Leah Berenson
Leah Berenson
March 9, 2024 ·  2 min read

She Took This Photo of Her Daughter in the Park and Uploaded it to Facebook, but People Got Extremely Worried

Since childhood, many of us have had fun tricking our eyes and our brains. Magicians use illusions to shock and awe crowds in a theater or the streets of Las Vegas. People have always found joy in the mystical wonders of an optical illusion. In contrast, one mom shared a picture of her daughter at the park that sparked concern across the internet. 

Sharing Her Daughter’s Photo

The optical illusion has gone viral as family, friends, and followers expressed concern for the little girl’s health and wellbeing. It appears from the photo that the family is at the fairgrounds. In the photo, the young girl appears to have unusually long and skinny legs. As it turns out, the optical illusion is just the girl holding a bag of popcorn

The photo has been shared more than 250,000 times on Facebook and more than 37,000 people have commented on it, including many who couldn’t figure out what was happening. The part that struck people as odd, was the popcorn happened to be the same color as the ground behind her. Because of the matching color palette, the picture became a perfect and debatable optical illusion. 

What is an Optical Illusion

Light bounces off an image and enters the eye. The eye then converts the light into electrical impulses. Our brains turn these impulses into images. An optical illusion occurs when the brain is tricked into thinking it’s looking at an image that differs from the actual image.

How an Optical Illusion Works

Not only does an optical illusion play tricks on our eyes and brains. They also show us how our brains and eyes work together to help us see. When things appear on a flat surface, they are often two dimensional because there isn’t enough depth for our brains to make accurate representations of the image. The image tends to lack lighting or shading which differs from the 3-D world in which we live.

Regardless of your thoughts in regard to an optical illusion, there’s no denying that when a child appears to be unwell it sparks concern. Particularly across the internet, people often weigh in with their perspectives and this can be both hurtful and beneficial. It’s heartwarming to know that people care enough to express concern. Meanwhile, a mom was simply sharing a sweet moment with family and friends. Luckily, the girl appears to be in good health and the picture turned out to be an optical illusion. Fortunately, it caused a misunderstanding and nothing more.

Sources

  1. She took this photo of her daughter in the park and uploaded it to Facebook. As they saw the picture, friends and relatives wrote worriedly.” All Your Viral News. Retrieved January 5, 2023.