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The fact that people share an idealized version of themselves on social media, cherry-picking only the best images, thoughts, and experiences isn't new. But the lengths they go to marketing themselves keep surprising even the ones who think they've seen it all.

I'm talking about r/Instagramreality. It's a subreddit whose members strip down the glamor of make-up, flattering poses, and all kinds of photo editing, and expose the truth behind the facade. It's been around since 2017, and we've written about it numerous times (here, here, and here), but even these folks still get baffled at how absurd some of these manipulations are. Here are a few reasons why.

#2

A Fairly Popular Local Influencer Recently Made An Appearance On TV. A Lot Of Her Fans Apparently Had Trouble Recognizing Her At First

A Fairly Popular Local Influencer Recently Made An Appearance On TV. A Lot Of Her Fans Apparently Had Trouble Recognizing Her At First

SwissMercyMain Report

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Klaatu Verrata (Cough)
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yikes. Filler is expensive. Always amazes me how much vain people will pay to turn themselves into literal caricatures of themselves.

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In an earlier piece on r/InstagramRealityBored Panda spoke to Siobhan Ward, a primary therapist at Life Works, a rehabilitation center that provides treatment for addictions and eating disorders, about the scope of social media addiction in the United Kingdom.

"If you broke 'social media addiction' down into categories, it would encompass other process or behavioral addictions such as porn and gambling, as well as eating disorders, especially predominant with the likes of Instagram," Ward explained. "It may be that the addiction is not with the social media itself, but the social media has become a tool of other addictions."

The therapist thinks people can't stop faking and editing their Instagram photos (even when it's an obvious lie) because of brain chemistry. "Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that comes into play with the addict — it is what tells us that we enjoy something and therefore need to do it again as it gives us pleasure."

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"If the person is taking a lot of selfies that have to be 'perfect', then maybe they are not addicts. Instead, this could be a sign of a possible narcissistic personality disorder. Also, if someone is posting pictures to get as many likes as possible, they may not be getting certain needs met in their life. They may not have the love, support, or even safety that they need now or that they needed when they grew up and therefore have had to find another way to fill that hole," Ward said.

#3

A Man, For A Change. Not Sure If Satire Or For Real. Behold, The Wall-Bending Biceps And Butt

A Man, For A Change. Not Sure If Satire Or For Real. Behold, The Wall-Bending Biceps And Butt

jueoni Report

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Ola Polowczyk
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Years ago, Cartoon Network had an ad with Johnny Bravo Who turned out to have baloons instead of muscles 😁

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Scagsy
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The hardest thing to understand about this one is that this guy, edited his pics for hours and then went 'Yes! This is how I want people to see me!'

A B C
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm certainly impressed with the shirt tailoring skills of someone. ;)

LadyDelynn
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm kind of surprised that he didn't 'shop the ol package bigger(I can't see any distortion across from it) but opted to stuff his hand in his pocket instead. He should have shrunk his manboobs though! I'm on the edge of jealousy here...

Angelica Schuyler
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But the design of the background! I love the natural shelf and door!

Klaatu Verrata (Cough)
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

>>>> waits to see what happens when he tries to raise his arms<<<<<

K
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm sorry but the absolute state of him. He has serious issues if he thinks this looks good. I kind of feel bad for him

Sheena Leversedge Wood
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

why would he finish editing that and think it was believable. even without the bendy backgrounds. it looks like he did it in MS. Paint

Nope
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There was a "trend" (I saw it online) where men -with apparently one braincell- injected oil and other bad stuff into their biceps (some in the pectorals) to fill them with liquid to have fake muscles, and they looked like this, it was super creepy. That usually resulted in the substance hardening with time and the muscles were like petrified, some lost their arms. Think about a low budget botox for arms. There are many pictures online if you wanna be creeped out. I'll try to find one. [Edit: look for Kirill Teresin]

JD Lee
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Now men with the butt thing? No people. Love thyself. Be honest.

Kanga9ine
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

One pin prick and he'd be flying around the room like a balloon you lost at five.

Melissa J
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It may have looked ok if he would of emphasized his chest.lol Bubble butt and arms with dainty pecs.

Pascale Pierloot
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Desperately looking for someone to scratch his back as he definitely can't do no longer himself due to overly developed arms.

StnFlwr
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Shirt sleeves don't expand like that. His arms are ludicrous. His butt probably is too, but I've seen some big butts ...

KLo
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Omg, for real? He looks so serious, like "people are really going to believe it's all me in this photo"

bdunbar@kcls.org
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He's an attractive young man. He appears nice. I'm not getting this body changing via photoshopping. It's very sad.

Linda HS
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Dude, what the f**k is wrong with you? Not too much attention?

NetworkNate
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Check out the door and shelf in comparison. They're warped from sloppy photoshop.

DKS 001
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

shirts just aren't made like that. Sleeves are straight, not round here, thin there, round elsewhere. And did you put a pillow in the butt, or what?

Miss Melanie
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Does this shirt seem strange? A seemingly button downed collar shirt, w/no button down 😂

les
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

ok which one of you filled kanye with helium? just admit it and we can get through this travesty, lol

v
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

According to Einstein, gravity does play into relativity and this photo is a perfect example of this. Look closely and you'll see that this particular phenomenon only, really, impacts one side. As you can see, only one side is affected by the gravity of this particular specimen's individual gravity and the other side is unchanged (both photos show this). Other than that, relatively speaking, that which is below this magnificent butt is completely unchanged due to the relative lack work put into leg day.

Daniel Marsh
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He looks like he's made of Play-Doh and is being pressed against glass.

Marco Conti
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The shirt too. Folds don't work that way. Door certainly don't.

Alma Muminovic
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

His muscles/butt is so big it bends time and space around him! 😂

J.A. Rogers
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The walls (and doors) were simply caught in action, as they were freaking out and trying to run out of the room. (And the wall-benders are triceps, not biceps).

B
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The first thing I'd Photoshop if I was him would be my fashion sense...

Eb
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That shirt would have to be very stretchy to fit round the biceps like that, unless he's rocking a puffed sleeve.

Chris Largent
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's called gravitational lensing; an object with so much mass is capable of bending light around it.

Chris Largent
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's called gravitational lensing; an object so massive is capable of bending light around it.

Nikki Sevven
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

...when you're so jacked that you're approaching singularity and sucking in everything around you.

boatpotatome
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Borrowing from Britney S., the door, the floor and the furniture curve, guys. No photoshop here at all. 😂

jammer
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well duh! Didn’ya all know gravity from those massive muscles bends light?!?

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#5

This Is Funny And All But It’s Getting Out Of Hand

This Is Funny And All But It’s Getting Out Of Hand

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Steve Barnett
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm getting the feeling that I'm probably going to make more Slender Man jokes.

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Interestingly, being reminded that social media is fake can also 'fill' us. In a 2019 study, researchers decided to investigate the effect 'Instagram vs. Reality' pictures (the ones containing side-by-side photographs of the same woman, one an idealized depiction and the other a more natural depiction) have on body image.

They got together 305 women aged between 18 and 30 years, the largest demographic group of Instagram users. The sample had a mean age of 25.34 years, and their mean body mass index (BMI) was 26.98, indicating a slightly overweight sample. The majority of participants identified as Caucasian (69.2%), followed by Latino/Hispanic (11.8%), African American (10.2%), Asian (6.6%), Native American (0.3%), and 'other' (2.0%). The participants were randomly assigned to view one of three sets of Instagram images over a period of time: 'Instagram vs. reality" images, the 'ideal' side alone, or the 'real' side alone.

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#9

In Reality, Birds Flap Their Wings When They Fly

In Reality, Birds Flap Their Wings When They Fly

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#10

Unfortunately Did Not Pass Her Photoshop Class Though

Unfortunately Did Not Pass Her Photoshop Class Though

fannywaffles Report

"[The study found that] viewing the 'Instagram vs. reality' and real images resulted in decreased body dissatisfaction relative to the ideal images," the researchers wrote. "Furthermore, the detrimental effects of appearance comparison were much less marked for the 'Instagram vs. reality' and real images than for the ideal images. It was concluded that 'Instagram vs. reality' and real posts have the potential to bolster women's body satisfaction, but more research is needed to assess their longer-term impact."

Siobhan Ward said that we need to become aware of what we believe we are getting from the Internet in order to start resisting its temptation. "By understanding why [we] turn to the Internet, [we] can start to think about healthier ways to meet these needs."

#11

This Guy Popped Up In My Feed As A Sponsored Story

This Guy Popped Up In My Feed As A Sponsored Story

Lksarchitecs Report

#12

Yes, The Giant Feet Syndrome, More And Coomon These Days

Yes, The Giant Feet Syndrome, More And Coomon These Days

Slow-Werewolf Report

#13

We’ve Seen Tiny Heads…now Get Ready For Giant Feet!

We’ve Seen Tiny Heads…now Get Ready For Giant Feet!

meep_meep_merp Report

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#15

"The Model Has Achieved This By Chewing On A Plastic-Looking Contraption"

"The Model Has Achieved This By Chewing On A Plastic-Looking Contraption"

metti-021 Report

#16

Photoshopped Herself Into Oblivion, Grandpa Can Stay Lookin Old Af

Photoshopped Herself Into Oblivion, Grandpa Can Stay Lookin Old Af

ZeuslovesHer Report

#18

From Her Profile vs. Tagged

From Her Profile vs. Tagged

Yayitselizabeth Report

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Sarcastic Cow
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When you photoshoped yourself hard enough to be Kate Siegel. Good job.

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#19

Reminder: This Is Not How These Women Look In Real Life

Reminder: This Is Not How These Women Look In Real Life

jassicassi Report

#20

Internal Organs? Never Heard Of Them

Internal Organs? Never Heard Of Them

look4alec Report

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#22

What The Model Posted vs. Photographer

What The Model Posted vs. Photographer

clutchkickmurphys Report

#23

She Was On A Popular Reality Show. I'll Never Understand Why They Do This When We've All Seen What They Really Look Like!

She Was On A Popular Reality Show. I'll Never Understand Why They Do This When We've All Seen What They Really Look Like!

TheStayAtHomeAtheist Report

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Monday
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why accept the reality show invite if you've modified your online image this much is what I don't understand. You KNOW you don't look like your pictures, so why expose yourself? [Why change yourself this much is a question for another day]

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#25

Arms So Big They Warp The Plane Seats?

Arms So Big They Warp The Plane Seats?

FreddieL2103 Report

#26

This Cannot Be Real! Inhumanly Possible To Look Like This

This Cannot Be Real! Inhumanly Possible To Look Like This

fenixdarkdirk Report

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James016
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think this is the guy from TOWIE (UK reality TV show) and he is dangerously thin at the moment

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#28

Girl I Go To Uni With Always Edits Her Photos Like This.. The Second Pic Is How She Actually Looks

Girl I Go To Uni With Always Edits Her Photos Like This.. The Second Pic Is How She Actually Looks

BigBootyBianca Report

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#30

Her Index Finger Seems To Be Melting Down Her Bum

Her Index Finger Seems To Be Melting Down Her Bum

SunnyAmerican Report

#31

Her Gravitational Pull Is So Strong It Distorts Everything Around Her Waist

Her Gravitational Pull Is So Strong It Distorts Everything Around Her Waist

samiam130 Report

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Tobias Rieper
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

this whole page could just have a picture of Thanos after he gets the reality stone with caption now reality can be whatever i want

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#32

Two Of Her Fingers Are Thicker Than Her Wrist, Wtf

Two Of Her Fingers Are Thicker Than Her Wrist, Wtf

MelanieSenpai Report

#34

Even The Poor Headless Mannequin Can't Live Up To Ig Standards

Even The Poor Headless Mannequin Can't Live Up To Ig Standards

_queefer_sutherland_ Report

#35

When The Very Thing You Rely On Betrays You Lol

When The Very Thing You Rely On Betrays You Lol

Fvcknloner Report

#37

The Face!!! And This Was A Sponsored Post

The Face!!! And This Was A Sponsored Post

thehappilydepressed Report

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#40

And She Would Have Gotten Away With It Too, If It Weren’t For Those Meddling Straps!

And She Would Have Gotten Away With It Too, If It Weren’t For Those Meddling Straps!

reakkysadpwrson Report

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#41

Subtle.... Her Poor Nose

Subtle.... Her Poor Nose

randomthemoron Report

#42

I Honestly Don’t Know Where To Start

I Honestly Don’t Know Where To Start

stfx2012 Report

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Troux
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The background has the telltale stretch marks of Google Street View. Nice.

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#44

Reality TV Influencer Edits Her Photos To Change Her Skin Colour

Reality TV Influencer Edits Her Photos To Change Her Skin Colour

Secure_Yoghurt Report

#45

Famous Youtube Prankster Editing Girls’ Bodies In Video Previews. Lost Some Respect For Him For Perpetuating Those Harmful Standards

Famous Youtube Prankster Editing Girls’ Bodies In Video Previews. Lost Some Respect For Him For Perpetuating Those Harmful Standards

old.reddit.com Report

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#46

Core So Strong It Bends Everything Around It

Core So Strong It Bends Everything Around It

TacoSlut4Life Report

#47

So Much Brightness

So Much Brightness

DaisyDandelion Report

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Scagsy
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wham! Looking happy because they had yet to give their love away at Christmas.

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#48

Found One In The Wild, Totally Natural Looking Face

Found One In The Wild, Totally Natural Looking Face

maginedrragon Report

#49

Online Shopping And.. I Literally Have No Idea What’s Happening Here

Online Shopping And.. I Literally Have No Idea What’s Happening Here

Speecyspicypotato Report

#50

Seen In Strasbourg. Influencer Pretends To Use A Selfie Stick As Entourage Shoots. They Were There For At Least 30 Minutes. Best Was Seeing Her Smoke After In A Winter Coat ‘Cuz It Was Chilly Af

Seen In Strasbourg. Influencer Pretends To Use A Selfie Stick As Entourage Shoots. They Were There For At Least 30 Minutes. Best Was Seeing Her Smoke After In A Winter Coat ‘Cuz It Was Chilly Af

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Scagsy
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Somebody had their picture taken, then had a cigarette. The rest of this story shall remain a mystery evermore.

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