This past week my Apple newsfeed was flooded with articles paraphrasing the WSJ article from last Tuesday, “Facebook knows Instagram is harmful for teens, its own documents show.”
I read the lengthy article, thought about sharing it on the Facebook page, and almost wrote my own recap piece.
But a sense of learned helplessness took over.
I wondered, does it even make a difference to know what’s “bad” for us, for each other, for the environment, if we aren’t even able to, or worse, willing to, change our behavior?
Because knowing all of this bad stuff is just downright depressing if there’s little movement towards improvement.
First, A Little Background on the Research on Instagram & Teens
To start, it is noteworthy that the findings were that social media, or Instagram specifically, were not found to be harmful for all teens. There are many pros to the use of social media.
Why was there a large study regarding Instagram-use specifically? WSJ stated that “on average, teens in the U.S. spend 50% more time on Instagram than they do on Facebook.” So it makes sense that they wanted to study one of the larger and more popular platforms that’s been around for a while.
Focus groups, online surveys, diary studies, and large-scale surveys led to the “conclusion that some of the problems were specific to Instagram, and not social media more broadly. That is especially true concerning so-called social comparison, which is when people assess their own value in relation to the attractiveness, wealth and success of others.”
In contrast to other teen-popular social media apps, like Tik-Tok and Snapchat, “Instagram focuses heavily on the body and lifestyle.”
It elaborates with how Instagram users have “the tendency to share only the best moments, a pressure to look perfect and an addictive product can send teens spiraling toward eating disorders, an unhealthy sense of their own bodies and depression, March 2020 internal research states.”
The article also gets into the issue that Facebook, who owns Instagram, is knowingly deceiving the public. They compare their actions of not disclosing links between the apps usage and depression to that of Big Tobacco who had kept the public in the dark about correlations between smoking and lung cancer.
Maybe I’m Just Being Pessimistic, But…
When we are told information that should be inspiring us to change, it sometimes just comes across as something we don’t really need to worry about. Something that will just work itself out. Or something that is just being exaggerated.
Regarding this topic specifically, I just sense that we all nod our heads and think, duh. “Duh, Instagram is bad for teens.” It’s nothing that we didn’t already sort of know.
Are we too overcome with all the things wrong in the world to even personally commit to applying the findings?
I’d Feel More Optimistic If Other Important Research Seemed To Change Our Behaviors
We know smoking can cause lung cancer, or buying plastic straws causes harm to the oceans. But I wonder how far it goes to actually change our behavior.
I admittedly read too many news articles, I also am a parent, but I know there are others who have a constant vortex of worry swirling around their head of all the problems of the world.
Overconsumption of plastic.
Too little recycling.
Overproduction of clothing.
Poor animal conditions.
Too much exhaust air.
etc., etc., etc.
We may express worry about these things, but are we really doing all we can to change them? We know we shouldn’t pack a family gathering full of plastic silverware, but it is just easier. I’m aware that much of my recycling doesn’t end up recycled at all so sometimes I mix it in with the trash. I try not to buy cheap clothing, but it is just so much, well, cheaper. I try and commit to pricier, free range chicken, but does that even matter?
So now there’s the research that we all probably already knew existed in the back of heads that, shocker, there are some hefty consequences to social media use, especially in our youth.
But are the words, “Instagram is bad for teens” just going to get half-ass commitment to change, or worse, sit by the wayside like so many others?
How Can We Actually Put Some Of This Good Research Into Use?
This is just a weekly tangent so I’m not looking to take on issues like social justice or climate change. Plus this is a social media blog so I’ll bring it back to the topic of healthy social media relationships.
The skeptic in me says that the government will never be able to make real change in the virtual world.
But I do feel it is one area that we do have personal control that can make a real difference.
So what can we do about the finding that Instagram is bad for teens, or bad for us in general?
We can do a lot on a personal level. Because following what others are doing has never changed anything. We can stop using the platforms, or we can adjust their use based on our own comfort level.
How About Conducting a Self-Assessment?
Maybe we start by assessing our level of discomfort with Instagram-use, or that of our teens.
Identifying if we or our children are negatively affected by Instagram use has to happen first.
I don’t have a teen, and my children are too young to know Instagram exists (yay!). But when I observed in myself that Instagram wasn’t serving my life, I conducted a personal experiment to see if I could co-exist with social media in general.
You can find that here.
What should we do if we find that it is bad for us, or our teens? Should we just keep on keeping on and hope we “grow out of it?”
Using Our Observations To Make Personal Adjustments
So when we find that Instagram is indeed bad for our own mental state? That of our children’s? What should we do?
Should we quit Instagram? Make our children quit it?
I think its about taking the time to find a balance that works for the individual person affected.
In discovering that Facebook and Instagram made me feel less than amazing the action I took wasn’t black and white. I recognized that there are some parts of the platforms that are useful and some that just had to go. It empowered me because I noticed something that needed change and I actually took action.
I can’t control many of the problems of the world, but I found I could control this one in my personal life. The hope is that I can apply this same strategy to helping my children through it when they are teens.
Talking, Talking, And More Talking
As a high school educator I’ve personally observed the discomfort that social media causes some our young people. Unfortunately, aspects of the virtual world will always be a part of their world. Whether its something they fight to refrain from, or something they choose not to live without, it will be a challenge in their life.
In accepting that social media will always be around we can work on creating a healthy relationship with it.
Instagram alone is a wonderful place to display uniqueness and various forms of art. Even if it were to go away it would quickly be replaced by something else. Unfortunately, our works of art, selfies, words, are readily on display to be validated or invalidated in a moment’s time.
Youth will continuously have to find the right way to co-exist with social media just as they will with any relationship in their life. Maybe its talking to therapists, reading self-help books, or talking to friends and family.
In any case, starting with talking about it may just be the key to not allowing this problem to fall by the wayside.
I’m no expert and I don’t have the answers. But I think acknowledging that its worth looking for some is a conversation worth starting.