Instagram:
Young users in particular suffer from the effects of the app
Photo: JUSTIN SULLIVAN / AFP
Instagram makes young people depressed, harms their body image and triggers anxiety disorders. This was not found out by critics of the social network, but by research teams from Facebook itself. They presented the results at company-internal presentations. Accordingly, young women and girls in particular suffer from the pressure they encounter on Instagram. "32 percent of teenagers say that if they have problems with their bodies, Instagram makes it worse. Young women compare themselves to other users. That changes how they perceive themselves," says the presentations on Wall Street, among other things Journal available.
In the past three years, Facebook has commissioned many studies on how Instagram affects its millions of young users.
And the tech group came to the conclusion that Instagram harms a large part of its most important target group.
Primarily young girls.
The numbers for teenagers with suicidal thoughts are also particularly appalling.
In the UK, 13 percent of teenagers surveyed attributed their suicidal ideation to Instagram, compared with 6 percent in the United States.
Another slide reads: "We make body awareness problems worse in three out of ten girls."
Teenagers also blame Instagram for the rise in other mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety disorders.
Make your own target group sick
Young users are, however, the most important target group for Instagram. Reaching them is essential for the Facebook subsidiary's more than 100 billion US dollars in sales. This gives the company incentives to keep teenagers on the platform. Because more than 40 percent of the audience is 22 years or younger. And 22 million teenagers open the app every day in the US alone. For comparison: on Facebook there are only five million. The young target group has been saying goodbye to the group's eponymous network for ten years. Young people spend on average 50 percent more time on Instagram than on Facebook.
The Facebook researchers also observed this.
"Instagram is well positioned to arrive and benefit from young people. Continuing to attract them is a way for Instagram to grow," reads the internal documents available to the Wall Street Journal.
Facebook commissioned employees from the Data Science, Marketing and Product Development departments to carry out the studies.
Facebook and Instagram, the "feel-good platforms"
Facebook and Instagram have repeatedly been criticized for the psychological effects of their platforms. Those responsible, above all CEO
Mark Zuckerberg
, have always rejected these allegations. In the spring, Zuckerberg assured the US Congress: "The studies that we know show that social apps connect people with one another. And that can have positive effects on the psyche." The group apparently knew that its apps can trigger and worsen mental illness. Nevertheless, Facebook boss Zuckerberg deliberately presents the connections differently.
Compared to other social networks, Instagram is particularly about social aspects.
The predominantly young users of the TikTok app, on the other hand, define themselves more through the number of clicks and views.
Snapchat made the filters popular: special effects that change the face.
"These focus on the face," says the Facebook data.
On Instagram, on the other hand, body and lifestyle would be put in the foreground.
Addicted to the app
On Instagram, you usually only get to see the best moments from other people's lives. That, and the pressure to always look perfect, can lead to eating disorders, unhealthy self-image, and depression in teenagers. Facebook acquired Instagram for $ 1 billion in 2012. It was the first year that the number of young users on Facebook fell. 40 percent of teenage users who feel unattractive first had this feeling on Instagram. According to the Wall Street Journal, the study authors even write that many young people want to spend less time on the app. "But they feel like they have to spend time there. They feel addicted and know that it is bad for their psyche. But they just can't stop."
The app's algorithms are always looking for new content for users during use.
The studies warned that this would drag young people into a downward spiral of content that could potentially be harmful.
According to the internal report, it is mainly girls who are affected.
But the effects on boys were also examined.
14 percent said Instagram made them feel worse.
A little less than half reported comparing themselves to unrealistic standards.
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