6 Things That Turned Out To Be Nothing More Than Instagram Lies

Instagram knows everything about us: what we eat, where we go on vacation, who we are friends with, and which side of the face we think is best for taking pictures. And we learned to take the best selfies with filters that create the “no filter” effect and with masks that hide dark circles better than any cream. The app creates a perfect image that you want to believe in and users want to promote. But it’s worth? Let’s see when people feel the need to create a fake image on Instagram and why it happens.

O awesome.club analyzed the most common types of posts in this app, to find out what’s behind them, beyond the simple desire to post a photo.

Filters from Instagram, Snapchat and photo processing apps like Facetune help you create a “better me” in just a few clicks. And there’s nothing wrong with wanting to edit a photo, as long as the user doesn’t forget what your face looks like and knows it’s no worse than the Instagram version.

On some smartphones, photo editing apps are integrated into the camera: when a selfie is taken, the person immediately receives an edited image without even seeing the original photo. Almost all Instagram masks slim the face, erase pores, enlarge the eyes and reshape the nose. It doesn’t matter if the person just wanted to “try on” a fun mask for a laugh. When looking at the smartphone screen, she does not see her true face.

Even if you are satisfied with your appearance, after several edited photos it is normal to start questioning your beauty and envy Kylie Jenner. the medical journal JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery published an article that claims that photos with filters, which “blur” the line between reality and fantasy, can trigger a body dysmorphic disorder. That is one mental disorder characterized by excessive preoccupation with non-existent defects in their appearance.

If before patients turned to plastic surgeons with pictures of movie stars and asked them to “stay the same”, nowadays they show edited selfies. This has become so common that some experts have called it “Snapchat dysmorphia🇧🇷 And it is not always possible to satisfy the patient’s wishes: it is impossible to completely eliminate nasolabial folds or enlarge the eyes, as the application does.

Even if a person doesn’t resort to plastic surgery, when they try masks and photo editing apps it ends up affecting their self-esteem. Only in 60-65% of cases do people distinguish a real photo from an edited one. When accessing Instagram, you realize that all the faces you see are perfect, and you are the only one who has enlarged pores, blemished skin, a thick nose, in other words, everything is “bad”. That’s why people are so keen to apply a filter and hide this “disgrace” behind a butterfly crown.

Instagram is full of photos of models and defined bodies. Studies show that showing certain people profiles who they consider to be more attractive than they are will bring dissatisfaction with their own appearance. In addition, a link was found between frequent use of Instagram and the increase in cases of orthorexia nervosa, an obsessive behavior towards healthy eating. Curiously, no other social network has this effect.

The search for the perfect Instagram body makes people resort to strict diets, fasting and excessive training. But the body of a “normal” person will almost always be very different from the image of a beautiful and thin (and edited) person who sells a new detox drink. That’s when people start worrying about poses, clothes, photo editing, everything to hide that your weight isn’t perfect!

We don’t go shopping anymore because we need something. We are going because we saw something new, modern and beautiful on Instagram. Around 85% of users are following profiles dedicated to fashion and lifestyle. Many follow bloggers who occasionally advertise different products. Also, 80% of people using Instagram are following famous brand pages.

Around 72% of respondents made a purchase right after seeing a product on Instagram. Most often, in the shopping basket are clothes, cosmetics, shoes and jewelry.

Nowadays, it is easier to sell through Instagram as stores can tag products in the photo. Did you like the model’s dress? Just click on it and the social network will immediately redirect you to the store’s shopping basket, and you’ll pay for it in just a few steps. It’s no longer weird to take a picture in the dressing room and leave without taking your clothes. It’s even reasonable: at least you’ll save your money (until the next post from your favorite store with your favorite blogger).

If we had to describe Instagram in just one sentence, it would be: “Here, everyone is prettier and happier than you.” We know that, in most cases, it is an image that has nothing to do with reality and serves to gain likes, but we still feel pressured.

Social media use has been linked to increased depression and feelings of loneliness, but Instagram goes even further than the rest of the platforms. The Royal Society for Public Health surveyed 1,500 young people (ages 14 to 24) in the UK. They were asked to rate different social networks, based on parameters that experts consider important for health and well-being. According to research, Instagram is considered the most harmful platform for mental health. Social networking that is focused on pretty images can cause feelings of inferiority and anxiety among young people. It is worth noting that Snapchat is almost the same as Instagram. In addition, the latter can provoke bullying and FOMO (an abbreviation for fear of missing out), the excessive fear of missing an interesting event or a good opportunity.

Some experts believe that if the number of likes on posts were not shown (which ended up happening recently, on Instagram), it would benefit the mental state of users. Instagram had already experimented with the no-likes mode in Canada. Bloggers didn’t like this change, but other users approved. In this case, people stop comparing themselves to the owners of accounts followed by a lot of people and stop so carefully selecting photos for publication. Also, users are becoming more honest with themselves: “Do I want to give a heart because I really liked the photo or because this post has already been liked by a lot of people?”

The idyllic landscapes that appear in the accounts of travel bloggers do the tourism industry a favor. Around 67% of users who use hashtags about travel use Instagram to choose their travel destination, and 70% share their travel plans on this social network.

Some places, like the lavender fields in Tasmania and the fjords in Iceland, have become much more popular with tourists in recent years, due to its popularity on Instagram. According to the survey results, this is the most important factor when choosing a travel destination among people aged between 18 and 33.

However, sometimes the desire to show off vacation photos, to make followers jealous, reaches unexpected proportions. In 2016, in China, the longest and tallest glass bridge in the world was inaugurated. After 13 days, it had to be closed, as it could not handle the flow of people who wanted to take a picture for Instagram.

Byron Denton, a 19-year-old blogger, performed an experiment: for a week, he pretended to be rich on Instagram. For that, he had to do almost nothing: he just filled his profile with pictures of expensive stores and a jet ski, using only 2 apps (Facetune and PicsArt) and the Lightroom program. The prank was a success and the followers did not discover the truth. As the same Byron admitted, he surprised how easy it was to deceive the followers🇧🇷

Another blogger, George Mason, carried out a similar experiment: he spent a week posting his photos in Spain, France, the Netherlands and Greece. As you may have already guessed, he didn’t travel anywhere, he just used Photoshop. But, just as in the previous case, the public did not suspect a thing!

For these bloggers, pretending to be rich was just an experiment. But some people are seriously willing to pay the rent for flowers, the latest iPhone and expensive jewelry just for a selfie on Instagram.

Of course, not everyone goes that far: some limit themselves to pictures of restaurants, others continue to post pictures of a picturesque resort, even if they have returned long ago. Some will show off a new cell phone, but will not mention the loan to buy it, for example. On Instagram, everyone is successful and rich, and you have to measure up to the rest.

Who would have thought that just one mobile application would make us feel worse than the others, spend money and time to live up to an ideal that was invented by thousands of users?

Does that mean you urgently need to delete your Instagram account? Of course not. It’s still a great place to share your photos. And the more real, the better. Your face is fine without masks and filters, and candid shots are much better than produced and edited ones. Also, now that you know how Instagram can affect our state of mind, you will be able to control your negative emotions and stop wanting to be better than others.

What do you think: are there more occasions when we can lie on Instagram? Why does this occur? Share your observations in the comments!