I can't remember the last time I took a selfie without a filter. Filters offer better lighting and more vivid color-- even a flawless face.
While it's convenient to have airbrushed skin, bigger lips and a smaller nose at the snap of a picture, experts say selfie filters are having a negative impact on mental health.
Social media expert and psychologist Dr. Travis Heath says people can become obsessed with how they appear. The obsession has become progressively worse since the addition of selfie filters.
"If you add these filters, then it becomes a highlight that’s not authentic for all intents and purposes, and the problem is that we compare ourselves to this and we look at it and we go, ‘I don’t look good enough,’” said Dr. Heath in an interview with The Denver Channel. “Perhaps, it could bring about anxiety and depression for someone who doesn’t have it. And it can make it worse for somebody who is already struggling with it."
So remember Dr. Heath's words the next time you're scrolling through someone's Instagram photos. Social media is a FaceTuned altered version of reality.
Source: TheDenverChannel.com; photo: Getty Images