A distorting mirror, funhouse mirror or carnival mirror is a popular attraction at carnivals and fairs. [1] Instead of a normal plane mirror that reflects a perfect mirror image, distorting mirrors are curved mirrors, often using convex and concave sections to achieve the distorted effect. [2] Because of their distorting properties, they are sometimes featured in fiction as a literary device, such as in Hans Christian Andersen's 1844 fairy tale The Snow Queen . [3]
Distorted mirrors are used as a metaphor for describing Wikipedia [4] , personalized medicine [5] and social media which rather than reflecting society, tend to distort our perceptions of reality and social norms. [6] [7]
Mark Zuckerberg has said that social media is a reflection of society. But it's more like a funhouse mirror distorted by a small but vocal minority of extreme outliers
Media related to Distorting mirrors at Wikimedia Commons