An interesting article in Forbes magazine, From ‘Instagram Face” to “Snapchat Dysmorphia”: How Beauty filters are Changing the Way we See Ourselves, has brought to the forefront an issue that has been around since media has been and one I have tackled extensively both in this blog and in my book, Social LEADia: Moving students from Digital Citizenship to Digital Leadership.
Phillippa Diedrichs, a psychologist at the Centre of Appearance Research at the University of West England, who did some recent research for the Dove Self-Esteen project had this to say:
“Adolescence is a key developmental period for the onset of depression, body image concerns and eating disorders, therefore they’re a high risk group,” says Diedrichs, citing Dove’s latest findings that 52% of girls use filters every day and 80% have used an app to change their appearance before the age of 13…
77% of girls studied in Dove’s latest study reported trying to change or hide at least one part of their body before posting a photo of themselves and 50% believed they didn’t look good enough without photo editing.
“This suggests that the cumulative effect of filters and digital distortion over time is creating low self-worth among girls and young women,”
Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok all allow people to filter their faces and this is leading to people taking to cosmetic surgery to modify their faces to look like their filtered selves.
This was a recent conversation in my own household; except it wasn’t my daughters who were applying the filters, it was me (showing that none of us are immune to the more polished version of our filtered selves). When I got my Google for Education t-shirt (presenting at the @isteconnects Google Playground 🎉) I was excited to show off my swag. I took a few photos, asked my daughter to take a few and hated them all. And so, I used a Snapchat filter. The result? The laugh lines around my eyes and lips, and my age spots disappeared. Even as adults, we are tempted to show a different version of ourselves and over time, this can be harmful.
At school:
- Start your class with this conversation starter: Every photo posted online that is filtered or altered should have a disclaimer on it.
- Use the Media Triangle to reinforce that media is a construction of reality
- Read the Forbes Article with your class using a KWL or Clone the Author graphic organizer
- Start class off with this Would You Rather scenario: Would you rather see your friends as a (Snapchat/Instagram/TikTok) filter or see yourself
- The Dove Self Esteem Project offers “Confident Me” lessons and videos for implementation into a Language Arts or Media class. Check it out here.
- Check out the Media Smarts resources on Body Image and Media here
- Check your posts. If you have a class account, do you often use filters? Do you focus on work or student faces? “Think Aloud” as you make these decisions and ensure you include the class in the discussion.
At home:
In my upcoming book, Raising Digital Leaders I provide ideas and conversation starters to help support body image including the following:
- Reinforce that media is a construct-it is a version of reality that has been created by someone;
- Model authenticity as much as possible prior to your own child even getting a phone;
- Continue to ask, “Is there a filter on that?” Or “I wonder how many times they had to take that photo for it to look so perfect;
- Pay attention if your own child only shares perfect versions of themselves and talk about what’s going on;
- Check out the Dove Self Esteem project link for parents here