{"id":1325,"date":"2023-10-31T10:02:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T17:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/scribe\/?p=1325"},"modified":"2026-10-06T10:03:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T17:03:19","slug":"face-filters-augmenting-or-losing-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/scribe\/2023\/10\/31\/face-filters-augmenting-or-losing-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Face Filters: Augmenting or Losing Reality?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Face Filters: Augmenting or Losing Reality?<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n By<\/span>Shanna Finnigan<\/strong>\n \n October 31, 2023<\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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After acquiring Looksery, a specialized face-tracking technology from Ukraine, Snapchat introduced the first widely used set of \u201cLenses\u201d- AR face filters that merged the user\u2019s real world with the digital world inside their phone. They have since been pioneers in the AR filter scene, and even democratized filter creation with the release of their desktop app Lens Studio in 2017. Shortly after Instagram launched their \u201cStories\u201d feature in 2016, they released their own AR filter capabilities alongside it, developing the SparkAR creator studio to allow individuals to make filters themselves (INDE<\/a>). Soon after, Tiktok rose to popularity, pairing face filters with specific sounds- this is where we\u2019ve seen face filters become associated with meaningful trends. They\u2019ve become so much more powerful than creators and users alike could have imagined- for better or for worse.<\/p>\n

The Good: Immersing Audiences and Enhancing Creativity<\/p>\n

The growing popularity of face filters has made them key to successful marketing campaigns, particularly in the entertainment industry. The Barbie filter that came out on Tiktok in conjunction with the release of the movie this past summer was a huge moment in social media marketing history. When the user put their smartphone camera in front of their face, the filter was able to trace their face, separating the subject(the user) from their background. The background was replaced by the widely-recognized\u00a0\u201cThis Barbie\u2026\u201d poster<\/a>\u00a0that had been a center stone in the Barbie movie marketing campaign when the cast was released. Effectively, the filter was able to splice the user themselves into a piece of the Barbie world. AR is a level of immersion that can prove very helpful to brands for this very reason- it allows users to directly interact with their brand, from their own home, wherever they are, at any time of day. The Barbie filter made users feel unique, like they too, could be Barbie.<\/p>\n

Unlike other immersive mediums, like VR, augmented reality is accessible to anyone with a smartphone- which is why, of course, we have AR filters and apps like Pokemon Go at our fingertips. It uses your smartphone\u2019s camera lens, sensors, gyroscope, and accelerometer to constantly measure your space in real-time, so that virtual objects can appear to exist according to the conditions (lighting, space, etc.) of reality (ACAD217). It is possible for anyone to create a simple filter in their own home, on their personal devices, with little to no programming knowledge. As such, AR filter creation has fostered a community of talented individuals across the world. To many, it\u2019s an art form, a mode of self-expression, a way of interpreting the world and allowing people to interact with it in new ways.<\/p>\n

Filters have the ability to quite literally twist the world as we view it with the bare eye, and turn it into something magical. This distortion of reality, of course, can also be detrimental to young people\u2019s worldview.<\/p>\n

The Bad: Unhealthy Comparison and Disconnecting from our Physical Reality<\/p>\n

Especially with filters that warp the appearance of the user, researchers have found there to be prominent negative effects of this AR technology on mental health. While many face filters are fun and experimental, some of the most popular filters are \u201cbeauty filters\u201d- which are exactly what they sound like. These are filters that distort or overlay the user\u2019s face to appear what they deem to be more \u201cattractive\u201d, i.e. slimming cheeks, adding makeup, removing scars or acne. This can be problematic for two reasons. One, it can lead the user to hold themselves to an unrealistic standard, created by these highly-manufactured face filters. Two, as social media feeds get populated with picture-perfect, filtered faces, it sets an unrealistic expectation. In both circumstances, the user compares themselves to a version of reality that doesn\u2019t exist in the real world- in the real world, people have pores, they have asymmetrical faces, and they have white hairs. Face filters have a way of creating beauty standards that are impossible to live up to as a human being in the real (as opposed to digital) world.<\/p>\n

A study by City University of London from 2021 interviewed 175 research participants on their social media filter usage. There were some striking findings. 90% of female participants on the younger end of the spectrum reported either editing their photos or using filters (Newport Institute<\/a>). Of all participants, 94% reported that on social media, they felt under pressure to look a particular way. More than half of those participants said the pressure was intense (Newport Institute<\/a>). Face filters exacerbate the already damaging effects of unrealistic social media portrayals.<\/p>\n

Where does that leave us?<\/p>\n

Tech is always a Pandora\u2019s Box. With great innovation, as cheesy as it sounds, comes with great responsibility! It is important that we harness the creative and immersive power of AR filters to enable authentic expression. Transparency, first and foremost, is very important in breaking down harmful beauty standards online. Many creators have already taken efforts to deconstruct the expectations set in place by social media filters, sharing photos and videos of themselves without the beautification layer on. The next step is for social media platforms themselves to encourage and build in digital literacy tools to help users (especially young and impressionable users) navigate their apps knowledgeably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1036,"featured_media":1292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-past-editor-blogs","category-virtuality-and-culture"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFace Filters: Augmenting or Losing Reality?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/scribe\/2023\/10\/31\/face-filters-augmenting-or-losing-reality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Face Filters: Augmenting or Losing Reality? 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