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Facebook officials had internal research in March 2020 showing that Instagram — the social media platform most used by adolescents — is harmful to teen girls’ body image and well-being but swept those findings under the rug to continue conducting business as usual, according to a Sept. 14, 2021, Wall Street Journal report.
Facebook’s policy of pursuing profits regardless of documented harm has sparked comparisons to Big Tobacco, which knew in the 1950s that its products were carcinogenic but publicly denied it into the 21st century. Those of us who study social media use in teens didn’t need a suppressed internal research study to know that Instagram can harm teens.
Understanding the impact of social media on teens is important. A Pew Research Center poll shows that 89% of teens report they are online “almost constantly” or “several times a day”. Teens are more likely to log on to Instagram than any other social media site. It is a prevalent part of adolescent life. Yet studies consistently show that the more often teens use Instagram, the worse their overall well-being, self-esteem, life satisfaction, mood and body image.
But Instagram isn’t problematic simply because it is popular. There are two key features that seem to make it particularly risky. First, it allows users to follow both celebrities and peers, both of whom can present a manipulated, filtered picture of an unrealistic body along with a highly curated impression of a perfect life. Meanwhile, Facebook has been relegated to the uncool soccer moms and grandparents. For teens, this integration of celebrities and retouched versions of real-life peers presents a ripe environment for upward social comparison, or comparing yourself to someone who is “better” in some respect.
Instagram is also risky for teens because its emphasis on pictures of the body leads users to focus on how their bodies look to others. Being an object for others to view doesn’t help the “selfie generation” feel empowered and sure of themselves — it can do exactly the opposite. These are not insignificant health concerns, because body dissatisfaction during the teen years is a powerful and consistent predictor of later eating disorder symptoms.
Facebook has acknowledged internally what researchers have been documenting for years: Instagram can be harmful to teens. The big question will be how Facebook handles these damaging results. History and the courts have been less than forgiving of the head-in-the-sand approach of Big Tobacco.
(Christia Spears Brown. www.theconversation.com, 16.09.2021. Adaptado.)
Facebook and Big Tobacco have been put side by side in the first two paragraphs for the reason that
