Have We Forgotten What Real People Look Like?

We’ve all been there. Three hours deep into the doom-scrolling rabbit hole, all sense of your
surroundings have disappeared, tea went cold two hours, forty-five minutes ago – and you
can’t stop wondering to yourself: Why do none of these people look like me?

I mean we can’t be that different, they’re just people posting themselves online. Yet their skin
is seemingly flawless, their smiles faultless and their bodies without a single “imperfection”.

As 100 perfect people scroll past our eyes in an instant, is it any wonder we can’t remember
how humans are actually supposed to look?

I saw a theory recently that said because social media and the internet have given us a wider
exposure to people than ever before, and because algorithms favour a certain type of
“beauty”, we might be seeing more “perfect” people than we were ever supposed to in our
lifetime.

Now, whether you think this is a reach or not is a different story, but there is no denying that
social media has aided in warping perceptions of how we look. It’s no secret that the pictures
we see are posed, photoshopped and reworked to the high heavens, entirely curated to the
poster’s desire. However, this knowledge still won’t stop us from partaking in that
painstaking comparison.

Taking this distortion one step further is of course the ever-popularised cosmetic procedures,
becoming more and more common alongside their growing accessibility. Many argue that as
these procedures become more widespread, people are actually starting to look the same.
With matching pearly white veneers, plumped up lips and ski-slope noses, it seems that these
alterations are aiding a loss of individuality.

I want to make it very clear that none of this is said with any intention of shaming those who
make the decision to undergo cosmetic procedures like these, but rather to call into question
why those decisions are made. Every person should have the right to do whatever they chose
with their own body, but these decisions simply do not exist in a vacuum.

If we no longer had access to the images that told us that our features are undesirable, would
we still make the choice to change them?

A final aspect of why I think we are losing touch with the reality of human appearance is
modern celebrity culture.

Celebs used to look like someone that might go to your school, or be sat next to you on the
bus. Now, with all the procedures available, wealthy celebs begin to look unattainably
perfect, and are beginning to look, arguably, somewhat identical to each other, as they partake
in the most recent fashionable procedure.

There is enormous potential damage to one’s body image that this culture produces upon
impressionable people, most commonly young teenagers, without the understanding of the
financial inaccessibility of the “perfect” celebrities they see. For example, money for
procedures, personal trainers with curated workout and nutrition plans, facials, beauty teams
etc.

This all being said, there has definitely been a backlash against this culture of alterations.
Prolific influencer Molly-Mae Hague has been publicly documenting getting her facial fillers
dissolved since 2020, in an effort to embrace her natural beauty and encourage others to do
the same. Similarly, Baywatch star Pamela Anderson stopped wearing makeup after her
makeup artist Alexis Vogel died from breast cancer in 2019. Since then, Anderson has used
this change to challenge ideas of the aging-process and what “beauty” truly is.

So how can we avoid falling back down this rabbit hole ourselves? Obviously, I’m not
suggesting that I can make your insecurities disappear overnight; I think that would be
nothing short of miraculous. I just thought I would share a bit of advice I’ve accumulated
over the years that’s helped me:

– Start reframing your “imperfections” as part of your individuality; Our differences are
what make us so interesting and exciting as people.

– Try and switch off from social media when you can if it stops making you feel good;
there’s so many other ways to decompress than scrolling, many of which don’t
involve a screen.

– Remember that your looks are far from the most interesting thing about you; instead
try switching your focus to your passions, the way you treat people, maybe even
making a bit of meaningful change in the world if you’re feeling bold.

So, let’s make a little pact to be kinder to ourselves, at least today, and remember that if we
all looked the same the world would be a pretty dull place.

Words by Anna Lawrence-Wasserberg

Cover Image Credit: istock/peopleimages