CS371 Blog Post #3 - Tiffany Chan

In class, we talked about Baym’s four perspectives on the causal relationship between technology and society, which technological determinism is evident in The Guardian's article discussing Facebook’s Awareness of Instagram’s Harmful Effects on Teenage Girls. Technological determinism is when technology plays a principal role in society’s transformation, ultimately having an effect on our everyday lives. Although Instagram was originally intended to share photos and videos with one’s friends and family, it has provided new opportunities for social media influencers and celebrities to post heavily filtered content of themselves and their lives to showcase a glamourized lifestyle. What was once a fun and carefree platform has now become a competition for others to gain popularity based on their looks and lifestyle, breeding toxicity within the platform. With the constant comparison, young individuals, especially teenage girls feel pressured to achieve this ‘perfect’ life, which affects their mental health. The anxiety of interactivity on Instagram raises issues about the authenticity of these influencers where they only show the good parts of their lives, which teenagers are often unaware of their bad days. Nonetheless, influencers are now more vulnerable to sharing both the good and bad sides of their lives to show how their lives are not as perfect as many may think, providing more relatable content to their viewers. As influencers are starting to share the filtered and unfiltered version of their lives, do you think this will have an influence on the mental health of teenagers?