On February 26, 2015, a simple Tumblr post has led to a viral debate over the internet with the question – “What color is this dress?”
The picture was originally posted by Caitlin McNeil, who lived in Colonsay, a small Scottish Island. The dress was worn by the bride’s mother at McNeil’s friend’s wedding. When the bride’s mother sent a picture of the dress to the bride, the bride and her fiance disagreed on the color. The bride then made a post on her social media for her friends to debate which was later found by Buzzfeed and reposted to the public. The debate quickly elaborated to a point where famous celebrities like Taylor Swift were also tweeting about it, which spreads this controversy at an even faster speed. It has split the internet into two camps, “blue and black” and “white and gold.” The dress has “broke [Buzzfeed’s] traffic records, with more than 670,000 people viewing the post simultaneously at one point and garnering 16 million hits in six hours.” (Shaffer) This controversy has also proved how aggressive people could be on social media platforms, trying to force their perspective onto others with tweets like “ “@bjnovak: white and gold”. ARE YOU INSANE ” (@mindykaling).
The original dress turned out to be blue and black.
About three months later, science looked closer at the theory behind this viral phenomenon. The article “The Science Behind The Dress” described three hypothesis that three experts have formed from their studies. “A psychologist from University of Nevada blames the ambiguity of the color blue and people’s inability to reliably discern blue objects from blue lighting.” (Fleur) Another psychologist from Giessen University in Germany “concluded that the different ways people perceive natural light was what caused some people to see white and gold and others blue and black.” (Fleur) A neuroscientist from Wellesley College said it’s “the poor quality of the image [that] sets off the brain’s internal model.” (Fleur) He explained that people could not discern the color due to the lack of information regarding the picture. If the viewer’s brain assumes that the sky was orange, they would see a blue and black dress, and if they assumed that the sky was blue, they would see a gold and white dress.
“Th[e] fight [wa]s about more than just social media—it’s about primal biology and the way human eyes and brains have evolved to see color in a sunlit world.” (Rogers) The dress phenomenon has proved how social media platform can raise educational questions and reveal important differences in people’s perspectives regarding an issue but at the same time be a battlefield where people forcefully push their ideas onto others.
Citations:
Fleur, Nicholas St. “The Science Behind the Dress.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 21 Dec. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2015/05/15/science/the-science-behind-the-dress-color.html. Nov. 7, 2018.
Kaling, Mindy (@mindykaling) “@bjnovak: white and gold”. ARE YOU INSANE” 26 Feb, 2015, 7:45 PM. Tweet.
Rogers, Adam. “The Science of Why No One Agrees on the Color of This Dress.” Wired, Conde Nast, 3 June 2017, www.wired.com/2015/02/science-one-agrees-color-dress/. Nov. 7, 2018.
Shaffer, Leslie. “The Dress That Broke the Internet.” CNBC, CNBC, 27 Feb. 2015, www.cnbc.com/2015/02/27/the-dress-that-broke-the-internet.html. Nov. 7, 2018.
Walker, Hunter. “2 Women Are behind the Viral Dress That Has Everyone Confused – Here’s What They Told Us.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 26 Feb. 2015, www.businessinsider.com/origin-of-white-gold-or-black-blue-dress-2015-2. Nov. 7, 2018.