#software literacy

Week 9: Digital Citizenship and Software literacy: Instagram Filters

Social media filters have become a normal part of everyday life. Platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram allow users to enhance their appearance through Augmented Reality (AR) technology. While these filters provide entertainment and creative expression, they also influence how people perceive beauty and identity. As digital technologies become increasingly integrated into social media, users are exposed to idealized appearances that may shape their expectations of themselves and others (Burnell et al., 2021).

Many beauty filters promote similar facial features, creating unrealistic beauty standards that encourage users to compare themselves with edited images. According to Social Comparison Theory, people naturally evaluate themselves by comparing their appearance with others. Constant exposure to filtered images may therefore increase body dissatisfaction and lower self-esteem (Burnell et al., 2021). The growing popularity of the "Instagram Face" also demonstrates how digital beauty ideals are becoming normalized across social media platforms.

Another concern is the rise of digitised dysmorphia, where users become dissatisfied with their natural appearance because they prefer their filtered selves. Studies have shown that social media beauty technologies can contribute to appearance anxiety and influence attitudes toward cosmetic enhancement (Bhandari & Bimo, 2022). As digital citizens, users should critically evaluate the content they consume and recognize that online beauty standards are often digitally altered rather than realistic representations.

References

Bhandari, U., & Bimo, S. (2022). Why's everyone suddenly looking like that? The effect of Instagram's beauty filters on women's self-perception and cosmetic surgery consideration. Women's Studies International Forum, 91, 102597.

Burnell, K., Kurup, A. R., & Underwood, M. K. (2021). Snapchat lenses and body image concerns among young adults. Body Image, 36, 1–12.

Duffy, B. E., & Meisner, C. (2022). Platform governance at the margins: Social media creators' experiences with algorithmic (in)visibility. Media, Culture & Society, 44(5), 904–920.

Hawker, B., & Carah, N. (2021). Snapchat's augmented reality brand culture. Media International Australia, 178(1), 57–69.

Hello fellow people 😸😁! I’m back again with another post. Today I will be covering the topic on filters. 

Have you ever opened Instagram or TikTok, turned on a filter, and suddenly looked like a completely different person? Bigger eyes, smoother skin, sharper jawline, all in one tap. While filters can be fun and creative, they also raise important questions about digital citizenship and software literacy.

Today’s social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok use augmented reality (AR) and ambient editing tools that can completely transform someone’s appearance in real time. Beauty filters are now part of everyday online culture, influencing how people present themselves and how others expect them to look. Barker (2020) explains that filters may seem harmless, but they can reinforce unrealistic beauty standards and affect self-esteem, especially among young users.

This has also contributed to what many people call the “Instagram Face”, a digitally enhanced look with flawless skin, fuller lips, and symmetrical facial features. Over time, constantly seeing these edited faces can blur the line between reality and fantasy. According to Coy-Dibley (2016) this describes as “digitised dysmorphia,” where edited online images reshape how individuals see their real bodies and faces.

At the same time, software literacy is becoming more important than ever. Understanding how filters, AI enhancement, and facial editing tools work helps users become more critical and responsible digital citizens. In accordance to Rettberg (2014), technology doesn’t just help us share our identities online, it also shapes how we see ourselves. Even selfie filters are designed around cultural beauty norms, which can pressure users to fit into certain standards.

Filters are not automatically bad. They can be artistic, entertaining, and empowering. But being digitally literate means recognizing when edited content is influencing our perceptions of beauty, identity, and reality.

So here’s a question for you: ‘do filters help us express ourselves creatively, or are they quietly changing how we value real appearances?’ 🤔

References

Barker, J. (2020). Making-up on mobile: The pretty filters and ugly implications of Snapchat. Fashion, Style & Popular Culture, 7(2), 207–221.

Coy-Dibley, I. (2016). “Digitised Dysmorphia” of the Female Body: The Re/Disfigurement of the Image. Palgrave Communications, 2, 16040.

Rettberg, J. W. (2014). Filtered Reality. In Seeing Ourselves Through Technology. Palgrave Macmillan.

Hi, citizens of the digital world! 🎉

Have you ever used Instagram's "Baby Face" filter? The one where you look like you just stepped out of a diaper commercial, you know? Yes, I have utilized it. Once. Never again. But let's face it, it's both funny and terrifying. 😂

Jokes aside, however, Instagram filters are more than just entertaining tools; they have deeper connections to software literacy and digital citizenship.

What does that mean, then? Digital citizenship refers to the responsible, moral, and innovative use of digital spaces. This entails understanding how filters impact our self-perception as well as the content we post.

The key is software literacy. Technical proficiency is demonstrated by being able to use Instagram's interface, change the brightness, adjust the saturation, or make your own AR filter. However, ethical thinking is also necessary. Do you use a filter to cover up your insecurities or to improve your artwork? Although there is no incorrect response, it is worthwhile to have the discussion.

Consider Essena O'Neill. In 2015, she announced her public departure from Instagram, exposing that her ostensibly "perfect" life was a carefully constructed façade fueled by filters and pressure from sponsors (Boy, J.D. and Uitermark, J, 2023). She reminded us that reality might not be reflected in even the best photographs.

And this is supported by science. Young girls who saw edited Instagram photos reported feeling less satisfied with their bodies than those who saw unedited ones (Milson, R, 2019). Our sense of normalcy can be distorted by continuous exposure to filtered, idealized images.

Instagram is aware of this as well. Filters that resemble plastic surgery were outlawed in 2021 due to worries about mental health and self-esteem, particularly among teenagers (Cohen, D, 2024).

Positively, initiatives like Dove's "Self-Esteem Project" are promoting body positivity and authenticity online. They support #NoDigitalDistortion and urge influencers to reveal when a photo has been altered.

In summary, Instagram filters are tools. They can convey humor, creativity, or beauty, but they can also perpetuate unattainable ideals. Using these tools with awareness, skill, and integrity is a sign of a responsible digital citizen.

So, feel free to be Shrek, a glitter bomb, or even a butterfly. Just keep in mind that the true you cannot be replaced by any filter.

References

Boy, J.D. and Uitermark, J., 2023. On Display: Instagram, the Self, and the City. Oxford University Press.

Milson, R., 2019. Like for Like: The Effect of Idealised Instagram Photos on the Body Satisfaction of Young Girls(Doctoral dissertation, Northumbria University).

Hello guys!🤩So moving forward we will be diving into a fun and interesting topic which is Instagram Filters. I am sure that most of you are very familiar with it, whether in using it to take a selfie or enhancing your photos before posting it on your social media.

Instagram is a social media platform that is famous and being used worldwide. It includes features like Instagram filters which allows users to change the way their photos or videos look. There are 600 million people who use AR filters each month on Instagram or Facebook while 76% of Snapchat users using them everyday (Javornik. Et al., 2022). It offers a variety of options for changing colour, tones and even facial expressions by adding some cute stickers on it. Not only that, it also came out with game challenges where users are allowed to play the challenges using the filters. It helps to build the community and everyone able to connect with each other as users all over the world are joining the challenges. As for digital citizenship and software literacy, it means to use the digital tools and understanding how to use it in order to use it in a safe, wise and respectful way.

By using the Instagram filters, it can bring both positive and negative impact towards the users. Positive impact of using Instagram filters is where it boosts confidence among the users. It allows users to post themselves in a creative and polished way on social media which helps them to feel more comfortable while sharing their photos online. While on the opposite sides, filters can create unrealistic beauty standards. This will cause users to have appearance anxiety where they tend to pursue perfect looking online. Overuse of Instagram filters can also harm mental health and cause low self-esteem while they are not confident of their appearance in real life without adding any filters. This is more likely to happen among females. Wang (n.d.) noted that young females often use Instagram filters before posting their photos to make themselves look more attractive before other followers on social media. 

As we come to Augmented Reality (AR), it is a technology that improves our physical surroundings through the utilization of computer-generated content (Al-ansi et al., 2023). AR filters were firstly created for entertainment and enjoyment in social media platforms. It then became a powerful tool for image enhancement which enabled users to enhance features such as their eyes, cheekbones, eyelashes and skin (Kumar & Madhushree Nanda Agarwal, 2023). Besides that, famous brands like Gucci also used the AR to create filters for their brands. Gucci creates Instagram features that owns its unique style, brand image and includes some of its products like earrings and necklaces with the aim to connect more with its audience as well as to increase visibility by encouraging users to share content using the filters (deusens, n.d.). 

To conclude, Instagram filters are fun and creative when it helps in enhancing our photos. However, we should use it wisely and understand the impact of using Instagram filters in order to become a good digital citizen. By using them wisely, we get to enjoy social media in a healthy and positive way! ✨

Reference

Al-Ansi, A.M., Jaboob, M., Garad, A. and Al-Ansi, A. (2023). Analyzing Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) Recent Development in Education. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, [online] 8(1), p.100532. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2023.100532. 

deusens.com. (n.d.). Instagram filters for companies and brands | Examples and creative uses. [online] Available at: https://deusens.com/en/blog/creative-uses-augmented-reality-filters-instagram-companies-brands. 

Javornik, A., Marder, B., Barhorst, J. B., McLean, G., Rogers, Y., Marshall, P. and Warlop, L. (2022). ‘What lies behind the filter?’ Uncovering the motivations for using augmented reality (AR) face filters on social media and their effect on well-being. Computers in Human Behavior, 128(107126), p.107126. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.107126. 

Kumar, H. and Madhushree Nanda Agarwal (2023). Filtering the reality: Exploring the dark and bright sides of augmented reality–based filters on social media. Australian Journal of Management. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/03128962231199356. 

HELLOOOOOO! how many of you have used filters on Instagram before? you know those thing that adds to your face, like make up, or butterflies? I don't know there are so many of them, my favorite filter right now is the one that turns you into Shrek, yes, Shrek. Anyway, let me know which Instagram filter you use the most and which ones are your favorite!!

SO, a quick recap of what digital citizenship is since I've covered it in a past post. Digital citizenship encompasses the responsible and effective use of technology and the internet. Integral to this concept is software literacy, which includes the ability to use digital tools like Instagram filters proficiently. Instagram filters are more than just a means to enhance photos; they are a gateway to understanding broader issues of digital etiquette, creative expression, technical skills, and ethical considerations. Using Instagram filters requires a keen sense of software literacy. For instance, it's important to use filters to enhance photos without misleading viewers. Influencers like Essena O’Neill have highlighted the ethical issues around heavily edited images, showing how such practices can contribute to unrealistic beauty standards and affect self-esteem (O'Neill, 2015). Responsible use involves being transparent about filters to maintain authenticity and trust with followers.

So what are instagram filters? For people living under rocks, filters allow users to creatively express themselves. For example, augmented reality (AR) filters can transform ordinary photos into engaging and artistic content. Learning to use these filters effectively involves understanding the Instagram interface and adjusting technical settings like brightness and saturation. This not only enhances creative output but also improves technical literacy, enabling users to better understand and utilize digital tools. A critical aspect of using Instagram filters is the ability to evaluate their impact. Research indicates that constant exposure to filtered images can distort users' perceptions of reality and self-worth (Kleemans et al., 2018). Ethical use of filters means being mindful of these impacts and promoting positive body image. For instance, campaigns like Dove’s “Real Beauty” advocate for minimal use of filters to celebrate natural beauty, setting a responsible example for digital citizens.

In conclusion, Instagram filters offer a rich context for exploring digital citizenship and software literacy. By understanding and applying these tools responsibly, users can enhance their creative expression, technical skills, and ethical awareness, contributing positively to the digital community.

References

Kleemans, M., Daalmans, S., Carbaat, I., & Anschütz, D. (2018). Picture Perfect: The Direct Effect of Manipulated Instagram Photos on Body Image in Adolescent Girls. Media Psychology, 21(1), 93-110.

O'Neill, E. (2015). Why I am really quitting social media. Retrieved from Essena O’Neill's website.

Soft tech is not intuitive.

Attaching files to an email. Fixing page numbers in Word. Converting a spreadsheet to PDF. If you realize that you're having problems doing what you need to do, you must then figure out the words you'll need to Google a solution. All the amazing and helpful tools in these programs can be inaccessible to users that don't know they're even an option.

Instagram Filters

With the rise of visual social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat, we have seen the normalisation of filtered faces. What began as playful entertainment in the form of photo effects, has evolved into seamless forms of augmented reality which allow everyday users to morph their image into the ideal beauty. Filters have not only impacted self-perception on a large scale, but the ways in which we interact with each other due to their ubiquity in everyday life.

Isabelle Coy-Dibley (2016) conceptualised ‘digital dysmorphia’ to describe the expectation placed upon women to digitally enhance their image. She notes, ‘the level of digitised dysmorphia depends upon the intentions of the individual in performing alterations of self-image’ (p. 8, 2016). Digital dysmorphia may manifest into positive self-perception in that filters offer a fun, non-permanent way to perform different versions of our identity, especially when we are unable to in real life. This can be a liberating experience, when the intentions are to defy beauty conventions or used lightheartedly.

However, what often occurs is a dissonance between the digitised image and real life. Filters often carry a cultural bias within them, shaping faces they detect into the often feminised, heterosexy ideal. As Barker (2020, p. 209) mentions, this may include thinning the face, shortening and pinching the nose, lightening the skin, plumping cheeks, smoothing skin, and either enlarging the eyes or making them appear more feline (see video below). By ‘perfecting’ faces indiscriminately, filters create a standardised form of beauty which appears to be an amalgamation of attractive features from each culture, birthing an ideal which is unattainable offline without cosmetic enhancement. When everyday users see their own digitally altered image, and those of influencers and celebrities popularised on Instagram, there is an increase in pressure to keep up with this superficial image offline (Trembley et al. 2021, p. 46).

References

Barker, J 2020, ‘Making-up on mobile: The pretty filters and ugly implications of Snapchat’, Fashion, Style & Pop Culture, vol. 7, no. 2-3, pp. 207-222.

Coy-Dibley, I 2016, ‘“Digitized Dysmorphia” of the female body: the re/disfigurement of the image’, Palgrave Communications, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1-9.

Facebook/Spark AR Creators, 'Facebook AR Filters' [image], in Sodhi, T 2020, Facebook Messenger, Portal Getting Third-Party AR Effects Starting Early 2021, Gadgets 360, viewed 19 April 2021, <https://i.gadgets360cdn.com/large/sparkar_facebook_1600334385788.jpg?downsize=950:*&output-quality=80&output-format=webp>.

Monalisa 2020, Aesthetic instagram filters, 15 December, viewed 19 April 2021, <https://youtu.be/0jXkDQfiuN0>.

'Stylish Instagram Filters' [image], in Dooley, T 2019, How to Unlock The Most Stylish Filters On Instagram Stories, Teen Vogue, viewed 19 April 2021, <https://assets.teenvogue.com/photos/5d1142dde410379a35994e16/16:9/w_2560%2Cc_limit/Insta%252520Filters_Story.jpg>.