Are these legs shiny and oily, or are they legs with white paint on them? That’s the first question. The second question is: why do we care? Ever since the fateful first light of 25 February 2015, optical illusions have become the internet’s currency. “Is this dress white and gold or black and blue?” whispered the world wide web on that day, paving the way for our news sources to be replaced by a constantly updating feed of hidden cigars in brick walls, phones concealed in carpets, and a lonely Cheese & Onion Bake secreted in some Steak Bakes.
are these legs shiny and oily or are they legs with white paint on them pic.twitter.com/7Z8e8F1JCZ
— kayden (@kingkayden) October 26, 2016
Today, The Dress has been usurped by The Legs. Within the last few hours, news stories on The Telegraph, Metro, Mashable, Buzzfeed and The Independent’s Indy100 have popped up about a tweet from Twitter user @kingkayden, who posted a picture of legs-splattered-with-white-paint-that-sort-of-look-like-legs-splattered-with-oil. No one on social media can shut up about it, and – aside from the fact that anything, absolutely anything, which distracts us from Brexit will do – it’s a mystery why.
the shiny/painty legs seem to be a thing pic.twitter.com/4mzdWYw83R
— Stuart Millar (@stuartmillar159) October 26, 2016
“Optical illusions have always been very popular because they challenge the basic notion that we are able to see what is right in front of our eyes,” says Richard Wiseman, a psychologist, author, and owner of the YouTube channel Quirkology, which is full of optical illusions and tricks. “In fact, perception is constructive and our brains are constantly making guesses about what is happening around us. But it doesn’t feel like that.
“Illusions show us that we are not really seeing the world as it is and I think people find that fascinating. The web just allows these images and videos to be shared more quickly than ever before.”
It’s a fascinating explanation, but there are also much more cynical tricks at play. News websites deliberately play on this basic psychological love of optical illusions to ensure that they spread online and therefore generate clicks.
“If you sell the story on social channels as a challenge it’s more likely to perform well,” explains a writer for a popular viral news website who wishes to remain anonymous. “I honestly think people like the feeling that they’re intelligent or have completed a challenge simply because they can see the reasoning behind why a certain illusion works.”
Although the writer, understandably, doesn’t want to share the number of clicks an average optical illusion story gets, they assure me that they are a huge traffic driver. “I think there’s something to be said for optical illusions stories being entertainment as news – they’re innocuous pieces which pretend to teach you something about the way your eyes and brain work, but actually you’re just clicking on it because you think you know what the trick will be. Of course this is a fallacy, but it’s one that works for everyone – the ‘news’ website gets traffic, the people get entertained,” they say.
“That it’s become such a success story for viral news outlets is more concerning – the traffic these stories generate mean they often supersede actual news in terms or priority, even if the news is thoroughly entertaining. This is where I think we hit murky waters if we attempt to define our product as ‘news’.”
It’s true that there’s room on the internet for everything and everyone, and optical illusions shouldn’t disappear from our hearts and feeds, but it is fair to be worried about their prevalence online. When news websites sell stories as something “Only 2 per cent of people can see!!!”, we are simultaneously dumbing down and pretending we are smart.
Besides, the legs clearly have white paint on them.
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