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

wsj.com

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

#211

Post by elliekelly »

ajsnigrutin wrote: post #150

This is the problem with all social networks, instagram is just the most popular. Imagine working overtime for months, saving money, paying for a hotel room at some seaside vacation place, travel in a shitty plane and in a shitty buy to that location, be tired, sleep the first of the three nights there on a shitty bed, eat shitty breakfast, go to the shitty with sewer flowing into the water 100m away... ...and then y…

According to the article Facebook’s own research found that while it is a problem for all social networks it’s a significantly more pronounced problem for Instagram in particular:

> 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. The features that Instagram identifies as most harmful to teens appear to be at the platform’s core.

> 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. It warns that the Explore page, which serves users photos and videos curated by an algorithm, can send users deep into content that can be harmful.

> “Aspects of Instagram exacerbate each other to create a perfect storm,” the research states.

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

#212

Post by revel »

jhardy54 wrote: post #205
J-dawg wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand how you could read the parent comment and decide that it's "blaming" teen girls, unless you are deliberately arguing in bad faith. Teenage girls are predisposed to behave in the way described, and Facebook/Instagram is profiting by exploiting that. Nothing about the explanation above is blaming them. If anything the comment makes a stronger case for Facebook's actions being immoral.

> Teenage girls are predisposed to behave in the way described, and Facebook/Instagram is profiting by exploiting that. Has this been studied, or are we taking an arbitrary thought experiment as a foundational axiom?

Facebook studied it internally and covered it up in congressional testimony. That's literally what the article is about

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

#213

Post by tickbird »

rg111 wrote: post #66

I don't blame Facebook (or Twitter, or any particular company) for this. We can only blame scale . Some things are much more scalable than others, and "beauty" scales. And the "occurrence of beauty" does, too. Before the advent of scale on almost every aspect of our lives, a local musician or theatre group found easy income. Now, since after the invention of gramophones, more people can listen to less and less musici…

There is standard set of beauty see https://imgur.com/a/j0Llx02 I found instagram extremely useful they have great algorithm for finding cute girl which is daily source of masturbation.

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

#214

Post by everdrive »

rendall wrote: post #182
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, some…

I really appreciate your comment. I still think my theory seems reasonable, but we should all be clear that a theory which "seems reasonable to some people" is very far something which is scientifically proven or even likely.

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

#215

Post by eplanit »

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…

Much of what you say about hormones has been considered scientific fact for a long time -- but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the facts have been banished by political correctness.

Plus, Facebook is indeed a harmful product for society at large (like cigarettes), and often has bigger negative impacts on younger users (again like cigarettes).

The combination of these is obviously bad...but Facebook knowing it and hiding the fact is very much (again) like what tobacco companies did.

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

#216

Post by Ozzie_osman »

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…

> Why are young girls so awful to each other?. I don't think it's unreasonable to suspect that it has to do with "hormones"

I don't see why this is relevant (if it's even true). The article barely talks about bullying or girls being awful to each other. It more broadly talks about people spending hours in their feeds comparing themselves to what they see and feeling bad about it, which seems like a very different problem.

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

#217

Post by jhardy54 »

everdrive wrote: post #163
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.

>Their attractiveness also dwindlew with time First, young boys are certainly competitive with each other. Bullying is largely about social status, and social status is the main predictor for mate choice. Second, male attractiveness does not follow the same pattern. Yes, sperm quality does degrade with age, but that decline is nowhere near as sharp as the decline in a woman's reproductive health. Not only will their…

Which studies are your claims based on?

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

#218

Post by wussboy »

aspaviento wrote: post #206
wussboy wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> I have a personal grudge against anyone saying (...) There is no need to have any grudge against me (I hope). I get it. I never said being a parent is an easy job. I acknowledge how hard it is but... > Facebook and Instagram are drug dealers If you teach your kids not to consume drugs, why Instagram should be any different?

Sorry, I agree my grudge comment came off hard. No offence I hope?

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

#219

Post by at_a_remove »

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…

In college, I suppose I must have looked especially naive, because this gal-pal of mine sat me down and explained in a rather grave tone: "at_a_remove, there are two things you should understand about women. First, everything we do is about men. Second, women hate other women."

I scoffed. I scoffed for a long time. But there is an uncomfortable kernel to her statement that I have seen again and again, long before social media, in young women and their constant status hierarchy struggles, and Mean Girls wasn't even the first time it was made too evident. I would point to Heathers and Carrie as even earlier examples. Teenage girls are vicious with one another's emotions and friendships, trusts and secrets, in a way that boys and men rarely get a glimpse of.

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

#220

Post by hrfbi »

tubby12345 wrote: post #198
JohnWhigham wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% on the money. People will gnash their teeth because they don't like the truth being told out loud. It's the same reason why online dating is completely fucked up: incentives are completely different for men and women. Women hold access to sex (which men want), men hold access to relationships (which women want). The problem is that each wants completely different demographics; women generally want older secure m…

>100% on the money. yea this random comment on a random tech site about evolutionary biology passes the smell test why? oh is it because of preconceived notions and biases rather than rigorous argumentation (i.e. well cited and published research)? hmmm

You talk as if psychological or sociological research held any value at all
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