If you are a Pixel phone user who has bought the phone solely for how the device is capable of making your pictures look amazing with machine learning tricks, then there is an important update coming up as Google has planned to make massive changes in the way Pixel phones edit images or apply filters.
In this day and age, every user wants the picture of themselves coming out of their phones to be almost perfect. Some even go one step ahead and try to compare their pictures with highly edited or crafted images available of a place or person online. But as such a comparison can never be achieved by a phone, this is also where the trouble begins.
Taking this unhealthy comparison and filter-fatigue into consideration, Google has decided to step into the matter in its own way by deciding to remove filters that are applied by default in a selfie taken from any Pixel device.
The company has come up to such a conclusion after discussing the matter with a lot of mental health experts and Google has also found out that the majority of users are also never aware of how their default photo apps automatically process a filter when they are about to take a selfie. This overall is causing an adverse effect on the mental wellbeing of users as they begin to compare their real life faces with the standards of beauty set by these filters.
Furthermore, apart from making the usage of filters more transparent, Google is also planning to remove any kind of reference related to “beauty” in its set of retouching tools that are available in the phone to edit RAW images.
As a result, when the changes will be applied to Pixel 4a, the new Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 - as the retouching tools for now are only available in these devices - all the editing features will become value-free. This also means that even if the user still wants to use retouching tools then he or she will be guided about the kind of change it will bring to the original image taken from the camera app.
Despite being a small step for the cause, Google can actually start a big battle against unrealistic expectations that now lie in every impressionable user. It is about time for people to understand that the content present on social media is not always close to everyday reality and in fact what they see on their screens is a highlight reel - which is usually composed of the best moments while excluding all the bad, mundane or difficulties faced by the person behind the screen.
Hence, Google’s effort to make the change at least will make people more aware of them feeling the best with the way they look in real life.
Read next: Google’s New Battery Saver Mode Could Make a Full Charge Last 48 Hours
In this day and age, every user wants the picture of themselves coming out of their phones to be almost perfect. Some even go one step ahead and try to compare their pictures with highly edited or crafted images available of a place or person online. But as such a comparison can never be achieved by a phone, this is also where the trouble begins.
Taking this unhealthy comparison and filter-fatigue into consideration, Google has decided to step into the matter in its own way by deciding to remove filters that are applied by default in a selfie taken from any Pixel device.
The company has come up to such a conclusion after discussing the matter with a lot of mental health experts and Google has also found out that the majority of users are also never aware of how their default photo apps automatically process a filter when they are about to take a selfie. This overall is causing an adverse effect on the mental wellbeing of users as they begin to compare their real life faces with the standards of beauty set by these filters.
Furthermore, apart from making the usage of filters more transparent, Google is also planning to remove any kind of reference related to “beauty” in its set of retouching tools that are available in the phone to edit RAW images.
As a result, when the changes will be applied to Pixel 4a, the new Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 - as the retouching tools for now are only available in these devices - all the editing features will become value-free. This also means that even if the user still wants to use retouching tools then he or she will be guided about the kind of change it will bring to the original image taken from the camera app.
Despite being a small step for the cause, Google can actually start a big battle against unrealistic expectations that now lie in every impressionable user. It is about time for people to understand that the content present on social media is not always close to everyday reality and in fact what they see on their screens is a highlight reel - which is usually composed of the best moments while excluding all the bad, mundane or difficulties faced by the person behind the screen.
Hence, Google’s effort to make the change at least will make people more aware of them feeling the best with the way they look in real life.
Read next: Google’s New Battery Saver Mode Could Make a Full Charge Last 48 Hours
