I cringe when I see heavily filtered, obviously edited selfies. They always look horrible, fake, and desperate. I’m not sure which is worse: that the person who posted the picture thinks everyone who sees it is stupid enough not to instantly know it is a concocted fantasy image, or that the person clearly dislikes their own appearance so much that they smooth, airbrush, blur, and alter themselves into clownish oblivion.
Not surprisingly, the people most likely to abuse filters are the people who are most invested in promoting a phony life, far more concerned with the image they strategically project than with reality. I have never understood why what other people think of your life would ever be more important than how you actually live your life, but social media has warped small minds into worshipping likes and comments, while devaluing authenticity and truth.
It’s bewildering to me that someone can devote so much time and energy into filtering and editing every wrinkle, every wart, every sag, but pay no attention whatsoever to the far more offensive and decidedly more blatant blemishes of their personality. Who cares if a doctored selfie features an artificially erased complexion, when the person who shamelessly posted it is an unpleasant, deceitful, and downright toxic individual?
What is even the point to this facade? The instant someone lays eyes on you, they will see that your fraudulent image is one hell of a far cry from reality, and what then? What lies and delusions does a grown person feed themselves to prop up a ridiculous make-believe photo and pretend that is really what they look like?
The filtering trend doesn’t seem to be going anywhere and will likely just get worse, as our society descends even further into celebrating unbridled narcissism and shallowness and frivolity. Something to seriously think about, though: when your prized goal is to swipe and scribble and obscure your own face until it is unrecognizable as you…what does that ultimately say about how even you feel about you?
Sweat & Sparkle 