Going Overboard: A ‘Selfie’ App Makes You Look Thinner

The “selfie” phenomenon is a trend that’s probably not going anywhere for a while.

It’s become a staple in social media, and it lends a certain intrinsic value in eliciting attention. Our friends take selfies. Celebrities take selfies. We all take selfies.

But would you download an app that made your selfie “self” look five, 10, or 15 pounds thinner than you actually are?

The complete opposite of apps like FatBooth (a program that “supersizes” your face), SkinneePix helps you appear more slimmed down by hollowing out your cheekbones and shaving some chub off your face and neck.

App ‘helps to level the playing field,’ say creators

The creators of the app, Susan Green and Robin J Phillips, say the program helps to “level the playing field,” since the camera adds 10 pounds.

The app’s description reads, “SkinneePix makes your pictures look thinner [and] makes your photos look good and helps you feel good. It’s not complicated. No one needs to know.”

But, as Elena Cresci from The Guardian reports, the results aren’t always pleasing.

“Rather than looking like the healthy 24-year-old I am, I look gaunt, tired and in need of a slap-up meal – or five,” wrote Cresci. “My cheekbones jut out in disturbing spikes, my ears suddenly look huge compared to the rest of me – and let’s not get started on my gigantic forehead.”

App is unhealthy, say detractors

The app’s creators claim that it could be used as a motivational tool – users can see what they might look like if they lost a little weight, they said.

But, as Cresci points out, “from equating weight loss with being more attractive to the conspiratorial ‘it’s our little secret’ in the description, nothing about this app is remotely healthy.”

Source: The Guardian

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