Whether it’s a vacation by the sea, a birthday party with friends or cocoa in the morning – taking selfies and uploading them to Instagram, WhatsApp or Snapchat is a matter of course for many of us. Children and young people also want to share pictures of themselves and their experiences with others – and preferably in the best possible light. In the past, only professionals could edit photos to make a face look “perfect”. Today, this is very easy with apps and their image editing options, such as face filters.
On Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat users can take photos directly in the app and select a filter beforehand. Filters are placed virtually over the photo or video taken. This makes it quick and easy to integrate funny elements such as elf ears, beards or butterflies into the photo or video. In addition to fun filters, so-called gender swap filters and beauty filters are very popular.
Gender swap filters make it possible to convert female into male and male into female. Beauty filters, such as the YouCam Makeup app, change the person’s face and adapt it to certain specifications. Features such as skin texture, hair and eye color or facial features can be changed. AI-supported image generators that reshape people in the style of famous paintings, for example, are also popular.
The choice of filters is unlimited and is constantly growing. Children and young people find it funny and entertaining. They can also use filters to slip into other roles and try their hand. Sometimes filters even provide more anonymity, since the face is not always recognizable.
Beauty filters are used to quickly “prettify” your own face and adapt it to a certain ideal of beauty. Some young people feel more comfortable with filtered selfies than presenting their true selves in public.
With apps like Spark AR Studio, you can design your own filters and use them on Instagram. Young people can thus imitate the filters of their role models. There are even small trends and challenges developing with face filters, such as the Yearbook Challenge with retro filters. Challenges with family and friends like the #funnyfilterchallenge on TikTok are especially fun.
Big eyes, narrow nose, pouty mouth and perfect complexion – face filters can convey a very one-sided image of beauty and gender images. If young people often see such pictures of their idols on social media, this can give the impression that their own bodies are not normal and beautiful and that they must look just as perfect. As a result, they resort to filters that distort their own ego.
As young people’s self-confidence is not yet firmly established, they compare themselves strongly with other people and with widespread ideals of beauty. They may not like pictures of themselves without filters or how they really look. Yet at least some people meet the usual expectations of beauty. Gender-swap filters can convey a false gender image. They are mostly stereotypical and only differentiate between male and female. Some of them are also associated with costs or collect or store personal data.
A counter-movement in social media is called “body positivity” or #nofilter or#nofilterneeded. Images posted under these hashtags aim to show real people without using filters. However, there is no guarantee that the photos are filter-free.
Understand your child’s enthusiasm for Face Filter when it’s all about fun and creativity. Have them show you what filters your child is using. Talk to him about filters that are supposed to make you more beautiful and what is really behind them. Make it clear that filtered images have little to do with reality and encourage them to do without filters from time to time. You can also show your child in the app settings of social media platforms how to “Like” posts on e.g. Instagram can hide. This can reduce the pressure to get as many likes as possible. Browse the web together for photos tagged with the hashtags #nofilter or #facepositivity . Talk about your own self-image and encourage your child to accept themselves and see themselves as beautiful.
