Snapchat Dysmorphia: How Photo Editing impacts Body Image

After multiple attempts at getting the best lighting and angle, you have clicked a selfie, edited out the imperfections, applied the best filter and you’re about to share your picture with the world, but does the flawlessness in your pictures reflect your true self? Social media being an integral part of our lives, has heavily impacted society’s standards of beauty and with the introduction of filters, lighting and other editing features provided via apps, it has permanently altered people’s perceived notions of perfection.

In the current era, there’s a blatant obsession with looking thinner, having blemish-free skin and perfect pictures. Looking flawless on social media has become an effortless affair, with various social media apps like Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat providing photo filtering and editing within the app itself.

Read More: Survey Reveals Mixed Impact of Social Media on GenZ Well-Being

What is Snapchat Dysmorphia?

British cosmetic surgeon Dr. Tijion Esho coined the term ‘Snapchat Dysmorphia’, which brought forth an alarming trend of patients (usually youngsters) looking for cosmetic surgeries to look similar to the heavily altered or filtered versions of themselves on their Snapchat app. Usually, young patients approach cosmetic surgeons with pictures of celebrities or models that they want to look similar to, but now youngsters are bringing heavily edited selfies as a reference for their cosmetic surgeries. 

Snapchat body dysmorphia can occur when a person believes that they don’t look as good as their filtered photo. An example of Snapchat dysmorphia is a person only admiring their face when it looks thinner (as a result of using a Snapchat filter). They would try to achieve this by opting for cosmetic procedures that make their face look thinner.

In a research study done in Germany, the links between the use of social media sites, body image dissatisfaction and Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) were studied. It was found that the filters used in apps like Snapchat trigger a dysmorphic illusion and these filters cause an incongruence between the realities of individuals’ appearance and what they wish to look like. This in turn encourages users of these apps to strive for persistent enhancements to their appearance with filters and edits. The pressure to attain these impossible visuals may be a casual factor in triggering BDD.

Read More: What is Body Dysmorphic Disorder?

Connection to Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)

Snapchat dysmorphia is linked to body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), a mental disorder that leads people to become abnormally fixated with their appearance. People with BDD might:

• Either avoid looking or obsessively check their appearance in mirrors.
• Seek constant reassurance from their close ones.
• Feel anxious, depressed, stressed and ashamed of their looks.
• Incessantly compare their appearance with those of others.
• Approach medical practitioners and ask for lot of advice on their appearance.
• Undergo excessive plastic surgeries and cosmetic procedures.
• Constantly groom themselves or use heavy cosmetics.
• Hiding specific body parts and shunning social events

Impact on Body Image and Mental Health

In the journal ‘Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking’, a research study published in 2018 found that social media apps like Snapchat and Instagram were linked to eating disorders and a hyper-focus on one’s appearance. Relying on presenting an extremely edited image of yourself on social media can severely affect your mental health and make you feel inadequate for not meeting the perceived standards of beauty. This could trigger body dysmorphic disorder, eating disorders, depression, anxiety and other mental disorders.

Negative or Distorted Self Image 

Pictures taken with a ring light or other accessories and the usage of filters/editing apps can falsify a person’s self-image. When there is a fixation on the tiniest of imperfections, it leads to constant editing of perceived blemishes on those photos posted on social media. A negative body image is maintained when you tend to be highly critical of your appearance to the point that you start to believe in an internal dialogue that is judgmental of every single perceived flaw. This impacts the way you value yourself and affects your confidence, self-esteem and your self-worth. 

Read More: Why we don’t like our photos?

Cyclical pattern of stress

Dwelling on perceived flaws on your body can make you feel awful, which leads to a lot of stress and negative thoughts about your body image. You might start worrying about a particular blemish and would want to alter your appearance. So you spend your time, money and resources to correct that flaw, which can add more stress to your life, thus leading to a cyclical pattern of negative feelings, including stress and sadness. 

Anxiety and Depression 

The dominance of digital technology, social media and smartphones has strong associations with the increase in the frequency of depression and its symptoms. At any given time, so many selfies are posted on Instagram and shared through Snapchat. The recent cultural norms have led to a decrease in self-esteem and an increase in symptoms of anxiety and depression related to how we look, or how we conform to the new norms of this appearance-based culture.

Using these social apps can ironically also create a sense of loneliness and disconnection from our peers. When we see them post extremely flawless pictures from their daily life, we tend to compare our lives to theirs and find ourselves lacking in terms of how we look. These feelings of inadequacy and loneliness can exacerbate the symptoms of both depression and anxiety. 

Food disorders

We spend a lot of time focused on how we are perceived online. This makes us very conscious about our body shape, body weight, appearance and in turn our eating habits. Some recent findings have established that social media usage may partly influence the eating behaviours of children and adolescents, leading to a higher susceptibility to developing eating disorders. Prolonged exposure to any form of social media can result in severe disturbances in eating behaviour/patterns and may trigger the development of eating disorders. The most common eating disorders include binge eating, bulimia and anorexia nervosa. 

How to have a better Self-Image?

If your social media presence is constantly making you hyperaware of your perceived imperfections, you can take these steps to change your social media habits:

• In a world obsessed with appearing flawless, remember who you really are and revel in your flawsomeness (coined by model Tyra Banks). Shift your focus to the functionalities of how your body performs, not what it looks like.
• When you find yourself making strong judgments about your body or appearance that make you feel unworthy, remind yourself that you wouldn’t comment the same way about a close friend or family and treat yourself with more compassion.
• Curate your feed and ensure that your social media is not filled with people who make you feel worse about yourself. Instead, you can follow accounts that are not worryingly obsessed with appearance and reinforce a healthy body image.
• Practice monthly detoxification from all forms of digital media and rejuvenate yourself with healthier alternatives. When you experience Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) from your virtual life, indulge yourself in the inherent joy of being an active participant in your real life.
• If you’re a parent, ensure that you talk to your children about the negative impact of social media, having a healthy body image, awareness of mental disorders and the recent alarming trends leading to body dysmorphia. This will help them make informed decisions on how they spend their time virtually and about their social media habits.
• Consider professional help from psychiatrists if any of your symptoms related to body dysmorphia are severe. Counselors can be approached for guidance on healthier social media habits, body image and mild cases of anxiety, depression and food disorders.

In a desperate bid to look picture-perfect, we shouldn’t lose sight of our naturally beautiful selves and chase after perceived perfection. As we have diverse appearances, we cannot afford to be limited by the rigorous standards of beauty that we set upon ourselves.