Blog Post #2 CS371- Sydney Fried
Although for many, Instagram is just an app where they view and like photos of their friends, for others, it's an extremely harmful application. This was evident in the article by Wall Street Journal reporting how Facebook Documents Show How Toxic Instagram is for Teens. The article focuses on how Instagram has affected teens causing them to think poorly about themselves and their bodies.
Younger people have lost interest in Facebook, a trend that has reversed in recent years. Those 25 and older now make up the majority of Facebook users. According to the article, more than 40% of Instagram’s users are 22 years old and younger, contributing to Instagram’s success and proving the struggles of Facebook to reach the younger audience. Since Instagram is used by a younger demographic, individuals, envy others based on their appearance or body type. Instagram can be false advertising since individuals frequently edit their images to make themselves appear better. This technique has caused many to struggle and feel bad about themselves and their images. Unfortunately, Facebook is aware of the toxicity of Instagram. Users often upload raw photos without retouching to showcase their lives on Facebook.
This photo above represents "Instagram vs reality" and how individuals appear on Instagram when they don’t look that way in real life. Although both images and body types above are socially acceptable and beautiful, people frequently try to alter their bodies to feel better about themselves, even if it means hiding their true selves. As Facebook is more transparent about its internal studies, it makes Instagram seem dangerous to teens as its success has grown through Facebook by copying its structure.
As someone with accounts on both platforms, I feel as if I am more cautious with my Instagram photos, whereas on Facebook, I upload merely anything, and I am curious if you are the same. Lastly, do you feel that Instagram negatively impacts you and makes you feel worse about yourself?
Thank you for reading, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
Hi Sydney,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post! I agree that Instagram can be very toxic. Many influencers and celebrities that are looked up to by young girls edit their photos. This makes people feel bad about their bodies when in reality the photos aren't realistic. Recently there was a Tik Tok trend going around where people would post Instagram photos that were edited versus the real photo such as the example above. This trend really showed how toxic and fake Instagram can be.
Hi Sydney,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post and definitely agree with you that Instagram can have severe consequences and negative effects on people's realities and self-worth. By editing their bodies and drastically editing their appearances, it sends the message that you have to look a certain way in order to be deemed attractive. Many people look up to influencers, and because people in positions of power are sending such damaging messages to their audiences, the people who look up to them will constantly feel inadequate.
Hello Sydney! I really liked reading you post and am also a user of both Facebook and Instagram. Personally I don't use Facebook to post photos as i got it mainly for school use, but I do post on Instagram. After reading the article by the Wall Street Journal about how teens are negatively affected by instagram I can definitely see the harm that it does, but cannot say that I am affected as much. I go onto social media platforms knowing that 99% of what I am about to see will not resemble real skin, real bodies etc. However, I feel for individuals who do not yet realize how fake social media can be. There are a countless amount of apps and filters that can make you look like a completely different person without leaving evidence that anything was edited. For this reason I can understand how easy it is to get caught up comparing your body or your face to one that is heavily edited and unrealistic. I think the instagram vs reality trend is a step in the right direction to show social media users and specifically young teens that instagram does not equal reality!
ReplyDeleteHello Sydney, I enjoyed reading your post as understanding the negative effects social media portray on their users is very important. There are editing apps that can completely transform one's appearance whether it is editing one's body or face, just a few of the many features users have access to. It makes me question how many people edit their pictures to fit this unrealistic beauty standard. Which makes it challenging for users to not edit their appearance as it is such a quick and easy fix, however users need to understand that if they are editing themselves they must think about the countless people across their social feed that are doing the same too, to which they are not “this perfect person” that people look up to. Social media is no longer representing people's authentic self which is deterring people's confidence daily.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your discussion post! I agree that Instagram can be toxic in its contribution to setting unrealistic beauty standards, especially for young women. When I use Instagram, I often catch myself comparing my body and appearance to other social media influencers. Their photos are often highly edited, working to represent society’s unrealistic beauty standards. And yet, in knowing this, I still have to fight the urge to compare my looks to theirs. I think this goes to show social media’s power as influence, as people tightly control the content that they post to ensure it aligns with what will be seen as ‘perfect’. This works to put influencers on a pedestal, impacting how users think about themselves and their own physical and health goals.
ReplyDeleteHi Sydney
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post and I can compare it to mine when I talk about the movie we watched Eighth Grade. Social media is a highlight reel of people's lives and most of the time people only post the best of the best and it isn't normally an accurate representation of real life. For your example the instagram pictures you used were perfect, in the picture is an unrealistic body standard where the angles are shown perfectly and I guarantee it made people feel jealous.
Hey Sydney! I thoroughly enjoyed your blog post, as social media influencers, as well as other instagram and social media users can edit their photos in order to make themselves look completely different from how they do in reality. I definitely believe that this can be detrimental to followers, as many young girls and even women can look to these posts for inspiration. Even though these posts are edited, they can gain the mindset that they must look like that person who is being shown in the photograph. Nowadays, apps like TikTok also provide the means to edit one's appearance with the use of filters and effects. Being that TikTok is said to now being one of the most popular apps for younger generations, similar to how edited instagram photos can potentially be harmful to the mindsets of young individuals, these TikTok videos can result in the same consequences for viewers as well.
ReplyDeleteHi Sydney,
ReplyDeleteI really like the example you use of Instagram vs reality. I agree with you that there is much more pressure surrounding posts on Facebook rather than on Instagram. For me, I think this pressure is there as more of our peers will see our posts on Instagram whereas more of our parents generation will see our posts on Facebook. While I no longer feel this way, I used to often feel worse about myself on Instagram and felt the pressure to hyper analyse myself. For this reason I believe that our growing up on social media has made us incredibly self-concious at a young age. Great post!