Susan Says: Just be yourself, folks!
Quite frankly seeing digitally altered pictures of adult men and woman with mouse ears and whiskers or freckles and large eyes online is more creepy than cute.
From ‘Snapchat’ filters to facial enhancements, you name it and an app is sure to be out there languishing in internet limbo.
What’s wrong with this you ask, it’s all in good fun…but is it? Let’s be honest -the internet is where you go to present only the best side of yourself…no blemishes at all.
What is a little disconcerting however is that some folk have taken it to a whole new level with pictures popping up of bug-eyed beauties who have manipulated their pictures to such an extent that they resemble a praying mantis more than a human being.
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It certainly doesn’t take any stretch of the imagination to find people becoming dependent on these perfection apps to validate their appearance and thereby put themselves at the risk of developing unhealthy self-perceptions.
Beauty enhancing apps/filters play to our social insecurities and at a click of the button enable us to present a digitally manipulated and more socially desirable version of ourselves.
Over time it’s all too easy to forget that you don’t actually look that perfect in real life; your eyes are not that large, your face not that thin or blemish free and your nose not that aquiline.
As American philosopher Ralph W Emerson said, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
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