What is the name of the app that makes people look older? In the whole world, it is called FaceApp, but in Costa Rica, we know it as poverty.
The app (mobile application), that became a trend in recent days, uses neural network technology to automatically generate highly realistic transformations of faces in photographs, to show us what people would look like in a few years.
However, in Tiquicia (Costa Rica) we have a much more advanced technology because here with being poor and ‘andar de chicha’ – stressed out and in a foul mood – makes one appear a little bit older.
If you want to beat the application (and real life) and see how old you will look, pay attention because there are factors that affect that and you can avoid.
For example, if you notice that you look older or younger than your friends, it is for several reasons.
In addition to poverty, other factors that affect premature aging are mental problems, poor diet, lack of spirituality, having no purpose in life and not having family support. Sleep patterns, attitude towards life, consumption of liquor, drugs, medicines and tobacco, all are things that age people according to Dr. Fernando Morales, geriatrician and gerontologist.
79.8 years is the life expectancy in Costa Rica. “Genetic factor affects up to 20%, but be careful with stress and worries,” says the doctor.
Exposure to the sun, dust and even race are also factors that affect looking older.
On the flipside, Flor Murillo, director of Strategic Action Plan for Health, added that healthy habits such as a balanced diet, periodic physical activity and refraining from smoking prevent premature aging.
Some advice for staying or looking young:
- You should not stay up late at night.
- Alcohol in moderation.
- Avoid smoking.
- Face the problems with a good, positive attitude.
- Believe in something.
- Physical activity is important. Walking, running, swimming, dancing, etc, but if you do it outdoors, take precautions, use sun blockers.
In Costa Rica, there are some 560,000 people 60 years of age or more, but in 2030 there will be more than one million and by 2050, 1.8 million Costa Ricans will be “ciudadanos de oro” (senior citizens).
Is FaceApp a danger to your privacy?
No, FaceApp isn’t taking photos of your face and taking them back to Russia for some nefarious project. At least that’s what current evidence suggests, says Forbes.com.
This particular app is nothing new, it’s just newly popular and rising to the top of the mind now––thanks to a few shiny updates since it made headlines in 2017.
After going viral in 2017, and amassing more than 80 million active users, it’s blowing up again thanks to the so-called FaceApp Challenge, in which celebs (and everyone else) have been adding years to their visage with the app’s old-age filter.
But one tweet, by Joshua Nozzi, sho said later he was trying to raise a flag about FaceApp having access to all photos, even if it wasn’t uploading them to a server owned by the Russian company, set off a minor internet panic this week. Nozzi said that the app could be taking all the photos from your phone and uploading them to its servers without any obvious permission from the user.
The tweet caused an Internet storm. But alas, it all turns out to be another of the Internet’s moments. The French cyber expert who goes by the pseudonym Elliot Alderson (real name Baptiste Robert) found FaceApp only took submitted photos—those that you want the software to transform—back up to company servers.
As Qz.com puts it, “In the end, FaceApp and its ilk—apps like Oldify and Snapchat—are mostly just novelties that cater to our narcissistic tendencies (although some age-filter apps have purportedly functional uses, like AprilAge’s AgeMe, which was created to help users visualize the long-term effects of smoking on the skin).
“Then again, we love to see our faces compared to great works of art, swapped with different genders, with dog ears or extra fat.”
