Filter vs Reality filter goes viral on Instagram for exposing unrealistic beauty standards

13 April 2021, 13:34

Jameela Jamil calls out Reality vs. Filter filter on Instagram

By Sam Prance

Here's exactly how to use the Filter vs. Reality filter on Instagram and why it's been diving the internet.

Instagram has a new Filter vs Reality filter but the internet can't decide whether or not the popular filter is helpful or harmful.

Every week a new filter goes viral on social media. From the Disney Character filter to the Shifting filter, people can't seem to get enough of them. In particular, people seem to love filters that edit their physical appearance. Just recently, the No Beard filter went viral on TikTok and, shortly afterwards, the Pillow Face filter went viral on Instagram with celebs even using it.

However, a lot has been said about whether or not some of these filters promote unrealistic beauty standards and now there is a new filter that is breaking the internet. The Filter vs Reality filter, created by influencer Faye Dickinson, puts a "perfect" filter over one half of your face so that you can compare how you look with the filter to how you actually look.

Some are praising it for exposing how ridiculous filters can be while others are calling it out for being just as bad as them.

How do I use the Filter vs Reality filter on Instagram?

How to use the Filter vs Reality filter on Instagram

1) Head to Instagram and click on "Your Story" on your homepage.

2) Swipe right through the filters until you get to the magnifying glass icon. Select "Browse Effects".

3) Using the search function, type "Filter vs Reality" and find the filter by influencer Faye Dickinson.

4) Click "Try It" and you should now be able to take your own filtered photo.

5) Take your photo and add it straight to Instagram Stories by clicking "Your Story" or save it.

Why is the Filter vs Reality filter so divisive?

Shortly after Faye launched the filter, people began using it to show that they are beautiful with or without filters. The filter has actually become part of a viral trend in which people show themselves rejecting the filtered side and accepting their natural beauty with 'Scars to Your Beautiful' by Alessia Cara playing in the background.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ꃼ 𝗞𝗜𝗠 ꃼ | sharing both sides ⋒ (@embracing_reality)

However, other people aren't convinced that the filter is so positive.

Last night (Apr 12), Jameela Jamil posted a video of herself using it with the caption: "Teen cosmetic surgery is at an all time high. Plastic surgeons say that kids, and now many adults, bring in these filtered pictures of themselves and ask to be made to look like them."

She then added: "Fuck these crazy filters, they are racist in their presumption that a tiny Eurocentric nose and light eyes and a skinny (often lighter) face is the ultimate standard of beauty. Fuck how much they degrade women’s right to age or look tired."

Jameela also wrote: "I get the desire to use them. But they hurt people who look at them, and they hurt the people who use them, because it’s hard to accept your real face in the mirror after these digitally face and body altering versions of you have become your every day norm."