SCOT perspective on Instagram's photo-sharing pressure

JENNA TRANTAU 

In addition to the Guardian's discussion on facebook's suppression of its own research in harmful effects on teenaged girls. "Facebook aware of Instagram's harmful effect on teenage girls, leak reveals" is what Baym would describe as the consequences of the social construction of technology. The SCOT perspective focuses on how society has the power to create new technologies and purposes for them. Instagram was invented to share photos. (Blystone, 2022) Society was the powerful cause behind the now filtered application. When Instagram was gaining popularity it became a social media that is primarily used as one's life's highlight reel rather than a simple technology that can share photos. The standards of posting rose and this unlocked purposes for intense editing apps like "facetune" which has the ability to change your body and face drastically. People are paying hundreds of dollars to have access to these features. This is why easily impressionable people like teenage girls are feeling this standard and internalizing it. We have created a standard so high that anxieties and insecurities are embedded in our self-esteem. These standards were all shaped by communication and new media influences. The pressure of being perfect in your online footprint have never been so high. Jobs are being created in order to continue the creation of  false realities. Society has created different definitions of photo-sharing and photo-sharing on Instagram. These definitions have different standards and ideologies behind them. One is a technology that provides one with the ability to photo-share. The other one is a place where the best version and maybe even fake version of yourself is posted and shared. This is why technologies and resources are being created to minimize this pressure but it has yet to be effective in decreasing the emotional torment these teenage girls are going through. It is very important to realize how much power is in the person rather than the technologies as technology is not equated to progress yet has been associated with progress. To put entire blame of teenaged girl's anxieties on the technology allowing photo-sharing would be misleading. This is why I believe that the cause of Instagram's pressures were caused by a shift in societal standards. 



Blystone, D. (2022, October 22). Instagram: What it is, its history, and how the Popular App Works. Investopedia. Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/102615/story-instagram-rise-1-photo0sharing-app.asp

 

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