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TikTok users of a certain age are getting a heavy dose of nostalgia with a new trending filter that purports to wind back time to your teenage self.
Teenage Look, which mostly works by smoothing out wrinkles, has quickly racked up 3.4 million views to date, often paired with the melody from The Verve Pipe’s 1996 alt heartbreak song “The Freshmen.” But while baby face and aging filters have previously made the rounds on social media platforms for the simple novelty of seeing yourself time travel instantaneously, many of the top-liked posts teenage-filter posts are somber in tone, as users say they are getting a flashback to some of their most formative years.
While some TikTokers are keeping it light, showing real pictures of their teenage selves (hello, former scene kids with bad hair) others are using the filter to talk about the lack of self-confidence they had in high school or the difficult experiences they faced, using split screens of the before and after to impart life advice to their “younger” selves.
Though many of the posts featuring tears and shocked faces can feel performative for virality’s sake (it is TikTok, after all), there is something jarring about being able to see a face that hasn’t looked back at you in the mirror for some time. Some users have discussed how the filter has kicked up old emotions related to trauma they experienced during those years, while others said it’s given trans and non-binary individuals the opportunity to see a younger self that matches with their gender identity.
Upon applying the filter, some users have also commented that the signs of age appear more pronounced in the unfiltered image.
“Seriously, they are making the ‘now’ look worse to make it more dramatic, right? Right?!” mandertok half-jokingly wrote in the video’s caption.
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