Do People See You Inverted? The Perception of Vision

Taking selfies is an everyday norm now. Whether it’s for a new social media picture, a daily snapshot of your OOTDs, or you just want to see how you look, getting your phone and taking a picture with your front camera is easy.

Sure, you can also use your regular camera, but selfies are more fun and convenient! But have you ever wondered if the image you see in the mirror or your phone’s gallery is your true reflection? Are people seeing you inverted or reversed? Find out today and you may be shocked by what you learn.

Do People See You Inverted?

Are you ready to learn the truth about how people see you? In real life, people see you inverted or, in simpler terms, the opposite of your reflection in the mirror. When you look in the mirror, you are actually looking at yourself in reverse.

Then, when you are with your friends, say, while walking along your neighborhood, what people see is your un-flipped image.

To get a better understanding of this phenomenon, it’s best to start with your own eyes. Your eyes automatically form an inverted image of everything you see, and it is up to your brain to make the necessary corrections so that whatever you are looking at becomes the right way up.

As far as comparing how others see you, the best way to explain further is through mirrors. There is a difference between the image you see in your mirror and the image you see in photographs. In a mirror, it is your reversed image that you see compared to the image that other people see when they see you face-to-face or when they’re actually with you.

If your next question is, is it possible to see myself how others see me? Sure, there is a way, but you certainly won’t make a habit of doing so because it will require you to hold two hand mirrors, and you have to angle it in front of you with each of the mirrors’ edges touching.

You also have to keep both at a right angle at the same time, similar to reading a book. With this, you can see your real reflection the way other people see it.

Do People See You Inverted in Zoom?

With most meetings being done virtually, you might be wondering: what about when I attend Zoom conferences?

You might have noticed that in Zoom, the text is displayed backward. The reason behind this is Zoom’s automatic mirror feature. As a result, your face is flipped because the camera mirrors your movements.

Sure, when you concentrate on the backward text, you’ll be distracted and may become a little conscious. Don’t worry. You only look inverted on your preview screen. For everybody else in the conference, you look fine and normal. Even the text that needs to be read or shown will appear correctly.

The bottom line is that you won’t need to learn how to write backward to make it look right for everyone else.

What About FaceTime?

Facetime is a necessity for Apple users. When you are using your Apple device’s front camera, what you see is a mirror image. This is because these gadgets are designed so you can look at yourself in the same way that people see you.

Therefore, for Apple devices, its camera will give you a mirror of your image.

However, the person you are talking to will see your face in the same way as when you’re with them personally. There will be no mirror or flip image.

If you want to confirm if this is the case, wear a shirt that has some numbers or letters on it and FaceTime a friend. Look at the text on your shirt or even something in your background. You can read it clearly, but if it were inverted or flipped, the text would appear backward.

Frequently Asked Questions

#1. How accurate are mirrored selfies or mirror reflections?

If you are worried that mirrored selfies or your mirror reflection will make you look weird and funny, don’t. Wondering what you look like after you smile at the camera for your selfie is not worth it, especially with mirror selfies, because it is an accurate image compared to pictures. Mirrored selfies are less at risk of being distorted, giving you that 3D view of yourself.

#2. Why does the inverted filter in TikTok make you ugly?

With TikTok’s inverted filter, many people started questioning their physical appearance. Some even had issues about their self-confidence and it’s all thanks to TikTok.

The filter reverses your facial selfie and shows how you’d look when your image is not reflected in a mirror. Unfortunately, the result of the reversal is an uncanny image that you may even have trouble believing. You know that it is you, but there’s something off because it looks like the filter has highlighted all your flaws and even pinpointed defects in your face that you weren’t aware of.

Looking at your selfie, you’ve realized that your right eye slightly drops off than your left or that your chin is not balanced.

It becomes easy to conclude that the filter is your uglier version of what you usually want to look like. The filter, after all, gives you a non-reversed version of yourself, which is unsettling. It adds to the mere-exposure hypothesis, which leads you to want things that you are already familiar with. Applying this point of view to your selfies, it’s natural to prefer your mirrored face because that’s what you are used to, and it is a familiar face compared to your inverted look.

#3. Is it normal not to look like me and not like my image with an inverted perspective?

Yes, this is normal. You can blame the psychological effect of an inverted image on why you suddenly don’t like what you are seeing. Again, you have been seeing your reflection in the mirror ever since you were a child, and every line, zit, or blemish is caught in real-time. In a flipped image, you see yourself how others see you, with all the flaws and imperfections.