Instagram Face
The term ‘Instagram Face’ has been around since 2019, when makeup gurus were very popular on YouTube and helped promote this image. Instagram Face describes the beauty standard that is prevalent on social media: full lips, almond eyes, high cheekbones, pore-less skin, and a sculpted nose. For example, TikTok and Instagram tend to promote people who fit these beauty standards.
People don't realize how normalized Instagram's face has become. Before social media filters were available on apps like Face Tune, people were more comfortable about how they looked; now, people are constantly seeing themselves and comparing themselves with others, which makes people extremely self-aware.
Beauty standards have always existed, but social media has taken them a step further. Celebrities have been caught evidently photoshopping their pictures because they feel the need to keep up with the standards. It is perfectly normal to want to fit in beauty standards, but in the end, it is not human nature to look perfect.
According to The New Yorker, "Social media has supercharged the propensity to regard one’s identity as a potential source of profit—and, especially for young women, to regard one’s body this way, too." It is common for young people to want to appear perfect on social media because of pressure and the ever-changing trends.
Many people won't post a photo for the minimum imperfection that they think the image has because they often aspire to look like people who have gotten work done on themselves.
People take social media as a serious factor in deciding how they see themselves. Now more than ever, it is common for people to get plastic surgery or other procedures to look better in photos than before. There is nothing wrong with getting plastic surgery if it is something you genuinely want to do, but many people are getting surgeries for trends that are going to be over in 10 years or less.
"Where a strain of mainstream feminism teaches women that self-objectification is progressive because it’s profitable," said in the article by The New Yorker. The beauty industry is worth billions, and one overuse strategy that they use is to associate plastic surgery with empowering women when, in reality, they are creating insecurities for them so they can profit from it.
The issue is that people treat facial features and body parts as trends, which is why some procedures go in and out of style the same way when a piece of clothing becomes popular, and it seems everywhere; the same happens with faces many people start getting the new popular procedures in the base of the current trends.
For example, in 2016, BBL was very popular, and many famous people got it. Now, as trends are leaning towards a more natural look, many people who got it are getting it removed. However, another popular procedure now is to get Ozempic to lose weight.
The beauty industry takes advantage of what social media does and how it can affect its consumers' perspectives about themselves and what is popularized. Some people get used to seeing themselves with filters and won't post themselves without filters, and some people will try to make their faces look as close to the filter as possible.
The line between reality and social media is blurred with so many constant changes and new trends. It is important to do things you are comfortable with instead of what others think is right.