty are also changing. Beauty filters, however, show us that this is not the case. Features such as a narrow nose, clear, wrinkle-free skin, full lips, and large eyes are apparently still considered beautiful and desirable by many people. We suggest that there are biological reasons for this.

Can you explain that?

The filters make people look younger. And we find a youthful appearance attractive for evolutionary biological reasons, because we associate it with good reproductive potential. The boom in beauty filters also shows us how deeply rooted traditional beauty ideals are in our society. It will probably take several generations to change them. The problem is that the filters greatly overemphasize the features that many people consider beautiful. They create ideals that are unattainable for the vast majority of people.

And that, in turn, affects many others in the psyche.

Exactly. Posting, liking, and commenting on idealized images puts pressure on people and can lower their self-esteem. This promotes feelings of inadequacy and, in extreme cases, can make people unhappy or contribute to the development of an eating disorder. Of course, the filters are not solely to blame, but they do provide a breeding ground.

Scientists talk about "Snapchat dysmorphia". This refers to the self-doubt that can result from constantly editing selfies. One young woman, for example, writes on Instagram that she no longer considers herself beautiful without a filter.

The phenomenon is real. And this is not surprising. If I constantly correct and manipulate the photos I take of myself with filters, I create an ideal of myself that has little to do with reality, which in turn leads to dissatisfaction and self-doubt. This is another reason why the number of cosmetic surgeries has been increasing for years - and will remain significantly high or even increase in the coming years.

Teenagers and young adults seem to be particularly vulnerable. Why is that?

Adolescence is by nature a vulnerable time. Young people are emancipating themselves from their parents, striving for autonomy, and questioning who they are and who they want to be. In addition, the body is changing and hormones are in a state of flux, causing moods to fluctuate. People whose self-esteem is not yet so stable may then try to reinforce it through their appearance, combined with the idea that if I am beautiful, I am happy, I belong, and I am liked. This can be a reason for young people to manipulate their faces with filters. It is also problematic that the many edited faces can lead to a change in our prototype of beauty.

Explain further.

We judge attractiveness based on a kind of prototype that represents what we find attractive and against which we judge ourselves and the people around us. This prototype is formed by the sum of our life experiences, i.e. the mass of faces we see. As a result, we tend to find average-looking faces particularly attractive, i.e., those with average features: medium nose, medium chin, and so on. However, as this mass of images from which we form our prototype becomes more and more composed of artificially manipulated faces, it becomes more and more distant from reality.

The prototype against which we measure the world and form our ideals of beauty no longer reflects the average.

Exactly. For adolescents and young adults, whose prototype is not yet so consolidated or really strongly manifested in the brain structures, this is of course particularly dangerous. This can lead them to perceive themselves and others as less beautiful. With increasing life experience, this can perhaps be corrected somewhat. But it would probably take a lot of time and massive interventions, such as not wearing artificially made-up faces.

This is not a new phenomenon. In fact, we are familiar with edited faces and unrealistic body images from numerous commercials, toys such as Barbie dolls, or even Walt Disney movies.

The difference, though, is the sheer number of images we're exposed to these days, and the fact that everyone can edit their own selfies. That wasn't the case in the past, when we might have walked past a few posters of photoshopped people and then flipped through a fashion magazine. And it's not just photos that can be manipulated, but videos as well. Labels like "This photo or video has been altered" are of little help here, as our facial recognition programs work in milliseconds and mistake photos for images of reality.

In the UK, influencers will even be banned from using filters to promote certain effects of cosmetic products in 2021. Is that a step in the right direction?

This is at least a signal. However, it is difficult to ban filters; in fact, not every filter is harmful. In addition to beauty filters, there are also filters that can be used to remove red eyes and thus correctly identify the face of the person depicted. Or a filter that reduces the size of the image, which is an environmentally friendly way to post images on the relevant platforms, especially in times of climate catastrophe, and reduces CO2 emissions.

So can the use of filters have a positive effect?

As teens and young adults question who they are, filters could help them try on different identities and test themselves. A playful approach might even help them stop taking their appearance so seriously. But these are just hypotheses that we need to test scientifically - especially since this requires a high level of media literacy that parents and teachers not only teach, but also model. As with any medium, it probably comes down to how filters are used. Filters themselves are not dangerous.