Living through Filters

In a socio-digital world, filters mean a whole lot of things but mainly it serves as an enhancer.

Outside that context, enhancement is one of the many functions of a filter. It also serves as a separation or a conscious removal of possible harmful objects from beneficial ones. Consider this in the context of food or science.

The question for me really is: does living through filters mean one is fake?

True, filters create a facade but even a facade imitates an already existing phenomenon.

For instance, an IG filter will only enhance your features and it is rare for two people with different features to get the same result even if they use the same filter.

Are you getting where I am going with this? Well, if you are not, I am not sure I can also help you😂.

This is a puzzle for me too. A sort of cogitation. I have seen a lot of trends about with filter, without filter. “This picture is without filter, no caps.” Especially makeup artists. Let’s not even get to makeup!

What started this chain of thought for me was reacting to a comment on how beautiful I look when I actually edited my picture and used filter. I had a regular look devoid of makeup and airbrush… the kind of look that makes me not even pay attention to myself

All my features were not highlighted. They were just as I am. I get very uncomfortable with such compliments because the girl you see in the filtered picture is also me but not a me that I live with daily

It is a me that I am for a certain period of time, a me that I redefined, highlighted, a me I want you to see. It is like a mask up.

I also like this me but because it is more endorsed than the regular me, I begin to feel like the regular me is not optimal even though that’s the most functional me. The one I have to live in mostly, the one that appears even in my dreams!

Now, do you see my dilemma?

Is living through an enhancement a testament of duplicity? Does it belie originality or is it safer to accept every shade of you as you even your most endorsed self and not feel like a fraud?

Oh, I think too much 🤣, who cares about this? I think what I am trying to say with the long paragraphs is maybe there’s art even on a blank canvas but maybe colors are an expression of dreams. That’s how I think of dressing fashionably and makeup but I also think it’s important to remember that you are already beautiful.

Cheers to the weekend 🥂

Xoxo,

Dcconnoisseur.