Part 1 | TikTok Aesthetics and Deepfake Beauty as the "New Normal"

The age of social acceleration

As society is flooded with media information (with Google as its external hard drive), our collective attention span is faltering due to ‘social acceleration’. Burgeoning visual activity forces our brains to engage in constant subconscious pattern recognition in sorting through and processing countless images to create the new, seeming realities we perceive. It is becoming increasingly difficult, in consequence, to capture our interest at all. Beauty alone no longer suffices to grab attention in the era of social acceleration. Identity today is not about who or what a person may be or represent anymore, i.e. a matter of being, but rather in what ways that person is changing and becoming. Thus mastery of the format of video is required to generate attention, as only video can capture dynamic motion and change.

A study entitled How Video Will Take Over the World has shown how a single static image generates approximately 1,000 words in our mind, while one minute of video generates some 1.8 million words. People and brands that demonstrate change and successful transformation of themselves or of others are the new attention magnets to be emulated.

The ‘copy & paste’ generation: resonance and manipulation

Younger users tend to be highly competent with transformations, being relatively skilled in transforming, modifying and creatively utilizing internet content. In matters of style and beauty, plagiarism is allowed if not desired outright. The goal is to generate resonance, which is done through copying and imitation, leading to a feeling of being at home on the internet. More similarities and things people have in common translate into better chemistry. Chemistry in a literal sense, in this case, as ‘mirror neurons’ fire that are relevant for empathy and compassion but also play a role regarding appeal. For all of us are partial to those who are similar to ourselves. Researcher refer to this phenomenon as resonance. People who like each other unconsciously adjust their body language, use the same phrasing in communicating with each other and may subconsciously imitate the facial expressions of their counterpart. There is however risk of manipulation here, as appealing body language, gestures and facial expressions can be subtly imitated so as to be indistinguishable from authentic behavior, rendering the intentions behind such behavior opaque.

New perception: How AI analyzes your face

Technical advances have brought about modification and transformation possibilities like TikTok beauty filters and effects, among others, which in part are leading to a certain homogeneity that can even blur lines ethnicity (see ‘Instagram face’). People are thus looking more and more alike and originality is becoming ever more elusive. Posting and sharing is defining a new benchmark for what ‘average’ is.

Now we have Artificial Intelligence too, helping us define and generate beauty by algorithm. Facial aesthetic consultancy Qoves provides a list of “blemishes” as part of its advising on surgery option and beauty products. Then there’s a new interactive documentary entitled How Normal Am I that lets you find out how AI judges your face. But the algorithms that operate in secret are most intriguing, which learn from the material they are fed. Their usage is increasingly leading to underrepresented elements or content being sorted out. TikTok algorithms, for example, have suppressed videos of users who appear needy or unattractive, and of people with disabilities.

Cognitive bias: a self-fulfilling prophecy

The way beauty today is defined and represented in a manner removed from reality is significantly affecting our perception. Seeing our own face live on-screen at all times gives us an urge to switch off and tune out, tired of noticing one’s own mannerisms of speaking, facial expressions and general appearance. It easier for us to accept how we look in photos, which only capture a certain moment in time. Animated versions of ourselves, in contrast, give many people a feeling of unease. Filters can help out with this reaction, yet we usually still balk at the unknown and unfamiliar. The‘mere exposure effect’ is the phenomenon by which we not only become more accustomed to viewing our own reflection over the course of years, but also evaluate our reflection more positively over time. The more often we see ourselves in a mirror, the more satisfied we are with what we see. But in photos and video we see ourselves properly aligned the way others see us, which seems strange after being accustomed to seeing our mirror image. Thus suddenly we get to view our familiar asymmetries mirror-inverted back the way they really are, and this unfamiliar aspect is unattractive. This cognitive dissonance creates an environment in which our expectations essentially will never be met. The more self-critical we become, the more we notice our own awkwardness.

Hot-shaming: the beauty of self-confidence

Today’s artificial optimization possibilities and copy culture serve to draw attention to deviation. Real, authentic bodies and faces are becoming more of a rarity in digital contexts, and this has consequences. As the latest World Happiness Report outlined, teenagers are generally unhappier now than ever before in today’s age of social media, being subjected to competition and judgment by others on a daily basis. A study conducted in the UK meanwhile has shown that young women who use social media on a daily basis are at elevated risk of depression, due to constant comparing with other women.

That’s celebrity role models like Billie Eilish are so important to GenY and GenZ-ers who take a stand against body shaming: “If I wear what is comfortable, I am not a woman. If I shed the layers, I’m a slut. Though you’ve never seen my body, you still judge it, and judge me for it. Why?“ – Billie Eilish

... Discover 5 trends that shed new light on beauty: from being to becoming, from me to collective, from shape to energy, from product to process, from identity to art in part 2 Beauty in flow – what defines the beauty of the future?