# In pursuit of ‘Instagram face,’ are we losing the imperfections that make us human?

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/in-pursuit-of-instagram-face-are-we-losing-the-imperfections-that-make-us-human/
- Published: 2026-07-22T17:11:19+00:00
- Updated: 2026-07-28T05:33:08+00:00
- Original publisher: NPR (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.npr.org/2026/07/22/nx-s1-5902070/jia-tolentino-instagram-face-plastic-surgery
- Topics: Americas, Politics, World

## Key points

- Jia Tolentino discusses spread of "Instagram face" beauty standard
- Cosmetic procedures now popular among teens, not just adults
- AI beauty images skew white, thin, young, erasing diversity

## Summary

The article, an NPR interview with New Yorker staff writer Jia Tolentino, examines how a filtered, algorithm-driven beauty aesthetic she dubbed "Instagram face" seven years ago has spread from celebrities and influencers to the wider public, driving a rise in cosmetic procedures among increasingly young people. Tolentino argues this matters because it reshapes not just appearances but our relationship with reality itself, as faces once seen as evidence of individual, lived experience become homogenised into a narrow, artificial ideal.

She describes the look as featuring lifted cheeks, plumped lips, enlarged eyes and heart-shaped chins, popularised by figures such as Kim Kardashian and Kendall Jenner, and notes that procedures once linked to middle age are now common among teenagers. Tolentino also highlights how AI-generated images of "beautiful" women, trained on Instagram data, skew almost exclusively white, thin and young despite blending mixed racial features, reinforcing existing racial hierarchies within beauty standards. She cites troubling examples of this trend reaching younger audiences, including a 12-year-old's viral anti-ageing TikTok routine and teenagers asking whether they should begin Botox at 18.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.