In the world of social media perfection, and the debate it often sparks, we wanted to dig a little further into the use of photo editors. We know that people like to enhance their photos before they go online, but how many people? And how often?
In June 2022 we surveyed 2,500 Americans between the ages of 18 and 65 to better understand the use of photo editors, and just how much of what we see on social media is real, even from friends and family. The results might surprise you.
How Many Americans Use Photo Editors?
The results showed that 78% of Americans have used a photo editor to touch up a picture before posting it online. This number seems very high, but remember that this is just asking whether they have ever done it.
When asked if they edit photos regularly, 59% of respondents said yes. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 75% of 18 to 35’s use photo editors frequently. On average, women are 32% more likely to edit a picture than men.
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Why Are We Editing Our Photos?
We went on to ask the respondents exactly why they resort to editing photos, and the sad reality is that over 38% said that it was due to insecurities. The issue arising here is that insecurities are being created by photo editing, and so it could be argued that they are only adding to the problem.
Other reasons noted include color enhancements, lighting changes, cropping to fit into certain dimensions, and removing people from shots.
Methodology
This data was collected in June 2022. The survey asked 2,514 Americans aged between 18 and 65 about their photo editing habits. The respondents were 50% male and 50% female and questions were answered anonymously.
If you want to use this data, remember to credit https://thenerdscore.com when doing so.