The faces that hold social currency on social media — with fox-lift brows and buccal fat removed — are increasingly bleeding into real life. AdvertisementEven before the remote-work boom, writers noticed social media was shaping the way people looked. The shift from surgical procedures to minimally invasive injections has also made cosmetic work safer and more available to average people. "The gap between the identity we present on social media and the self we see in the mirror is growing," Widdows told me. As more people get cosmetic work done, the rest of us lose touch with what's normal.

---

Persons: it's, Z, It's, Heather Widdows, else's, Snapchat, Anne, Mette Hermans, Widdows, Gen Zers, Hermans, you've, we've Organizations: American Academy of, New Yorker, University of Warwick, American Psychological Association, Boston University School of Medicine, City University of London, Tilburg University Locations: Instagram, United States, Netherlands