In the 21st century, social media has become an important part of many teenagers’ lives and the constant strive to appear ‘perfect’ in their pictures can lead to them various self-esteem issues. To shed more light on this issue, British creative agency M&C Saatchi teamed up with photographer John Rankin Waddell (better known as just ‘Rankin’) for a photo series titled ‘Selfie Harm‘.

In an interview with Bored Panda, the photographer said he was experimenting with the apps targeting teenagers: “They are like playing computer games and consequently are really good fun. I’ve personally enjoyed messing around with them but they are very addictive.”

Rankin photographed teenagers aged from 13 to 19 years and asked them to edit their pictures to be ‘social media ready’.

“Initially, we used models and then I wanted to expand it to other teenagers, so we did a call out looking for [more] subjects,” said the photographer.

The teenagers were shown how to use editing apps like Facetune and did all of the editing themselves.

“What you can do on these apps is way beyond what even a great photoshop operator can do. The technology is moving forward very quickly and the idea of being somebody in any way different from the person you are can be exciting, but what are the pitfalls around it. That’s what I’m asking,” said Rankin. “If you can be even just a ‘more polished’ version of yourself, how hard does it then become to accept who you actually are? This is a mental health minefield and this project is only just scratching the surface of it.”

More: Rankin, Instagram, Facebook, M&C Saatchi, MTArt Agency, VISUAL DIET h/t: boredpanda, demilked

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