Síle Seoige has broken down in tears, as she warned her followers of the “harmful” effects of social media filters.
The TV presenter took to her Instagram Stories on Wednesday after watching a powerful new video for Dove’s Self-Esteem Project, which showed how photo editing apps can damage young people’s confidence.
Reacting to the video, the 41-year-old said: “So I’ve just watched a clip that I’m going to share in a second. It’s made me feel very emotional, quite angry and also responsible because the truth is we are all responsible for this.”
“I’m talking about social media f****** filters, apps that distort body – make you look slimmer, bigger, whatever it is. And I’ve been victim to them too. I’m not saying I’m perfect. But when I share this clip, if you don’t feel what I feel…”
“I think there’s something going on. We need to look out for our kids, particularly girls that are falling into the trap of feeling like they’re not good enough. We’re all bloody good enough.”
“I have spots at the moment. I am looking so tired, I’m wrinkly so the f*** what? It’s real. It’s who I am right now. It’s where I’m at. Can we embrace who we are?” the Galway native urged.
“Normally I would have put on a bit of makeup, try to make myself look a little bit better before I come on stories because I don’t use filters anymore. I haven’t for a year. But can we just stop using filters? Can we please stop using them?”
“You don’t look better with the filter. You don’t. Everybody knows you’re using one and it’s just creating a messed up idea in your mind that you’re not good enough as you are because you are good enough as you are.”
“Everybody is what they are. I want to see the real person in reality. I don’t want to meet them and go, ‘Why don’t I see stars coming down over their face?’ or ‘Why don’t I see this glow or strange alien like sparkle in her eyes?'”
“I want to see what someone is really like. What they look like, what their vibe is because what somebody is inside shines out through their eyes, through their being. You pick up on their energy and that’s just the way it is.”
“So while we can hide a lot and we can put on filters and be like, ‘Hey how’s it going how’re things?’, all lovely lovely. But it could be just horse s*** and b*****t. We need to just cut away because we’re sending a f***** up signal to our kids.”
“We didn’t grow up with these, we didn’t grow up with filters on social media. So what is this doing to our kids? We need to do better for them. We need to set an example,” the Gaeilgeoir said.
Starting to cry, Síle said: “Yes I am emotional. I don’t want my little boy or any future kids I have thinking that they’re not good enough, that they have to put on f****** filters.”
“So I have just bawled my eyes out and I’m obviously extremely emotional, but I just think that ad is very powerful. I have no affiliation with Dove but I just watched that it f****** just hit me.”
“We have to stop this obsession with perfection that doesn’t exist and is harming our kids. It’s harming us. It’s harming everybody. So we all need to play our part here. It’s not good enough anymore [to say], ‘I’m just using a filter’.”
“Good luck to us. It’s damaging your mind. It’s not good for us. It’s not good for any of us,” she added.
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