March 2, 2023 - 4:08pm
Once, augmented reality (AR) filters offered by social media platforms were playful gimmicks, merrily inviting users into a virtual dress-up box. AR filters work by superimposing a computer-generated effect on top of a real-world image, usually one’s own face. Why not see yourself with puppy ears? Why not give vomiting rainbows a try?
Yet, steadily, AR filters have morphed from a harmless novelty into sophisticated, real-time editing software that seamlessly layers onto the user’s face without a glitch, even in live videos. Given the chance to exert absolute control over our online appearance we seized it, and are now awash with the faintly eerie images that result: unblemished doll’s skin, inhuman Bambi eyes.
But in February, TikTok released an advanced new AR filter called Bold Glamour that was met with a wave of negative comments from users. Previously, if a user passed their hand over their face while using a filter, it would glitch and reveal itself. Bold Glamour is a different beast: whether a user prods their artificially plumped lips or rubs a sultry doe-like eye, it maintains its illusion. Dismayed TikTokers have labelled it “dystopian-level terrifying” and “psychological warfare and pure evil”, with fears that younger people especially will not realise others are using the filter and feel themselves deeply lacking as a result.
At school, I was the unhappy captive of many a lengthy assembly discussing airbrushed models, among fears that such images harmed our self-esteem. “Remember, girls,” a teacher would plaintively say, holding a magazine cover featuring a woman with impractically long legs, “this is not reality”. It is plausible that having partly computer-generated glamazons looming out from adverts may warp one’s sense of what is normal and attainable, so what about when it is a perfect version of one’s own face that gazes out, implacably, from the screen? A version of ourselves that can never be replicated in a mirror, or even in the eyes of those who love us.
AR filters were released in the halcyon days of 2015, when fears about social media’s impact on mental health prompted the same eye-rolling as concerns that violent video games might lead to more school shootings. But now, gripped by a teen mental health crisis, social media looks increasingly culpable.
A study of over 10,000 14-year-olds in the UK found that social media use was related to poorer body image and self-esteem. The same study found moving from two to five hours of daily social media use was associated with a doubling of depression rates for boys. For girls, the rate tripled. For anyone thinking young people are just too sensitive these days, the teenage suicide rate has increased by 58% since 2010 for American teens aged from 15 to 19. Meanwhile, the number of American girls aged between 10 and 14 hospitalised for self-harm increased by 188% between 2010 and 2020.
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SubscribeFollowing on from the article by Mary Harrington in today’s Unherd, this is a direct-from-the-frontline warning about how we deal with the potential for filters to reflect an unsustainable image of ourselves.
When i say “we”, i don’t just mean teenage girls, for this affects us all. The issues go beyond the usual trials and tribulations of teenage growth, angst (we’ve all been there) and self image.
To start with, the acceptance by teenage girls of themselves as worthy of being loved and appreciated goes a heck of a long way towards how they will eventually come to meet with a suitable mate and become the mothers of the next generation. The stats tell us that the reproduction rate is diminishing, and i don’t think the two things are unconnected.
Also, in order for males to find a suitable reproductive partner, they need to understand that females aren’t some kind of glamourous image. Women, like men, like all humans, are messy. They have off days; they wake up looking like they should – messed up. Sometimes they smell, and that’s normal (but sometimes it’s lovely). In addition, they menstruate, and it’s not pleasant.
If both girls and boys don’t understand this, or shy away from it, we really do have a problem. Back in the day, when people lived in very close proximity and before the online world allowed us to think any differently, it was impossible to avoid these realities but now, young people seem to want to escape them and have a superficial means to, at least for a while.
How this plays out over the coming months, years and decades will determine all our futures; more so than the furies aroused by climate change, perhaps even more so than the devastations wrought by conflicts such as Ukraine. Or rather, in addition to them. Such a crucial time for humanity; we must find a way through, we must persevere, we must endure.
Perhaps recognition of the problem is the first step towards our continuation. Other species don’t have that luxury; we do. Will we waste it?
Following on from the article by Mary Harrington in today’s Unherd, this is a direct-from-the-frontline warning about how we deal with the potential for filters to reflect an unsustainable image of ourselves.
When i say “we”, i don’t just mean teenage girls, for this affects us all. The issues go beyond the usual trials and tribulations of teenage growth, angst (we’ve all been there) and self image.
To start with, the acceptance by teenage girls of themselves as worthy of being loved and appreciated goes a heck of a long way towards how they will eventually come to meet with a suitable mate and become the mothers of the next generation. The stats tell us that the reproduction rate is diminishing, and i don’t think the two things are unconnected.
Also, in order for males to find a suitable reproductive partner, they need to understand that females aren’t some kind of glamourous image. Women, like men, like all humans, are messy. They have off days; they wake up looking like they should – messed up. Sometimes they smell, and that’s normal (but sometimes it’s lovely). In addition, they menstruate, and it’s not pleasant.
If both girls and boys don’t understand this, or shy away from it, we really do have a problem. Back in the day, when people lived in very close proximity and before the online world allowed us to think any differently, it was impossible to avoid these realities but now, young people seem to want to escape them and have a superficial means to, at least for a while.
How this plays out over the coming months, years and decades will determine all our futures; more so than the furies aroused by climate change, perhaps even more so than the devastations wrought by conflicts such as Ukraine. Or rather, in addition to them. Such a crucial time for humanity; we must find a way through, we must persevere, we must endure.
Perhaps recognition of the problem is the first step towards our continuation. Other species don’t have that luxury; we do. Will we waste it?
I wonder if Bold Glamour has been permitted in TikTok’s home country, China?
I wonder if Bold Glamour has been permitted in TikTok’s home country, China?
It is no wonder then that so many young girls want to become boys.
It is no wonder then that so many young girls want to become boys.
what is tok tik?
The sound a clock makes.
That would be tik tok, not tok tik as the question asked!
That would be tik tok, not tok tik as the question asked!
I understand it’s sort of like a Chinese slot machine, but it never pays off.
The sound a clock makes.
I understand it’s sort of like a Chinese slot machine, but it never pays off.
what is tok tik?
The problem is fundamental – it is absolute, it IS what it is…
Man is very flawed. We can creat great things when they honor God and this existance given to us, when they respect the spiritual and physical reality created, and work with its attributes, because existence was made by God, so is good..
AI was not created by that. It was created by Man; given its life as it were – its ability to create was given by our flawed selves.
Now when we are not honoring God, we are yielding to the Devil. Our hands, when not doing God’s work, or good works, are prone to be directed from the other side, from evil rather than good.
Check out AI Art – it is Creepy, super creepy – no matter even if it is pretty – there is some twisted character or quality peering out. As the demonic is peering out of AI art – so it is out of all AI’s works – as they are not from God’s creation, but from the other side.
AI Is Dark – it just is. The more it interacts with us the more evil it will be influencing us with.
The problem is fundamental – it is absolute, it IS what it is…
Man is very flawed. We can creat great things when they honor God and this existance given to us, when they respect the spiritual and physical reality created, and work with its attributes, because existence was made by God, so is good..
AI was not created by that. It was created by Man; given its life as it were – its ability to create was given by our flawed selves.
Now when we are not honoring God, we are yielding to the Devil. Our hands, when not doing God’s work, or good works, are prone to be directed from the other side, from evil rather than good.
Check out AI Art – it is Creepy, super creepy – no matter even if it is pretty – there is some twisted character or quality peering out. As the demonic is peering out of AI art – so it is out of all AI’s works – as they are not from God’s creation, but from the other side.
AI Is Dark – it just is. The more it interacts with us the more evil it will be influencing us with.
“glamazons”
That’s pretty funny! You should copyright it!
“glamazons”
That’s pretty funny! You should copyright it!
Bold Filter? Say no to TikTok.
Bold Filter? Say no to TikTok.
What all this body imagine stuff with girls is a courages social movement of women rejecting all this stuff.
What?
That would be mixing benzos and booze.
That would be mixing benzos and booze.
What?
What all this body imagine stuff with girls is a courages social movement of women rejecting all this stuff.
Very nice post. Thanks for sharing
Of all the problems with social media, beautification filters seem like a pretty low priority item.
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all..