. A new survey of a thousand millennials and a thousand Gen Xers offers insight into how social media has affected self-image and skincare. And it finds that on average, 52% of all selfies shared online are filtered.
The poll also reveals:
- Nearly everyone posts filtered photos, as only 3% of respondents claim they’ve never shared a filtered selfie online.
- While 43% say they’ve done it to hide skin imperfections or alter the background, 45% say they’ve filtered a photo of themselves to add special effects.
- Nearly three-quarters (73%) admit they want to hide their imperfections from others, and the ones they’re most trying to hide include uneven skin tone (37%), body parts they’re self-conscious of (35%) and their natural hair (33%).
- Millennials are more focused on hiding their flaws than Gen X, especially unclear speech (37% to 27%) and vision impediments (35% to 27%).
- Eight in 10 of those surveyed feel that posting filtered selfies has had a positive impact on their self-image, but they don’t always need to. More than half (58%) say they’ve recently shared a completely unfiltered selfie.
- Problems with their skin have led people to avoid restaurants (50%), offices (49%), shops (47%) and going to the doctor (40%).
- Feeling insecure about skin flaws has led respondents to miss life events including birthday parties (37%), family dinners (36%), meeting up with friends (36%) and weddings (36%).
- Despite that, 76% think social media has had a positive impact on skin care and 47% say it’s made them more aware of skin health.
- Just over half (53%) of respondents have tried an influencer hack specifically for their skin and 91% say they’d do it again.
Photo: Getty Images