Digitally enhanced selfies may come at a social cost, McGill study finds

A study from McGill University found that users of editing apps may be perceived as more attractive but are also seen as less enjoyable to be with.

The researchers state that the use of disclaimer labels on digitally enhanced portraits could have unintended social consequences for their subjects.

Related: • Montreal’s McGill University researchers explain why chronic pain is often discounted • McGill team develops AI to detect infection before symptoms appear • McGill University aiming to rebrand its image

The study was conducted at the Laboratory for Attention and Social Cognition and used beauty filters on a common social media application to gradually edit a total of 300 images of 60 women (from 0 to 100 per cent, 25 per cent at a time).

Researchers randomly labelled half of t