Scrolling through Instagram or twitter we see countless selfies of our friends and celebrities. Not the selfies with the dog or deer filters, it’s the pictures that look a little too close to perfect. Using apps like Face Tune, Airbrush, Retouch Me, and Perfect Me to slim their body figure, whiten their teeth, get rid of pimples, baggy eyes, dark circles, and smooth their skin, students and people try and change their reality

Apps like these make it very easy to edit photos and have become extremely popular within the Instagram world. The heavy use of these apps has caused a body image debate. Many people edit their pictures because they feel the need to look perfect and flawless in all of their pictures or they can’t post it. These apps have words like perfect, retouch, slim, skinny, and beauty in their titles to convince the consumer that they need to change and edit their photos.

When asked what face tuning means to them, students at Olathe North said that people who edit their photos excessively can’t live in real life because they are hiding who they really are.

With celebrities like Bella Hadid, Kim Kardashian, Dove Cameron, Hannah Stocking and James Charles who use Face tune on every picture they post, the idea that they aren’t good enough is implanted in their follower’s heads. “Celebrities and teenage girls who use it on their Instagram pictures to make themselves look better”, said one anonymous student.

Teenage years are already awkward enough but then when teenagers see models on social media platforms like Instagram and VSCO, many feel as if they have to look exactly like the models. Being human doesn’t always mean you are going to have your dream body, clear skin, or bright white teeth.

As you can imagine these unrealistic expectations for teenagers can be hard on them and can be severely damaging to their mental health.

Forbes.com states that, “Teen depression is a real problem and it’s getting worse. Experts are starting to draw a connection between an increase in teen suicide and the rise of social media from 2010 to 2015.”

Today depression is very common in teenagers and is going up. Social media is causing an increase in teen depression. Pewinternet.org states that 73% of teens own a smartphone that’s a lot of teenagers who are all social media obsessed.

“The biggest thing is before all of this played a roll, everybody goes through their everyday issues, but like before we had access to devices everyone would go home go to bed and forget about it and now it just perpetuates 24 hours a day and people get obsessed with like what people are posting.” said Olathe North counselor, Nicole Etherton.

Sophomore Isabella Ferguson said “Just that it’s normal to not feel good enough around this age but you just need to constantly remind yourself that you don’t need an app to be beautiful.”

Freshman, Daniel Mirakian added “If anyone feels like they aren’t good enough then they should know that they should be confident with their own natural beauty. They should accept how they look in reality and own it. Everyone is unique in their own way and they shouldn’t have to use an app to make them feel better about themselves. People should also start being nicer to each other so others don’t feel like they aren’t good enough.”