Bored Panda reached out to Holly Cockerill, a social media creator and makeup artist based in Blackburn who went viral for this Tik Tok video series. Holly is 27 years old and works as a support worker for people with learning disabilities. 

“I enjoy making people laugh so I started making funny videos on Tik Tok,” Holly recounted and added that “but then I had a passion for makeup and that’s why I created my makeup page and that’s where my ‘Instagram vs real life’ videos are on.”

When asked what inspired her to create the now-viral "Social media is fake, don't be fooled" videos, Holly said that she got an idea after she posted a few images years ago when she had acne and I got a good response from people who could relate. “So it started from there,” she said.

“But I’m guilty of always scrolling through Instagram and seeing ‘perfect’ selfies with the perfect life and it made me feel so bad about myself and I'd constantly compare myself to these fake images,” Holly told us in an interview. “I then started seeing accounts showing celebrities and popular influencers on social media vs real life and I couldn’t believe the difference.”

That’s when she started her own ‘Instagram vs real-life images. “It made me feel so much better after I had girls message me saying my posts were helping them, so I continued to do them.”

Holly believes that the use of beauty filters has a massive effect on people, especially the younger generation. “These young people look up to influencers and want to be like them or look like them. And if those influencers are using an app that changes everything about themselves then it’s making normal people question why they don’t look good enough,” she explained.

She continued: “People start to hate themselves which then can cause serious mental health problems. They are comparing themselves to life like ‘avatars’ that don’t even exist and it’s scary. Young people will get surgery to look like their idols when really those idols don’t even look like they portray themselves online.”

Holly also said that “everyone has flaws, texture, scars, etc. but seeing perfect images all the time makes you feel like you shouldn’t, it’s dangerous.”

“I’ve seen a lot more people talk about the fakery on social media and I’ve started to follow accounts that make me feel better and happy instead of following those that make me question my self-worth,” she said. “It’s so refreshing to scroll through Instagram and actually enjoy it again. If more people showed their true self then more people will relate to it,” she said. Holly added that she hopes that looking perfect all the time will run out of fashion.