SNAPCHAT DYSMORPHIA

Today I ponder plastic surgery and social media filters. What say you on these topics?

In news this week, there have been many reports about something the media is calling: Snapchat Dysmorphia. (Don’t you just love when they come up with these catchphrases everyone latches onto?)  CBS reported: “Plastic surgeons are sounding the alarm on a disturbing trend that's emerged with the growing popularity of social media: patients seeking cosmetic surgery to resemble how they see themselves in Snapchat filters,” which has “people requesting fuller lips, bigger eyes, or a thinner nose in order to look like the filtered or photo-edited versions of themselves.”

I have longed worried about this. Not the plastic surgery idea. I never in my wildest imagination thought that it would lead to plastic surgery increases to this extent, but I have worried about the foolish filters and annoying filter of Snapchat. (Sorry to those who love them. That is your call.) I remember when Snapchat first got popular, and I said to my hairdresser: “I don’t get it? What is the difference between that and other forms of social media formats?” And she responded: “You can make yourself look so much prettier and cuter. Look I’ll show you. Everyone looks good in these filters!”

They do? Bunny noses? Or big ol’ Puss ‘n’ Boots eyes? Bubble heads? I didn’t get it. Still don’t. And refuse to get it. I’ve blogged about body image denial before and its devastating effects (SEE ARTICLE HERE ) as well as INTERPERSONAL ISSUES FROM SOCIAL MEDIA, but this goes even further. Altering one’s body and face to LOOK like the fake pictures is startling. Doctors themselves who make a living off plastic surgery are saying that these trends “lead to the development of body dysmorphic disorder, or BDD, a mental health condition in which a person is preoccupied with a nonexistent or minor flaw in their physical appearance.”

We all dislike things about our bodies or faces. But isn’t that what makes us unique? Too-large breasts that hurt our backs or too-small breasts that make clothes shopping so disheartening we may fall into depression may be reason for plastic surgery. A deformity of some sort or a health risk may be other reasons. And maybe these things or others aid in people's self-esteem and so does a world of good for them. I don't know.

But these Snapchat filter requests are for little things. Minute. Things only the "filter user" or "snapchatter" sees in him/herself. And the plastic surgery is to address these little flaws (real or perceived) with big consequences. It’s alarming to say the least. Why are we going backwards when it comes to appearances and looks? I thought we were moving in a more substantive direction, but this is proving the contrary. We're becoming more and more superficial, and I have no idea why. Is it technology? Is it that for the first time, we have ways to combat our physical insecurities? But. It's. Not. Real! Does any of that matter to anyone anymore? Are the lines of real and fantasy becoming so blurred that there is no difference?

And this plastic surgery is no longer a thing for celebrities. The increase in plastic surgery is directly related to selfies and social media. “The number of people seeking plastic surgery because they want to improve how they look in selfies has been increasing. A 2017 survey from the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery sound that 55 percent of surgeons report seeing patients who mention selfies as a reason for requesting surgery.”

Further, something I echoed in my earlier blog above, a Boston University study stated that the “impact of digitally-perfected selfies may be especially harmful to young people… Filtered selfies especially can have harmful effects on adolescents or those with BDD because these groups may more severely internalize this beauty standard.”

So where does that leave us? And where do everyday people get the money for plastic surgery? They probably can’t, and therefore, wallow in self-hatred behind filters and social media, becoming more and more trapped in a virtual reality. Will the future bring us only virtual interactions where we can use Snapchat to alter our noses and eyes? Will we ever meet people in person again, too afraid they won’t like our REAL noses and eyes? Or will the future basically turn people into perfect clones of each other, robots?
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I do fear for the future and choose NOT to use Snapchat. I don’t show my face on social media because I can’t and because of what I write in a world of what I call: Erotica Judgmentals. 😊 (Like that?). I can't tell you how many times I've talked about that. (CLICK HERE for one.) So a big sorry goes out to all my students who will have to look at my mug for 15 long weeks soon. Oh well. Reality’s a bitch. Get used to it.

Arti:cle used
CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/snapchat-dysmorphia-selfies-driving-people-to-plastic-surgery-doctors-warn/. 6 August 2018.