The wholesome trend is helping people see the joyful side of getting older
If you were on TikTok this summer you will be very familiar with the platform’s “Aged” filter. Using AI machine learning, similar to the Bold Glamour filter, the Aged filter “predicted” how users would age by adding facial features like wrinkles, sagging skin, thinner lips and hyperpigmentation. The filter quickly racked up over 10 billion views, with the overall sentiment being one of dismay and distress at the results. “I don’t like it, I don’t like it at all,” Kylie Jenner said in a video where she tests out the filter. “No. No.” Other users joked they were going to start Botox and pretended to cry.
While some of these reactions were no doubt played up for social media, the trend highlighted the increasing real fear of ageing that is seeing teens and people in their early 20s starting to get Botox, while others are going into debt to afford the injections. Other “hacks” to slow down the process of time marching across our faces included not using straws, mouth taping while you sleep or not sleeping on your side, and not using the muscles in your face.
With all this in mind, it was a refreshing and much-welcome change to see TikTok users warmly embrace a new ageing filter trend and find comfort in seeing themselves growing older. The ‘Ageing Progression Filter’ slowly transforms your face, taking it from its present-day complexion up until 2073. Over 50 years, faces undergo similar changes to the Aged filter – wrinkles are added in, skin starts to sag, hair becomes grey. But unlike the previous trend, this time users are moved positively, getting emotional and welling up with happiness.
“I wanna show this to my mom so she can see what I’ll look like when I’m old and grey,” user @camerakelly captions her video, with 18 million views, her eyes full of tears. Many users, including @neoncarrie and @annabelbassil were moved to see themselves turning into their mums. “My smile got bigger as I got older because I looked more and more like my mom,” @fondercat writes in her video. Others got emotional thinking about their future lives as grandmothers or just how much time they still have left to live.
“It’s super corny but this filter made me realise how much more time there really is… 24 is still so young, so much more life to be lived. Recently I’ve been craving being younger feeling like I missed out on my early twenties when really I should be appreciating how old I am now,” @ryanntatum writes.
It’s not clear why the reactions to the ageing trend this time around are so much more positive. It could be that people are making a conscious effort to combat the negativity of the previous filter, or that the more gradual transformation presents less of a shock than the side-by-side comparison of the Aged filter; allowing people to imagine their lives evolving, as well as just their faces. What we do know, however, is that at a time when these AI filters are causing errors in our brains, when low body image is having a serious impact on mental and physical health, and the anti-ageing market makes tens of billions of dollars in sales every year, profiting off of our self-esteem crisis; finding joy and happiness in ageing is the most radical and loving thing you can do for yourself.
@baniknik3 idk i don’t mind ageing, i wanna be free of the prison that is youth #age #year #fyp #old ♬ original sound - nikki
@ainslie.aberle this trend is SO CUTE 🥹🥹 #trending #oldagefilter #oldagetrend ♬ Can't Help Falling in Love - Elvis Presley
@aylennpark watching my mom grow old made me so emotional🥹👵 #agefilter #momanddaughter ♬ Can't Help Falling in Love - Elvis Presley
Join Dazed Club and be part of our world! You get exclusive access to events, parties, festivals and our editors, as well as a free subscription to Dazed for a year. Join for £5/month today.