TED - How Digital Culture Is Reshaping Our Faces and Bodies | Elise Hu | TED
The speaker shares a personal experience in Taipei, Taiwan, where they encountered automatic beauty filters on TikTok that altered their appearance without consent. This incident exemplifies the 'technological gaze,' an algorithm-driven perspective that influences how individuals perceive and present themselves. The speaker highlights the prevalence of beauty filters among young girls and how these AI-generated filters set unrealistic beauty standards. They draw parallels with South Korea's cosmetic surgery culture, where physical appearance significantly impacts professional and personal success. The speaker warns against the global trend of body augmentation and the pursuit of digital beauty, which can marginalize those who don't conform and exhaust those who try to keep up. They advocate for challenging these norms by celebrating diversity and disrupting systems that equate worth with appearance, encouraging individuals to embrace their natural selves.
Key Points:
- Beauty filters on social media apps can alter appearances without consent, promoting unrealistic beauty standards.
- The 'technological gaze' is an algorithm-driven perspective that influences self-perception and societal beauty norms.
- In South Korea, cosmetic surgery is prevalent, reflecting extreme societal pressure to conform to beauty standards.
- The pursuit of digital beauty can marginalize those who don't fit in and exhaust those who try to conform.
- Celebrating diversity and disrupting systems that equate worth with appearance can challenge harmful beauty norms.
Details:
1. 📱 Encountering the Technological Gaze
- Automatic beauty filters on apps can drastically alter a person's appearance without their consent, applying changes such as skin smoothing, skin lightening, teeth whitening, nose narrowing, and eye enlargement.
- These filters can result in a version of oneself that is fundamentally different from reality, leading to the notion of 'forced catfishing.'
- The experience highlighted the concept of the 'technological gaze,' where technology imposes a certain standard of beauty or appearance.
- Beauty filters impact self-image and societal standards by promoting an unrealistic beauty ideal.
- Studies have shown that prolonged exposure to these filters can lead to decreased self-esteem and body dysmorphia, especially among younger users.
- The 'technological gaze' is not just a passive observation but actively shapes how individuals perceive themselves and others, reinforcing stereotypes and biases.
2. 🔍 Understanding the Technological Gaze
- The 'technological gaze' is a concept where algorithmically driven perspectives shape how individuals perceive and modify their behavior based on data feedback.
- This gaze creates a self-reinforcing loop: machines learn from users and replicate behaviors, which influences further user actions.
- Originating from discussions on surveillance capitalism, this concept highlights the power of technology to mimic and modify human behavior, often without conscious awareness.
- Real-world examples include personalized content recommendations on social media, where algorithms adjust what users see based on past interactions, subtly steering user engagement.
- The implications of this gaze can lead to a homogenization of thought and behavior, as individuals become optimized for algorithmic efficiency rather than diverse human experiences.
- Understanding this concept is crucial for developing strategies to counteract potential negative effects, such as designing systems that promote human agency over algorithmic control.
3. 📸 The Impact on Young Girls
- 80% of 13-year-old girls in America have used filters or editing to alter their online appearance.
- Filters are increasingly hyperrealistic, often AI-generated, promoting specific beauty standards such as arched eyebrows, higher cheekbones, and plump lips.
- The discrepancy between real appearance and filtered images contributes to digital world dictating real-world beauty standards.
4. 💉 Cosmetic Culture in South Korea
- Seoul is a global hub for cosmetic surgery, emphasizing face and body optimization.
- Nearly 50% of Korean women have undergone some form of plastic surgery by their 20s, highlighting the cultural norm of cosmetic enhancements.
- South Korea is recognized as the cosmetic surgery capital of the world, with no other country matching its prevalence.
- Cultural influences, such as the high value placed on physical appearance and societal pressure, drive the widespread acceptance and pursuit of cosmetic procedures.
- The historical rise of cosmetic surgery in South Korea is linked to economic growth and Western beauty standards becoming increasingly influential.
- Public perception tends to view cosmetic surgery as a necessary enhancement rather than an optional luxury, contributing to its integration into everyday life.
- The societal impact includes both positive outcomes, such as increased self-esteem, and negative issues, like reinforcing unrealistic beauty standards.
5. 💪 Global Beauty Standards and Their Consequences
- The cosmetic procedure 'Traptox', involving Botox injections into the trapezius muscles, is gaining popularity for creating a longer neck appearance, reflecting the global influence of beauty standards.
- Botox injections are also being used in calves, showcasing the extent of cosmetic procedures for aesthetic purposes.
- A clinic in Seoul previously displayed altered jawbones, illustrating the extreme lengths some go to for a slimmer jawline, though such displays are no longer common.
- In Seoul, appearance significantly influences job prospects and social status, with headshots required on résumés and hiring decisions often based on facial aesthetics.
- Physical alterations are often pursued as a means to achieve economic security, highlighting how beauty is intertwined with personal responsibility and opportunity.
- Korea exemplifies an intensified form of 'pretty privilege', where physical appearance heavily impacts personal and professional opportunities, reflecting a global trend.
6. 💭 Challenging Narrow Beauty Ideals
- Fatphobia in the United States is driving significant off-label use of Ozempic, a medication primarily intended for diabetes, now increasingly used for weight loss.
- The societal reward for thinness and stigma against fatness are central to the increased use of such medications for weight loss.
- There's a call to reassess and broaden our beauty ideals, as narrow beauty standards expand the definition of 'ugly.'
7. 🤖 The Future of Beauty in a Digital Age
- Digital culture is reshaping our physical appearance, turning our bodies into ongoing projects, with enhancements becoming increasingly inaccessible for many.
- The pursuit of digital beauty is creating unattainable standards as AI's concept of attractiveness becomes more inhuman and cyborg-like.
- Historically, body augmentation trends have evolved from basic cosmetic surgeries to advanced digital technologies.
- AI-driven beauty standards challenge traditional notions of beauty, leading to psychological impacts such as reduced self-esteem.
- Case studies show a rise in digital beauty filters and applications, influencing users' perceptions of their natural appearance.
8. 🌍 Celebrating Diversity and Authenticity
- Challenge societal norms that prioritize looks as the primary measure of worth.
- Recognize the marginalizing effect of societal beauty standards on those who cannot conform.
- Acknowledge the pressure and cost for those who strive to conform to beauty standards.
- Promote a redefinition of beauty to include diverse and authentic expressions.
- Understand that solutions to societal biases (e.g., homophobia, racism) do not lie in conforming to a single standard.
- Encourage the celebration of diversity and individual differences inherent to the human condition.
- Aim to disrupt systems that equate personal worth with physical appearance.
9. 👩🎤 Embracing Your True Self
- The speaker emphasizes the importance of embracing one's true self, regardless of societal or algorithmic standards.
- Encourages individuals to feel comfortable with their own physical appearance, promoting self-acceptance and authenticity.
- Highlights the diversity of appearances as something to be valued and celebrated, implying that all forms are worthy.