The Daily Show: Ears Edition - How Social Media Filters Are Destroying Our Mental Health

Episode Date: May 14, 2022

Social media and photo editing are giving teens unrealistic beauty expectations for themselves, causing them to turn to plastic surgery. Here’s why that needs to change.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, the month where we raise consciousness about mental health issues, and the month where we thank our therapists for giving us a fake name when they make fun of us to their friends. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, a lot of people are doing worse than ever, because it turns out that the technology keeping us connected is also making us feel like shit.

With the stress of the pandemic, body image issues have been on the rise. 43% of women, 26% of men said COVID-19 negatively affected how attractive they felt. The countless hours spent on Zoom or video calls is causing more and more Americans to be insecure about their appearance. Video conferencing presents a constant, unedited, unfiltered look at ourselves that can be unsettling. And those front-facing cameras we're all using aren't doing us any favors. Things like the nose could actually appear larger and wider, and the eyes could appear smaller.

Not only as a person confronting their own reflection with much greater intensity and frequency than they ever had before, but they were staring at a distorted reflection. This is all part of an alarming new trend, coined zoom dysmorphia. Yes, zoom dysmorphia. It's when you realize that it's not just everyone else who looks terrible on Zoom. And that's really not cool.

You know, Zoom shouldn't make you feel bad about your looks. It should make you feel bad about your dirty-ass living room. But you have to remember people, this is a new phenomenon that we're dealing with. Humans didn't evolve to see their own faces all the time. That's not normal. I mean, except for twins, I guess. They don't count, they're freaks. It's just like another one of you? What? Like, think about it, for most of human history, if you wanted to know what you looked like,

you had to get your friend to smash up some blueberry and rub it on a cave wall. You look like this. Damn. Do I really hold a spear like. to to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. the to. the to. the the the tooom. the to. to. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their. their. their. the their. their. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their. their. their. the the their. too. th. tho. too. too. too. tod. today. today. today. today. today. tooe. tooooea. tooe. too. too. too. the good news is that it's likely we'll all be using zoom a lot less in the near future. But unfortunately, there's another technology that also makes us feel bad about ourselves, and it doesn't look like it's going away any time soon. I'm talking about photo filters. Yes, they've helped mankind realize its dream of puking rainbows, but some of the most popular filters just help you look more attractive,

which may sound harmless, but it could be anything but. Cutting-edge apps and social media filters are allowing ordinary people to enhance their online photos to impossible perfection. In some cases, it's sparking a concerning phenomena. With apps like FaceTune, you have the power to completely transform yourself. Bigger eyes, skinnier nose, and jawline. Smaller butt or flatter belly, whiter teeth, smoother skin, you can do it right on your phone. When I take a selfie, I always use filters. I wish I could look like my filtered

self in real life. This obsession with personal appearance that selfie culture encourages may have darker implications for mental health. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association says filtered pictures can take a toll on self-esteem, body image, and even lead to body dysmorphic disorder. I do feel like we're losing touch with what reality looks like. We're already getting there to the point where we're expecting people to look as unhuman as possible. Yeah, photo editing filters set unrealistic expectations for beauty. The same way Fruit Ninja sets up unrealistic expectations of how easy it is

to slice floating fruit. And once you have this filtered version of yourself in your head, you become dissatisfied with what you really look like. So in essence, we're basically catfishing ourselves. But if these editing apps can turn adults into quivering blobs of insecurity, just imagine what they're doing to kids. Psychologists warn these photo filters can be particularly troubling for teens and young people who are still developing their sense of self. 80% of girls in one survey say they compare the way

they look to other people on social media. On Instagram, I follow people like Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner, and they all have this like time measure, like body image that everyone is expecting from this generation. Young girls on social media. Young girls have a negative body perception with one in seven girls reporting being unhappy with the way they look at the end of elementary school and that number almost doubling to nearly one in three by age 14. 80% of young girls are using photo retouching apps to change the way they look before posting pictures. And those with high scores

for manipulating their photos were associated with high scores for body-related and eating concerns. Any of you ever question your body because of what you see on social media? Shame, man. This is a vicious cycle for teenagers. Social media makes them unhappy with how they look. So then they use filters, which perpetuate the unrealistic expectations for themselves and others. Plus, they're their teenagers. So they're doing all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all thi thiiiiiiiiiiiii. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. their s. their s. their s. their s. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te.s.s. te.s.s.s.s. te. te. te.. Plus, they're teenagers, so they're doing all of this while they're driving, which puts everyone at risk. And all the insecurity this creates is harmful for teenagers, because I know it's hard to tune all of this out,

but teens shouldn't be obsessing over this stuff. Like, I honestly wish I could sit all teenagers down and say, hey, don't worry about how you look. The planet's going to die out before you're 30. It doesn't matter. Now, it's bad enough when people wish they had the perfect Instagram look in real life. What's worse is when they actually try to make it happen. The more people look at doctored up images, the more likely they are to actually start seeking out cosmetic procedures at younger ages.

These cosmetic procedures are becoming so popular with teens, plastic surgeons have coined a new syndrome for it. Snapchat dysmorphia. And the number of kids getting niptocks may astound you. In 2017, nearly 230,000 teens had cosmetic procedures. Kids as young as 13 are getting them. Doctors seeing an influx of people of all ages, turning to plastic surgery to look more like their filter. 62% of plastic surgeons reported their patients wanted to go under the knife because of dissatisfaction with their social media profile.

57% said their patients wanted to look better in selfies. Absolutely. It's becoming more and more common where people will show me images on their Instagram or even something that flows it on Facebook and go, this is really how I want to look. Just last week I had a patient come in and asked me for more of an anime eye and she couldn't figure out why it's not possible. Okay, man.

This is really disturbing. 13-year-olds in particular should not be getting plastic surgery. I mean, when you're 13, your physical appearance is already naturally changing. That's what our faces are doing. It's like long-term plastic surgery. I mean, this is what I looked like when I was 13. You've got to let that shit play out. Honestly, though, I don't blame the teenagers. I blame the parents and the plastic surgeons. I mean, how are you going to let to let to let to let to let to let to let the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the theat the the the theat theo theo the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the the the the the thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi the soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooe, the,. I blame the parents and the plastic surgeons. I mean, how are you going to let them do this to themselves?

They can't even buy cigarettes, but you're going to let them buy a new face? Clearly, this is getting out of hand, which is why there's now a movement, not just against filters, but all the ways that people have been distorting reality on social media. Many influencers have started speaking up on this issue, admitting that they've presented altered images in the past and are opening up the conversation. Some are even posting raw, totally unedited photos of themselves and breaking down how people on your Instagram feed may be manipulating their angles and lighting to get that quote-unquote perfect selfie. There are many celebrities exposing the dangers of digital distortion.

They are posting images of themselves unedited, on-filtered, online-on conversation. the conversation. the conversation. the conversation. the dangers of digital distortion. They are posting images of themselves unedited, unfiltered, online. And this is a great example to young girls. Popstar Lizzo made a big splash when she posted a selfie in the nude and unretouched. There's no shame anymore and I just kind of post myself. It's like you take me as I am. You don't have to love me. British MP Luke Evans has proposed the digitally altered body image bill, which would require advertisers and publishers to display a logo whenever a person's face or body has been digitally enhanced. Okay, first of all, I love the idea of putting disclaimers on photos of people who have

been digitally altered. I love it. And honestly I don't think th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thi th th th th th thi thi th th thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi the the the the the the the th. the the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the th. th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm to to to to to to to to to to to tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. And honestly, I don't think we should stop there. We need to do this with everything that's been digitally out like food ads. Those are the worst. Every fast food burger looks great on TV. But then when I order it, it looks like it fell asleep in a hot tub. But I'm glad that we're finally learning the truth about what celebrities look like. Personally, I'm. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. the. the. the. the, thi. thi. the, the, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. I th. I the. I the. I the. I the. I the. I theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. the. the personally, I'm waiting for SpongeBob to join this movement. I mean, no way that guy is that square naturally. Have you seen that? It's like it's not even...

What mean, it's not real? Then how would you have a TV show? Now, I'm not naive enough to think that society is going to stop creating unrealistic beauty standards any time, all that our own natural bodies are beautiful. I mean, except for that flap of old people's skin we have on our elbows, that shit is gross. I don't care who you are. It looks like a mid-arm ball sack.

But everything else is beautiful. But because this movement could take a while, we here at the Daily Show decided to come up with a filter of our own that might help. Are social media filters giving you body image issues? Are you depressed you don't look as good as your filter? Then good news. You'll never have to worry about living up to your filter again, with Rudi-Rudify. It's a brand new filter that turns your face into Rudy Giuliani.

You'll never be happier with how you look in real life. And obviously, this wouldn't be effective if you could turn it off. So Rudify overrides all other filters. And just to be safe, Rudify retroactively applies itself to every face and every photo in your phone. The best part is the filter is permanent. Just like Rudy himself. You can never get rid of it.

Rudify, you'll be overflowing with self-esteem. Warning, use of this filter by Rudy Giuliani will rupture the fabric of space and time. Watch the Daily Show, weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.