Guys, there’s a theory 0.5 photos are warping our perception of reality

In 2023, there’s only one right way to take a photo: Zoomed out on 0.5 mode, giving yourself arm ache from pivoting your phone round towards you and blinding yourself with the flash. We want our foreheads abnormally large, our limbs looking lanky, and our full fit check included in our surroundings. Otherwise, really, what’s the point of taking a photo at all?

0.5 pics have had us in a chokehold since 2022 when the vibey young nepo babys and models (Rina Lipa, Romeo Beckham, Mia Regan etc) jumped on the trend facilitated by Apple’s updates. And, just over a year on, theories are emerging online about what our obsession with 0.5 might say about about us.

So, why do we apparently love 0.5 photos so much?

There are obvious upsides to a 0.5 picture: The angles look cooler, the levels are more dynamic, they give off the overall nonchalant vibe that you’re just silly, cute, here for a good time and definitely not posing.

But pop culture TikToker Akili theorised there could be more to our love for them than that: “The obsessession with 0.5 on iPhone is like weirdly poetic because it kind of just resembles the way we’ve grown up,” he claimed.

“Since Gen Z is the first generation that has had access to the internet in this way, we essentially have access to tonnes of information at any one time. We can see news immediately, we watch everyone’s lives on the internet – but at the same time with so much information reality becomes distorted.”

“The Kardashians are a great example of reality distortion,” he explained. “We see their show, their lives on social media but we don’t really know who they are. We think we know them but we actually don’t. And part of the reason we think we know them is because we have so much access to them. Yet, that access is curated in a specific way, which then distorts our viewpoint of them.

“Weirdly, the 0.5 lens does the same exact thing. It lets you see more of whatever is going on. You have a wider angle. So, in a way you think you’re getting more information. But also there’s this distortion in the photo. It’s curved, it’s a little circular – it’s not completely real. So, in the process of us having more information, reality becomes distorted.”

Contorting content isn’t really a new concept. We’ve loved distorting reality basically since cameras existed: FaceTune, Snapchat filters, Microsoft webcam green screens, fish eye lenses.

But Akili and his followers think our anxiety about daily life it’s what’s provoked our most recent attachment to warping our camera rolls: Sometimes, I wonder if subconsciously, we’re more into distorted realities just because on a deeper level we are more comfortable with it,” he says. “We’re more comfortable with distortion than what’s actually real.”

Either way, can’t stop, won’t stop. Long may the big heads, long legs and delusion continue x

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Featured image credit via Instagram.