According to an official statement acquired by The Wall Street Journal, Facebook officials have known since March 2020 that Instagram, the photo-sharing app owned by Facebook, Inc.—has the tendency to make teens feel bad about their bodies. According to the Journal, 32% percent of young females indicated that when they felt awful about their bodies, Instagram made them feel even more uncomfortable,” Facebook researchers said in a presentation regarding the negative impacts of Instagram. RELATED: How to Recover Deleted Instagram Messages The company’s employees have been researching the effect of their product on the mental states of its younger customers. Their study has consistently revealed that it is hazardous to a substantial proportion of the population, particularly young females. Facebook officials also stated that “We know that social media platforms have an impact on young people’s sentiments about their appearance and body satisfaction, and that they can raise the risk of eating disorders and other mental health issues including depression and poor self-esteem. We know that cyberbullying occurs among young people, and we also know that the repercussions for certain young people may be quite harmful”.
“In comparison to the other 11 categories, body image was the only area where young females who reported suffering with the issue stated Instagram made it worse,” Raychoudhury said. “Our internal research is part of our commitment to reduce the bad and enhance the positive on our platforms. We engage in this research to proactively identify areas for improvement, which is why the worst-case scenarios are highlighted in internal slides.” Instagram was also recognized by Facebook to be good at other things, with questioned teens indicating that Instagram helped them deal with other difficulties such as “loss” in circumstances when they had “felt sadness in the last month.”
