- Research documents leaked by a former Facebook employee show that the company knew the app contributed to body image issues
- ‘Social media promotes the idea that you need to look a certain way,’ one teen says
Many teens report feeling insecure because of seemingly perfect images they see on Instagram.The more Anna Cheung looked at her Instagram feed, the more inadequate she felt about herself.
The 18-year-old from Hong Kong, studying at King’s College London, often saw images of slender girls on her social media. At first, she admired these people for their bodies, but the more she looked at the images, the more insecure she felt about herself.
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“These images give the illusion that everyone looks this way in the real world, and that it is only acceptable to look like this and share pictures like this,” said Cheung, who asked to be identified with a fake name.
She is not alone in feeling this way.
Another 18-year-old girl who studies at the Chinese International School in Hong Kong agreed, saying:“ Social media promotes the idea that you need to look a certain way.”
Instagram and its parent company, Facebook, have recently been the subject of controversy after internal documents leaked by former staff member Frances Haugen showed that the tech giant is fully aware of how Instagram harms teenagers’ mental health.
According to the documents, one in three teens said Instagram made their body image issues worse. Among teens who reported suicidal thoughts, 13 per cent of British users and 6 per cent of American users traced the issue to Instagram.
In response, Facebook said it was “simply not accurate” that the leaked documents showed Instagram was toxic for teenagers.
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“The research actually showed that many teens we heard from feel that using Instagram helps them when they are struggling with the hard moments and issues teenagers have always faced,” Pratiti Raychoudhury, Facebook’s head of research, said in a statement.
Some teenagers disagreed with Facebook’s response.
The Hongkonger studying in London said, “When people put up photos and videos that only show the best versions of themselves or sometimes even fake versions, it can definitely create unrealistic expectations.”
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By “fake versions”, she was referring to those who heavily Photoshop their pictures before posting them online.
However, she said she has recently seen more Instagram posts from people who embrace their bodies, indicating a growing trend of body acceptance.
She believed that the online community is evolving and learning to accept different body types, even though she sometimes still felt inadequate about her own image.
Another 18-year-old American from Massauchusetts said she did not see body insecurity as the main problem with Instagram. Rather, she said, it was how people always loved to promote their perfect lifestyle – the way people actually live their lives versus the perfect lives they show on Instagram.
She added she has recently seen a lot of posts about body positivity on Instagram.
“I also see a lot of people who post very confident pictures of themselves even though they might not conform to the skinny and beautiful type,” she said.
“I think because there have been a lot of social movements pushing for body positivity, it’s no longer as significant of an issue. (It) definitely still exists but not as prominent.”