Instagram can be bad for teen mental health

According to the Wall Street Journal, Instagram is potentially harmful to the mental health of teenagers. The social appearance would lead to an increase in anxiety and depression disorders especially in girls, 32% of which obsessed with achieving absolute beauty inspired by Influencers and models active on the platform.

Instagram would also have helped to increase the manifestation of suicidal thoughts in young people (13% in Great Britain and 6% in the USA). Instagram is bad for the mental health of one in three young people.

These problems affect an average of one in three young people, however, Facebook, the owner of Instagram, seems to minimize the issue despite confessing that it is aware of it. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the research data carried out by Facebook do not seem to coincide with those that are actually disclosed and are not even analyzed by external experts, transmitting a certain superficiality, as has already happened in the past, by the company.

However, social media said that it is carrying out a lot of research to understand the problems of young people connected to the platform and has already done a lot of work regarding topics such as bullying, suicide, self-harm and eating disorders, in order to make the platform a safe place. and supportive for all users. Karina Newton, head of public policy at Instagram, says the social network takes results like these seriously and continues to strive to constantly improve the experience on the platform.

According to its own research, Facebook says social media improves the lives of most teens, except for teens who already have mental disorders. According to the company, Instagram can have both a positive and negative impact on people, and it takes on the benefits and risks of the platform, which it admits it knows very well.

The company continues to claim that it is working on an app for children under 13, but according to the US Congress, Facebook’s behavior on the matter is comparable to the old tobacco multinationals who claimed that smoking was not harmful to health. while being well aware of the opposite.

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