Social Media Envy Series with Berry Dakara: Edits, Filters & Specially Curated Instagram Feeds

In my first post in this series, I introduced the topic of Social Media Envy. The next article dealt with How to Avoid Social Media Envy. In today’s final post, I will highlight how people curate and edit their Social Media posts. Essentially, what you see on Instagram or Snapchat is NOT always real life.
Photoshop! VSCO Cam! Youcam Makeup! FaceTune! Snapchat! Even your phone camera! These are just a few tools that are used to alter photos and videos to make them more visually appealing. In a single word, FILTERS! If you search “Perfect Instagram Pictures” on Google, there are over 59 million results. These are articles, tutorials, videos and more that give you tips on editing your photos so they are ready for Instagram. From selfies to flat-lays, travel to food, beauty to events, career and shopping, the quest to project a life of seeming perfection, and perpetual fun is quite apparent and increasing as more and more people flock to social media.
It may be partly due to the Keeping-Up-With-The-Whoevers syndrome, where people try to show that they are just as beautiful/handsome, rich, well-traveled, successful or knowledgeable as the next person. Or it’s done in a bid to attract more followers which can be understandable in certain industries. Whatever it is, it’s important to note that a lot of social media posts are usually heavily edited!
Take for example, the very popular Patricia Bright. She boasts almost 1 million subscribers on her Youtube channel and has a near perfect Instagram feed. However, she is upfront and honest about how she edits her photos before posting to Instagram.