Özet:

Today, social media tools have permeated into nearly all aspects of daily life, affecting spoken language and people’s way of thinking. Being milieus for socialization, these tools play an important role in facilitating more meaningful inclusion in daily life activities. As soon as an individual steps into the world of social media, he becomes both a consumer and producer of content. One such platform, Instagram, has become a popular venue for people to use visual content to present their best face to the outside world. As Instagram takes advantage of users’ desire to be seen by others, it has a profound effect on users’ body image. Accordingly, beauty filters are among the most effective tools in manipulating how one presents him or herself. This study aims to understand how the use of Instagram filters affects young women. To this end, we conducted indepth, semi-structured qualitative interviews with sixteen young women aged between twenty and thirty. Participants’ motivations and the effects of sharing filtered photos on Instagram were emphasized during interviews. The results indicate that young women use beauty filters to put forward an idealized representation of themselves. The use of filters encourages young women to conform to the current beauty ideal and causes them to see themselves as flawed in real life. Positive feedback increases and encourages the use of filters. In addition, the research shows that the use of filters pushes young women to consume more and make aesthetic changes to their bodies.

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