Goodbye filter: editing photos of yourself makes you insecure

Honestly: we all do it. Just that sunny filter on top, because it looks a bit nicer.

Just get rid of those bags under your eyes, make the background a bit whiter and while you're at it, make your skin a bit smoother.

It's so easy nowadays: editing a photo of yourself and digitally reconstructing your face. But it doesn't make you happier, researchers say now. And here's how it goes. Australian psychologists had 130 women aged between 17 and 29 first take some selfies with an iPad with the instruction: post this on social media later. They could edit one photo for a maximum of ten minutes using the app ‘YouCam Perfect’. You can do a lot with that: from removing wrinkles and blemishes to making your face thinner, enlarging your eyes, or whitening your teeth. The women got to work on their own virtual face and were happier with their retouched selfie. But now the pitfall in the story. They felt, when they looked in the mirror, uglier than ever. That's logical: if you edit your face in an app to look as perfect as you would like, the chance increases that you won't find your real face without filters and smoothing tools that attractive.

This is also evident from the research. On average, the women spent 4.5 minutes beautifying their own face. The longer they were busy with the adjustments, the worse their mood and the stronger the dissatisfaction with their face. In short: the more you adjust yourself in a selfie, the more insecure you ultimately become. It's important to just share some more honest photos with the outside world. A sunny filter: well, that's just of this time. But making your body thinner, getting rid of your double chin, hiding your freckles? Such a shame. Because that's not really you. Why would you want to show that to followers on Instagram?

Did you know that women around 25 spend five hours a week on a photo of themselves and that every ten seconds, ten selfies are posted on Instagram? I was shocked and suddenly thought of MSN in the year 2004. I spent my younger years on that and yes, you needed a profile picture next to a name with three song titles and a wilted rose. One you made behind your desk, with your webcam. But how smooth your skin was there, no one saw, because the quality of photos back then consisted of three pixels. Your face was more blurry and black-and-white grain than anyone could even notice a half bag. So you see: not everything gets better with time.

Source: Quest