{"id":14646,"date":"2025-05-28T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=14646"},"modified":"2025-05-26T17:23:39","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T17:23:39","slug":"selfie-editing-apps-ai-beauty-standards-youth-mental-health-may-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/selfie-editing-apps-ai-beauty-standards-youth-mental-health-may-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Perfect bodies and perfect lives\u2019: how\u00a0selfie-editing\u00a0tools are distorting how young people see\u00a0themselves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n \n
\n \n Olena Yakobchuk\/Shutterstock<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n Julia Coffey<\/a>, University of Newcastle<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

Like many of her peers, Abigail (21) takes a lot of selfies, tweaks them with purpose-made apps, and posts them on social media. But, she says, the selfie-editing apps do more than they were designed for:<\/p>\n\n

\n

You look at that idealised version of yourself and you just want it \u2013 you just want it to be real [\u2026] the more you do it, the better you get at it and the more subtle your editing is the easier it is to actually see yourself as that version.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Abigail was one of nearly 80 young people my colleagues and I interviewed as part of research into selfie-editing technologies. The findings, recently published<\/a> in New Media & Society, are cause for alarm. They show selfie-editing technologies have significant impacts for young people\u2019s body image and wellbeing. <\/p>\n\n

Carefully curating an online image<\/h2>\n\n

Many young people carefully curate how they appear online. One reason for this is to negotiate the intense pressures of visibility in a digitally-networked world. <\/p>\n\n

Selfie-editing technologies enable this careful curation. <\/p>\n\n

The most popular selfie-editing apps include Facetune, Faceapp, and Meitu. They offer in-phone editing tools from lighting, colour and photo adjustments to \u201ctouch ups\u201d such as removing blemishes. <\/p>\n\n

These apps also offer \u201cstructural\u201d edits. These mimic cosmetic surgery procedures such as rhinoplasty (more commonly known as nose jobs) and facelifts. They also offer filters including an \u201cageing\u201d filter, \u201cgender swap\u201d tool, and \u201cmake up\u201d and hairstyle try-ons. <\/p>\n\n

The range of editing options and incredible attention to details and correction of so-called \u201cflaws\u201d these apps offer encourage the user to forensically analyse their face and body, making a series of micro changes with the tap of a finger.<\/p>\n\n

\n \"A<\/a>\n
\n Facetune is one of the most popular selfie-editing apps among young people.<\/span>\n Facetune<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n

A wide range of editing practices<\/h2>\n\n

The research team I led included Amy Dobson (Curtin University), Akane Kanai (Monash University), Rosalind Gill (University of London) and Niamh White (Monash University). We wanted to understand how image-altering technologies were experienced by young people, and whether these tools impacted how they viewed themselves. <\/p>\n\n

We conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 33 young people aged between 18-24. We also ran 13 \u201cselfie-editing\u201d group workshops with 56 young people aged 18\u201324 who take selfies, and who use editing apps in Melbourne and Newcastle, Australia.<\/p>\n\n

Most participants identified as either \u201cfemale\u201d or \u201ccis woman\u201d (56). There were 12 who identified as either \u201cnon-binary\u201d, \u201cgenderfluid\u201d or \u201cquestioning\u201d, and 11 who identified as \u201cmale\u201d or \u201ccis man\u201d. They identified as from a range of ethnic, racial and cultural backgrounds.<\/p>\n\n

Facetune was the most widely-used facial-editing app. Participants also used Snapseed, Meitu, VSCO, Lightroom and the built-in beauty filters which are now standard in newer Apple or Samsung smartphones. <\/p>\n\n

Editing practices varied from those who irregularly made only minor edits such as lighting and cropping, to those who regularly used beauty apps and altered their faces and bodies in forensic detail, mimicking cosmetic surgical interventions. <\/p>\n\n

Approximately one third of participants described currently or previously making dramatic or \u201cstructural\u201d edits through changing the dimensions of facial features. These edits included reshaping noses, cheeks, head size, shoulders or waist \u201ccinching\u201d. <\/p>\n\n

Showcasing your \u2018best self\u2019<\/h2>\n\n

Young people told us that selfie taking and editing was an important way of showing \u201cwho they are\u201d to the world. <\/p>\n\n

As one participant told us, it\u2019s a way of saying \u201cI\u2019m here, I exist\u201d. But they also said the price of being online, and posting photos of themselves, meant they were aware of being seen alongside a set of images showing \u201cperfect bodies and perfect lives\u201d. <\/p>\n\n

Participants told us they assume \u201ceveryone\u2019s photos have been edited\u201d. To keep up with this high standard, they needed to also be adept at editing photos to display their \u201cbest self\u201d \u2013 aligning with gendered and racialised beauty ideals.<\/p>\n\n

Photo-editing apps and filters were seen as a normal and expected way to achieve this. However, using these apps was described as a \u201cslippery slope\u201d, or a \u201cPandora\u2019s box\u201d, where \u201conce you start editing it\u2019s hard to stop\u201d.<\/p>\n\n

Young women in particular described feeling that the \u201cbaseline standard to just feel normal\u201d feels higher than ever, and that appearance pressures are intensifying. <\/p>\n\n

Many felt image-altering technologies such as beauty filters and editing apps are encouraging them to want to change their appearance \u201cin real life\u201d through cosmetic non-surgical procedures such as fillers and Botox.<\/p>\n\n

As one participant, Amber (19), told us: <\/p>\n\n

\n

I feel like a lot of plastic surgeries are now one step further than a filter. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Another participant, Freya (20), described a direct link between editing photos and cosmetic enhancement procedures. <\/p>\n\n

\n

Ever since I started [editing my body in photos], I wanted to change it in real life [\u2026] That\u2019s why I decided to start getting lip and cheek filler.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n \"Small<\/a>\n
\n Editing apps are encouraging some young people to want to change their appearance by using Botox.<\/span>\n Thiti Sukapan\/Shutterstock<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n

Altering the relationship between technology and the human experience<\/h2>\n\n

These findings suggest image-editing technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) filters and selfie-editing apps, have significant impacts for young people\u2019s body image and wellbeing. <\/p>\n\n

The rapid expansion of generative AI in \u201cbeauty cam\u201d technologies in the cosmetic and beauty retail industries makes it imperative to study these impacts, as well as how young people experience these new technologies. <\/p>\n\n

These cameras are able to visualise \u201cbefore and after\u201d on a user\u2019s face with minute forensic detail. <\/p>\n\n

These technologies, through their potential to alter relationship between technology and the human experience at the deepest level, may have devastating impacts on key youth mental health concerns such as body image.\"The<\/p>\n\n

Julia Coffey<\/a>, Associate Professor in Sociology, University of Newcastle<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Olena Yakobchuk\/Shutterstock Julia Coffey, University of Newcastle Like many of her peers, Abigail (21) takes a lot of…\n","protected":false},"author":1212,"featured_media":14648,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/b\/b5\/TWC_Hokitika_Gorge_%E2%80%A2_Stewart_Nimmo_%E2%80%A2_MRD_1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[11008,11018,10999,11004,11015,11009,11007,11011,11006,11010,11001,11012,10995,10994,11013,11019,11017,11003,10996,11016,11021,11000,11022,10993,10997,10992,11020,11014,10998,11005,11002,10049],"class_list":{"0":"post-14646","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-and-body","8":"tag-ai-and-beauty-standards","9":"tag-ai-beauty-filters","10":"tag-ai-in-cosmetic-retail","11":"tag-augmented-reality-beauty-apps","12":"tag-beauty-apps-and-body-image","13":"tag-beauty-filters-mental-health","14":"tag-beauty-tech-and-youth-wellbeing","15":"tag-body-image-and-social-media","16":"tag-cosmetic-filters-and-self-identity","17":"tag-cosmetic-surgery-influence","18":"tag-digital-cosmetic-enhancements","19":"tag-digital-self-presentation","20":"tag-editing-apps-and-self-worth","21":"tag-faceapp-impact","22":"tag-facetune-effects","23":"tag-filtered-selfies","24":"tag-gendered-beauty-standards","25":"tag-generative-ai-beauty-tools","26":"tag-meitu-app","27":"tag-photo-editing-and-self-esteem","28":"tag-photo-editing-apps-for-young-people","29":"tag-photo-retouching-apps","30":"tag-selfie-culture","31":"tag-selfie-editing-addiction","32":"tag-selfie-editing-apps","33":"tag-social-media-and-cosmetic-surgery","34":"tag-social-media-appearance-pressure","35":"tag-structural-photo-edits","36":"tag-visual-self-perception","37":"tag-youth-and-appearance-anxiety","38":"tag-youth-digital-body-dysmorphia","39":"tag-youth-mental-health","40":"cs-entry","41":"cs-video-wrap"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1212"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14646"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14647,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14646\/revisions\/14647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}