United in division: optical illusions bringing the world together, then apart

Optical illusions have been around for millennia, but social media has given them new life. Learn how it started and discover how illusions and social media combine to bring us together – then split us resolutely apart.

There are many ways social media has transformed our lives. Or if not transformed, at least influenced our approach to myriad aspects of our social, work and personal lives. For one, social media has the power to amplify what’s going on in the world. Most notably, social media has lent an extra momentum to social movements (as evidenced by the proliferation of the #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter). It’s also been useful in rallying communities together after global disasters or incidents as well as simply allowing us to share our personal milestones (or mundane day-to-days) with the world.

Optical illusions on social media

Another facet of our lives that social media has made much easier to share is our response to entertainment. Whether we’re live-tweeting while watching #GBBO (the Great British Bake-Off), sharing our shock at the latest series cliff-hanger (or just the newest funny cat video) or publicising our perspective of the newest viral optical illusion, social media gives us a way to connect with others watching the same thing.

Optical illusions, in particular, have gained new life due to social media. Granted, optical illusions themselves have been around since the Greeks manipulated perspectives when building the Parthenon and artist Andrea Pozzo created a life-sized illusion of a dome in the Jesuit church of Saint Ignazio between 1685 and 1694. While humans have used optical illusions for thousands of years, the popularity of social media has seen the phenomenon go viral – and take on a life of its own in the process.

What colour was that dress, anyway?

Arguably, it all started with The Dress – a photo of a blue and black (or white and gold?) dress posted on Tumblr that got picked up by Buzzfeed and made its way across social media in February 2015. Users were perplexed that some people saw the dress in a completely different colour than themselves. In an attempt to both clear the confusion and find others who thought the same as them, The Dress got shared and shared again on social media.

Since then, optical illusions have become a mainstay of social media. In 2017, for example, Twitter saw a Vans Old Skool shoe become the subject of the colour debate (grey and turquoise, or white and pink?). And, in 2018, audio illusions became just as popular with users divided on the question of whether the speaker was saying ‘Laurel’ or ‘Yanny’.

How optical illusions unite and divide us

Optical illusions being proliferated through social media has meant that these debates cross country borders, with people all over the world uniting over the question of whether or not tennis balls are green or yellow or whether the toy in this video is saying ‘brainstorm’ or ‘green needle’ (or even a mix of both).

Social media can at once bring the world together to debate what they’re seeing, hearing or interpreting in the newest optical (or auditory) illusion and divide us into two solid camps of ‘Yanny’ or ‘Laurel’, ‘blue and black’ or ‘white and gold’ and so forth. Not to mention that group in the middle who either see or hear something completely different to the first two camps – or can inexplicably hear or see both.

Whichever camp you find yourself in in the next social media-fuelled optical illusions craze, take comfort in the fact that when social media and optical illusions come together, the world comes together too.

 See quiz of optical illusions here ->

https://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mobiles/dis-illusion.html

By Hasna Haidar, who is a freelance writer who specialises in technology, social media and the digital world

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