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Facebook knows Instagram is toxic for teen girls, company documents show

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Re: Facebook knows Instagram is toxic for teen girls, company documents show

#181

Post by JohnWhigham »

___luigi wrote: post #133

It is disappointing to read some comments saying that "It is not FB/Insta's fault?". Those who don't see the challenges that these teens go through is clearly delusional. While there are some good things in the tech, it clearly has a negative side that impact children's mental health through unrealistic beauty standards, and trap them into dopamine loops. I still believe that ranking/recommendation models should be o…

I fully agree these social media platforms are problems, but they're simply catalysts that amplify what was already there. Bullying in high school existed before the Internet, and was arguably worse.

Re: Facebook knows Instagram is toxic for teen girls, company documents show

#182

Post by rendall »

everdrive wrote: post #117

Facebook is an accelerant. The movie "Mean Girls" largely predated social media and highlighted many of the same issues. This seems to be a pretty ingrained issue, although I think most people agree that Facebook makes it worse. Here's a theory that's nearly guaranteed to land me in hot water: Why are young girls so awful to each other? I don't think it's unreasonable to suspect that is has to do with "hormones," new…

> If this is the period of their life where they are the most desirable, there might be an evolutionary benefit to be the most cut-throat when it comes to vying for the best mating opportunities.

I appreciate the approach, but I do think it is probably (as you yourself warned) a "just so" story.

Teenaged girls can be mean. Teenaged boys can be mean. Adults can be mean. Members of all of these groups can be nice, sometimes transcendently kind. These behaviors can be explained without reference to ancient drives to fertility and mating, I think.

Re: Facebook knows Instagram is toxic for teen girls, company documents show

#183

Post by vladvasiliu »

aspaviento wrote: post #131
andreime wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not defending Facebook and I just had some thoughts reading the quotes and am curious what you think of them. 1. I remember that while growing up fashion magazines, actors/actresses and I want to say peer pressure (but am fearful its incorrect) were a big source of body image issues. 2. Maybe it's a side effect of our society or "normal" to have security issues while growing up. We've been having good childhoods…

The less I want is to defend Facebook but I think lately people don't want to acknowledge their own responsibilities. It's like every time there is a problem, the cause is someone/something else. I don't think Instagram is impossed to anyone. Young people can feel the pressure to use it because their friends use it but they aren't forced to do so. From the article it seems that young girls know about the toxicity in…

I'm only speculating, but if "everyone's on instagram", maybe people don't want to be left out?

They may know that it's bad for you, just as I expect most smokers to know smoking is bad for you.

But the "badness" isn't direct, it grows, and they could think "maybe I'll be able to control it / I can quit whenever I want", whereas if you don't follow current trends (or whatever it is people follow on instagram), you're left out immediately.

Of course, by the time you realize you can't quit, it's already too late.

Re: Facebook knows Instagram is toxic for teen girls, company documents show

#185

Post by jfk13 »

yunohn wrote: post #77
joelbluminator wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally deleted my account but what is it about Facebook that is worse than say Twitter (also deleted) ? Twitter was a big bag of toxicity. Not saying it wasn't interested, tons of interesting people to follow; but the discussions were often rude, racist and hateful. And it poses the same problem of teens following supermodels and what not. What I'm saying is this is about social media in general, not about Face…

Twitter is not algorithmically pushing supermodel photos to teenage girls. The target demographics are completely different from Instagram. You are correct however, that Twitter is also toxic; like all social media.

The more basic issue seems to be that (many) people are toxic. If not always, to everyone, at least some of the time, towards some other people.

The problem with social media, then, is that it allows -- indeed encourages, because "engagement" -- all that toxicity to spread so much more widely and rapidly than ever before.

Re: Facebook knows Instagram is toxic for teen girls, company documents show

#186

Post by wussboy »

aspaviento wrote: post #131
andreime wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not defending Facebook and I just had some thoughts reading the quotes and am curious what you think of them. 1. I remember that while growing up fashion magazines, actors/actresses and I want to say peer pressure (but am fearful its incorrect) were a big source of body image issues. 2. Maybe it's a side effect of our society or "normal" to have security issues while growing up. We've been having good childhoods…

The less I want is to defend Facebook but I think lately people don't want to acknowledge their own responsibilities. It's like every time there is a problem, the cause is someone/something else. I don't think Instagram is impossed to anyone. Young people can feel the pressure to use it because their friends use it but they aren't forced to do so. From the article it seems that young girls know about the toxicity in…

I have a personal grudge against anyone saying "Why don't the parents take some responsibility to combat a multi-billion dollar company who puts the resources of small countries in to making their children behave in detrimental ways."

But I'll not get in to that. :)

Facebook and Instagram are drug dealers. Sure, they're not physically distributing a substance, but the social interactions they provide are every bit as addictive. In time, society will abolish or tightly constrain them in the same way society has banned other highly addictive substances.

And this is why I don't blame the users.

Re: Facebook knows Instagram is toxic for teen girls, company documents show

#188

Post by justToAddLink »

wussboy wrote: post #157
hdjjhhvvhga wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your theory doesn't explain why boys don't act the same. Their attractiveness also dwindles with time - you could argue it's happening less steeply, but still.

Males aren't sexually selected for attractiveness. They are selected for their ability to provide for a mother and baby. So, human male's desirability increases with time, peaking at some point where their peak wealth crosses their inability to procreate.

this can also be seen through the fact that females are four times more sensitive than males to economic status cues when rating opposite sex attractiveness [1]

[1] - Guanlin Wang, Minxuan Cao, Justina Sauciuvenaite, Ruth Bissland, Megan Hacker, Catherine Hambly, Lobke M. Vaanholt, Chaoqun Niu, Mark D. Faries, & John R. Speakman (2018). Different impacts of resources on opposite sex ratings of physical attractiveness by males and females. Evolution and Human Behavior, 39(2), 220-225. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S10905...

Re: Facebook knows Instagram is toxic for teen girls, company documents show

#189

Post by mandevil »

joelbluminator wrote: post #47
ccn0p wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, and the cat can't be put back in the bag, so it's up to the collective "us", who build the Internet, to rediscover our moral imperative to fix what's broken... and Facebook is a huge chunk of this brokenness.

I personally deleted my account but what is it about Facebook that is worse than say Twitter (also deleted) ? Twitter was a big bag of toxicity. Not saying it wasn't interested, tons of interesting people to follow; but the discussions were often rude, racist and hateful. And it poses the same problem of teens following supermodels and what not. What I'm saying is this is about social media in general, not about Face…

That is not what the data researchers currently employed by Facebook said, if you read the article.

"They came 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."

"'Social comparison is worse on Instagram,' states Facebook's deep dive into teen girl body-image issues in 2020, noting that TikTok, a short-video app, is grounded in performance, while users on Snapchat, a rival photo and video-sharing app, are sheltered by jokey filters that 'keep the focus on the face.' In contrast, Instagram focuses heavily on the body and lifestyle."

So I suspect that their understanding of the problem is better than yours, and that there is something about Instagram that makes it worse than generic social media.

Re: Facebook knows Instagram is toxic for teen girls, company documents show

#190

Post by rafale »

yawaworht1978 wrote: post #88

Not girls fault(too young too know) not facebooks (they know but don't force it on anyone, society does) fault. Parents fault. It's hard to raise kids, it's hard to be a parent, it's very hard to raise a good kid. It's always been like that, just amplified by a factor of 100k with apps being with you at all times. Kids are easy impressed by superficial things, try your best so your kid does not fall victim to this. N…

I agree with this sentiment. We don't talk enough about the nuclear family and importance of structured parenting. In fact, there has been a leftist movement toward marginalizing the family in favor of centralized uniform progressive teaching.

It's ultimately the parents' responsibility to shield their kids from society to a degree they deem appropriate. Not only to provide a healthy physical environment but also a digital one. And this until their personality develop and crystallize.

In this case, it may involve limiting the amount of time spent on social media. And sit downs to discuss the fakery and deception involved.

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