Kirsten examines her latest selfie. She thinks she looks good - but maybe there is some room for improvement. Her filtering app is full of suggestions: "Oily skin? Blot away shine. Overexposed skin? Get rid of that glare." It encourages her to whiten her teeth, remove her spots and swipe away the circles under her eyes. Within minutes the picture is transformed: now she can put it on Instagram!

These are just the basic things she can do with the FaceTune 2 app. If she wants to go further, she can narrow her face or even change the shape and size of her eyes.

Within a year of its launch in 2016, FaceTune 2 was the most popular paid app on Apple. It has now been downloaded over 200 million times.

To some people, this does not seem a big deal. "I'm really just digitally giving myself the perfect make-up and lighting," says Krystle Berger, an American FaceTune user. But others worry about the effect of these apps, particularly on teenagers.

Research by the soap company Dove found that 80% of girls have used an app to change their looks by the age of 13. Of those who do, 48% have low body esteem.

According to child psychologist Jordan Foster, they are learning that "editing their photos is what makes them good enough, not their personality or hearts". More and more often, he says, girls are "coming to counselling, presenting their Instagram accounts and asking the same question: 'Why don't I look like that?'"

In reality, only 5% of girls and women have the ideal looks typically shown on social media.¹ Researchers at Haifa University found that the more time girls spend on platforms like Facebook, the more likely they are to develop anorexiaAn eating disorder and serious mental health condition. or bulimiaAn eating disorder and serious mental health condition. .

Filtering is being discussed by British politicians as the UK government's Online Safety Bill goes through parliament. Conservative PartyA British political party. Members are known as Tories. MPMember of Parliament. There are 650 MPs representing people in different areas of the UK. Luke Evans wants to make it compulsory for influencers and advertisers to make it clear when they have altered a photo.

Norway has already introduced a law on this, and France is considering one that would include videos.

But the owners of FaceTune claim that this is an attack on freedom of expression. And Brandon B, an influencer with 5.6 million YouTube followers, argues that the apps give people who might otherwise feel left out the confidence to appear on social media.

Yes: There is nothing worse than people who have too high an opinion of themselves. The greatest religions preach the importance of humility. We should not judge others by appearances, or ourselves.

No: Everyone naturally cares about how they look. We should all try to be the best version of ourselves, in appearance as well as everything else, and there is nothing wrong in taking pride in that.  

Or... It is a sin, but only a minor one. It is not nearly as bad as sins that directly affect other people such as anger, which often leads to violence, or greed, which deprives others of their fair share.