Facebook’s own internal studies show how its Instagram subsidiary can have negative consequences on the image and mental health of its younger users, reveals Tuesday, September 14 the Wall Street Journal, who had access to several internal presentations distributed to employees of the social network.
Multiple independent studies, like the one carried out in 2017 by the Royal Society for Public Health, had already underlined the negative effect that Instragram can have on the self-esteem of adolescents, especially the fact that they are constantly confronted with images of idealized bodies and lives. In the spring, several NGOs protested, in particular for this reason, against a Facebook project to launch a version of its application intended for children under 13.
But, until now, Facebook has always publicly taken refuge behind the fact that, on this subject as for others concerning the impact of social networks on adolescents, there would be no scientific consensus. It is indeed difficult to quantify precisely the effects produced for each individual and to separate the positive aspects from their negative aspects. Nevertheless, the documents consulted by the Wall Street Journal show that the company knew, thanks to studies carried out by its own researchers, sociologists and data scientists, that Instagram had negative effects on the well-being of a significant part of its users.
“One in five teenagers say Instagram harms self-esteem”, details a page of a presentation distributed within the company. British teenage girls polled are the most critical: if 30% say they feel ” better “ Where ” much better “ when using the app, 23% say the app makes them feel “A little worse”, and 2% “Really worse”. Similar consequences, but half as intense, are observed by Facebook researchers among boys.
Social comparison
Of course, in general, social networks are regularly considered as potential catalysts of discomfort, especially in adolescents. But some of the problems identified by researchers appear to be specific to Instagram. The app’s emphasis on beauty and beautification of images, to give the best possible image of yourself and your life, is indeed stronger on Instagram than on other apps popular with teenagers, such as Snapchat or TikTok, on which the filters are used more in a wacky way and the plastic perfection of the final rendering less crucial. Embellished selfies, widely used on Instagram, seem to have a particularly detrimental effect on the self-image of users who view them.
The exchanges consulted by the Wall Street Journal also show that recommendations issued internally by Facebook’s own researchers have only marginally been followed up with action. The idea of promoting less celebrity accounts, and favoring photos of friends to the detriment of content on fashion or beauty, seems to have been greeted with skepticism by those responsible for the application. An internal message from a manager, quoted by the American daily, answers very clearly that the essence of the application lies in social comparisons: “People use Instagram because it’s a competition. This is what is fun. “
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