Once upon a time, catfishing meant pretending to be someone else online.
Now? You can catfish yourself with a filter, an AI suggestion, or a 0.5-second touch-up app.
You look in the mirror and think, “Why doesn’t my face look like my phone’s version of me?”
And worse… other people start thinking that too.
AI Is the New Beauty Standard (And It Never Has a Bad Angle)
The Messy Part:
– AI and filters aren’t just fun anymore. They’re shaping perception.
– Before you even hit “post,” your device has already smoothed, brightened, lifted.
– You didn’t ask for your jawline to be sharper.
– You didn’t ask for your eyes to be bigger.
– But the algorithm decided you should look this way—and now everyone sees it.
That’s not a filter. That’s conditioning.
What Happens When People Expect You to Look Like That—In Real Life?
– The viewers don’t always know.
– They’re not trained to recognize the tech behind the beauty.
– Someone sees your Instagram, meets you in person—and something doesn’t line up.
– You didn’t lie. But you didn’t show the full truth, either.
Now multiply that by a whole generation. One group grows up with photo booths and live filters. Another grew up with disposable cameras and waiting a week for prints. We’re not all operating from the same visual language anymore.
So Where’s the Line?
Between enhancement and illusion.
Between boosting confidence and distorting identity.
Between fun and fraud.
There’s no one answer—but it’s a conversation worth having.
We can use the tools. We can wear the makeup, use the filter, run the retouch.
But maybe we also leave room for:
- One unfiltered photo
- One in-person moment
- One reminder that beauty doesn’t need approval to be real