This story is jointly published as part of the Utah College Media Collaborative, a cross-campus project bringing together emerging journalists from Salt Lake Community College, Southern Utah University, the University of Utah, Utah Tech University and Weber State University. The collaborative is an Amplify Utah project with support from PBS Utah and POV.
Before discovering Instagram filters, Lauren Bohanan said she never worried about how she looked online.
“I didn’t even know Instagram had filters until my friends at the time always told me to use them,” said the Utah native and bioengineering major at the University of Colorado Boulder. “It bred a lot of insecurity that I never had before.”
Those insecurities, she added, eventually contributed to body dysmorphia and influenced her decision to get lip fillers.
Bohanan’s experience reflects the broader impact of Augmented Reality, or AR, beauty filters on college students’ self-perception. While Meta removed third-party AR and beauty filters from its apps on Jan. 14, these digital alterations have already become fixtures on most social media platforms, increasing pressure on young adults to conform to unrealistic beauty standards.
Before 2015, Instagram offered only its original filters such as X-Pro II, Earlybird and Apollo, which allowed users to capture the essence of vintage worn-out Polaroids or achieve a “Tumblr-esque” aesthetic; a hipster lifestyle striving for uniqueness and individuality which later became a niche in of itself. However, many of these nostalgic tools have been eclipsed by the rise of AR filters – digital overlays that augment the real world seen through a smartphone camera and add other elements to the images.
AR filters have rapidly developed since their arrival on social media. Beauty filters can contort facial features and body appearance, smooth skin texture, fix discoloration and enhance various facial features. A study published last October suggests beautifying filters can make young women feel more dissatisfied with their bodies.
Karen San Juan, a health and kinesiology major at the University of Utah, explained how AR filters can lead to heavy comparison of physical beauty.
“These filters can be a mask, helping people cover their insecurities but creating a false reality. Especially with evolving technology, it is harder to tell if someone has a beauty filter on; some viewers may be led to believe that the filter is one’s natural beauty,” San Juan said.
Grant Beck, a sophomore computer science major at the University of Utah, said beauty filters can mask insecurities but also create a false reality.
“It is harder to tell if someone has a beauty filter on, and some viewers may be led to believe that it is their natural beauty,” Beck added.
As social media has expanded as an industry – allowing additions of AR filters that enhance beauty in many different ways – the definition of beauty has also changed. Specifically, body image is something that has been heavily touched through the posts of influencers on different social media platforms.
Not only does this portrayal of “perfect” bodies impact depression or anxiety, but it can also influence physical health through eating disorders.
“The media has expectations on what the beauty standard is, and if you don’t fit into it, then you’re ‘not good enough,’ which can lead to many people feeling insecure about their physical appearance,” San Juan said.
Snapchat first popularized AR filters in 2015, with other apps like Instagram and TikTok quickly following suit.
Professor Avery Holton, who serves as communication department chair at the U, said most filters began as stickers or sparkles before evolving into tools for people to modify their appearance.
“[Filters] match an aesthetic that we feel like we should be achieving to fit in or to meet standards,” he said.
Holton added people can use filters for fun but they become “more problematic when it’s done to influence or guide the communities we are in” and change our perception of ourselves and who we should be.
Holton said these filters often target Gen Z, specifically young women, adding that women between 15 and 24 use social media the most and average about seven to eight hours a day.
Role of Algorithms
As young women spend hours scrolling through social media, they often encounter targeted images such as trends, aesthetics and lifestyle content. By interacting with these images, their preferences can feed into an algorithm that influences how they should act, look and behave.
Isabelle Freiling, assistant professor of communication at the U, said social media platforms use sophisticated algorithms that can precisely identify user preferences and interests.
“They show us information that we engage with that keeps us on those platforms,” she said. “Sometimes you might be like, ‘I don’t want to spend much time scrolling on Instagram’ but you’re still going there and scrolling. It’s not easy to resist, it’s so hard to turn away from it all.”
San Juan believes presenting idealized images on social media can lead to harmful comparisons, depression and anxiety.
“There tends to be this idea of ‘perfection’ and only sharing the good moments with everyone,” she said. “From an outside perspective, you may think someone is having the time of their life, you may start comparing your life to theirs and question why yours isn’t as great.”
Younger women tend to see this more often in social media influencers, who they idolize for their beauty, lifestyle and aesthetics. Beauty filters give many young women the chance to replicate the look of these influencers to try to achieve the same aesthetic or lifestyle that has gained them fame or recognition.
Beck believes younger generations’ need for approval makes them vulnerable to filters on social media. Based on observations Beck has made from experiences with female relatives and friends, he said he understands the sense of pressure surrounding societal ideals of beauty and perfection.
“Women in particular might be affected because society already holds them to a high standard of physical appearance,” he said.
Bohanan, however, expressed skepticism about whether removing AR filters will improve students’ mental health.
“The damage is done in the sense there are still editing apps such as Facetune and now AI,” she said. “I’ve seen so many ads on TikTok and reels for body and face-altering programs that receive high downloads. The age of social media will always find a way to target insecurities as that’s how there is control and profit.”
Addy Christensen and Eliza Delgado reported and produced this story as English and Psychology students at the University of Utah.
