Instagram bans Plastica filter affecting mental health

In a world where tech companies are trying to outdo each other by innovating rapidly, ethics are seldom the consideration. This is how features like the Instagram Plastica feature come into being.

Instagram is anyway littered with people posting their images in which they look close to perfection, even if, in real life, they look way different. The app is littered with images of people with injected lip fillers. Other filters can "enhance" your images.

However, what's not known is the impact of such images on the user's mental health. Apps like Instagram glamorise some aspects of our lives and to the viewer, making it not just aspirational, but obligatory to come up to this standard. It is putting the strain of leading the perfect lives on the user rather than creating a progressive mindset of moving ahead by recognising their flaws.

Louisa Northcote, Activist, and #freethepimple Founder told Vice,

"I believe Instagram still gives the wrong perception of what beauty should be: big boobs, long hair, make-up, fake eyelashes. I don't fit into that category -- I have small boobs and bad skin. So I've decided to use my Instagram to show people the truth, and give them something to relate to. Only in the past few years have a few brave people spoken up about their insecurities, their body, their weight, their stretch marks -- but still not enough. People are still too scared to show their true selves, because of the pressure they seem to place on themselves based on edited images of 'perfect lives' and 'perfect bodies'. Slowly Instagram is breaking through the taboo but it isn't there yet."

She and many other activists have repeatedly pointed out the flaw in Instagram's system. The company is now planning to remove AR filters that are associated with cosmetic surgery including Plastica.

Instagram and its parent company, Facebook have also guidelines stating that cosmetic surgery products and weight loss products should not be marketed to minors.

While there are issues, it is great that mental health issues are being addressed by these apps. There's a long way to go, but it's a good start.