Filter addiction: Maintaining an image of perfection
28 September 2021
With filtered images becoming the norm on social media, the pressure is on to look insta ready 24/7.
More than ever, the pressure to present a ‘perfect’ life on social media is rapidly increasing. With a constant stream of filtered, edited and often unattainable lifestyle images at our finger tips, the need to fit in can be a real cause of stress.
Hayley Pearce ran a poll on her Instagram account for her series Hayley Goes… and found that her followers are addicted to using filters, and feel the pressure to keep up an image of perfection. She found that they often use filters because of the pressure to look like everyone else.
Hayley met filter, filler and surgery fanatic Levi Jed Murphy who over the last 5 years has spent £30k making his face look like his favourite filter - but without the camera! He explained to Hayley why he’s gone to this extreme:
“I don’t necessarily hate my face when I look at it now, it’s just that I enjoy changing it. Right now I just want to look very plastic and fake looking, but still cute.”
To achieve his filtered look, the 24-year-old has so far had fillers inserted into his lips, cheeks, jaw, under his eyes, and in his chin, and this is on top of his regular Botox appointments. He’s also had surgical tweak including a nose job, two lip lifts, a temple lift and even a canthoplasty – a procedure that lifts your eyelids.
When looking through pictures of himself before he started any cosmetic procedures Levi isn’t bothered by his childhood pictures as he was “young, but the ones of me when I was 19 I’m like ‘I went out like that so confidently!?!”
Levi revealed to Hayley that even after all these procedures he still edits his pictures before he uploads them to his social media accounts.
“I still love them [filters], people are like ‘why do you still use filters if you got surgery to look like a filter?’
“I don’t want to imagine a life without filters.”
Hayley’s investigation into the world of social media perfections also led her to visit to UGLY MODELS, an alternative modelling agency where imperfections are celebrated. Alongside three of their ‘imperfect’ stars, Hayley was challenged to ditch the make-up for a natural and filter-free shoot.
Model Louise tells Hayley to change how she views the imperfections that would normally be filtered out.
She says “Reframe it, they are not imperfections, they’re you, just embrace them. In the way we’re different, it’s what people often fall in love with.”
