The body presented on Instagram: The role of Photoshop applications as a technological intervention to the body image in construction of identity

Instagram is a platform where individuals constantly reconstruct their identities with the desire to be visible everywhere, at any time. In this context, Instagram users transform their identities into a performance and present them to others through their posts, while they try to perfect them in order to show the best performance among all and fill their feed in the best way. At this point, the body becomes a commodity and a display product with many different presentation alternatives on Instagram, and in a sense, it is surveilled by individuals themselves with photoshop applications. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of usage of the Photoshop applications on individuals' identity-building processes. For this purpose, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with a total of 30 Instagram users, 15 women and 15 men, aged between 18 and 35. In the interviews, the participants' views on the purposes of using photoshop on photos posted on Instagram, their photoshop experiences, and their ideas on sharing photos that are photoshopped are emphasized. As a result of the research, it is seen that individuals creating an idealized identity presentation on Instagram via photoshop applications. Photoshop applications are often used to get closer to a standard of beauty and body form that is ideal. The effect of photoshop applications on the number of likes on photos increases the interest in these applications. It is also inferred from the research that there is a gender difference in the use of photoshop applications. In addition to the perception of the ideal body deduced from the usage of photoshop applications, it is also seen to be mediating the production of alternative meanings with different usage styles.