How Face Filters Demoralised A Generation of Young Women
In a Nutshell
Social media's evolution from simple beauty tutorials to extreme, filter-driven content like Facetune and Snapchat beautification has normalized avatar-like ideals and anti-aging obsessions in girls as young as 12, fueling body dysmorphia, Snapchat dysmorphia, and social anxiety where unedited selves feel horrifying. Platforms amplify competitive rumination on mental health and attractiveness, turning self-love messaging into hypocritical marketing that hooks users on edits for dopamine hits while deepening insecurity and aversion to real-life appearances. Real-world signs include teens hiding faces in candids and fighting over photo-editing control, mirroring pickup artists' superficial gains that widen self-loathing gaps.
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Beauty influencers like Zoella, whom the speaker grew up with, did simple back-to-school makeup tutorials that were basic and not harmful for teenage girls. Over time, competition for clicks and money has driven an arms race, forcing influencers to show more extreme content. Examples include transitioning from normal beauty tutorials to casual vlogs featuring a Brazilian butt lift as part of a standard beauty routine, and anti-aging routines escalating from simple steps to 50-step routines starting younger, with thumbnails like "you need Botox at 17" performing better. This escalation affects mental health trends, political trends, and beauty trends—social media drags everything to its extreme. Spending most waking hours on social media normalizes these extremes as sources of information on beauty, relationships, and politics.
Instagram and TikTok have shifted attractiveness toward an avatar-like ideal with a terror of aging among young women. The speaker wrote a piece about 12-year-olds on Reddit forums obsessing over wrinkles, ruminating on pictures, tracking sun exposure, and comparing anti-aging routines. Girls worry about wrinkles before puberty because influencers exaggerate neuroticism for clicks. Social media amplifies girls' natural tendency to ruminate more than boys, especially on platforms like Reddit where co-rumination escalates through one-upmanship, similar to conspiracy discussions racing to the bottom of the iceberg (e.g., Epstein from eye guy to reptile person).
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