Is it time for social media to get real?

Apps that encourage unfiltered pictures and more realistic posts are growing in popularity - so is the tide turning when it comes to what we view online? Elizabeth Archer finds out

- Elizabeth Archer

Carefully curated shots of beautiful surroundings or model-perfect selfies taken from a flattering angle are what we’ve come to expect from social media. Images are tweaked and polished until they bear little resemblance to the original. But a growing online movement is on a mission to change this.

Dubbed the “anti-Instagram app”, social media platform BeReal has surged in popularity with more than 53 million downloads. Unlike other apps, which allow people to pose for hours before editing and filtering images, BeReal gives users a two-minute window each day to take and post a picture. The aim is for it to be a snapshot of their real lives.

Sasha Pallari, creator of the #FilterDrop campaign, which encourages people to post natural photos, is heartened by the trend.

Sasha, a trained make-up artist, started the #FilterDrop campaign in 2020 on her Instagram page @sashapallari. After years of filtering pictures to make her skin look smoother and her face look more symmetrical, she realised she had started to hate the way her natural skin looked in the mirror.

“I’d become addicted to filters on Snapchat and Instagram, which made my skin look smooth and perfect,” says 30-year-old Sasha, who lives in Somerset with her husband David, 37, an accountant. “Whenever I looked in the mirror, or a friend took a natural photograph of me, I was disheartened.”