[Aozi]

Not just heavily altered, posing and lighting play a huge role as well.

Here's a good example https://www.reddit.com/r/Instagramreality/comments/ciw4a3/do...

Or just look at someone like Chessie King https://www.instagram.com/chessiekingg/

You don't need to edit photos to give an unrealistic image of how your body is. You just need to know some basics of posing, angles and lighting.

The same applies to men as well

https://www.reddit.com/r/Instagramreality/comments/djvv1b/th...

So while obviously edits are a huge issue with body image. It's very important to understand that when you look at almost any IG picture, whether it is altered or not, you're most likely looking at the best possible aspects of the person that they specifically chose to show.

You're only seeing the best parts of someone while comparing them to your worst parts. And when every single picture is specifically crafted to only show the best parts, you'll get a very unrealistic idea on what the person actually really looks like.

[grawprog]

One day I was sitting on the bus. There was someone in front of me crafting an Instagram post, then somebody else in front of them just chilling listening to music not paying attention to anyone or anything. I watched while the person in front of me took a few different selfies from a couple angles, added some filters then sit there crafting a tale about dude in front who was doing absolutely nothing, don't even think he noticed anyone else at all on the bus, and how he'd said something to her and her selfie was the reaction. It took a bit of time too. She thought about it, edited it and changed it a bunch. It was some effort. All just crafted to get reaction.

It was entirely fabricated, not a single thing was true about the post. Then I watched while she eagerly refreshed checked ever 15 seconds for likes and sympathetic comments.

It was kind of funny to watch, but sad at the same time. I can't understand such a strong need for validation that you'd do such a thing.