Filtered Identities: Exploring the Intersection of Technology and Selfhood.

Abstract

Social media platforms like Instagram and use of beauty filters have changed how we present ourselves online. These filters affect how we think about our bodies, gender, and who we are. It has taken over our actual self by transforming presentation online. This paper explores how filters redefine body politics, gender performance and identity construction. Drawing on Haraway's cyborg theory and Butler's gender performativity, it argues that filters are blurring human boundaries with technology while intensifying gender norms and creating a new standard of expressing, as filters are contributing to identity fragmentation, self-objectification and anxiety, reflecting a shift from fixed identity to algorithmically structured posthuman subjectivity. Ultimately, beauty filters highlight the complex interplay between technology, identity, and power, impacting self-presentation and social interaction in the digital age.