Top Facebook officials were aware that Instagram, the popular photo-based social media platform that it owns, can have a negative impact on mental health, body image, and more for teenagers, particularly teenage girls.
Researchers who work for the social media giant found that some of the problems were specific to Instagram and not social media as a whole for teens, according to the report.
“Thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse,” researchers shared in a March 2020 slide presentation posted to Facebook’s internal message board, reviewed by the researchers. “Comparisons on Instagram can change how young women view and describe themselves.”
In a study of teens in the U.S. and the U.K., Facebook found that over 40% of Instagram users who reported feeling “unattractive” traced that feeling back to the platform.
One slide stated, “We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls.” Another read, “Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression,” according to the report.
One presentation said that, among teenagers who have experienced suicidal thoughts, 13% of British users and 6% of American users traced suicidal impulses to Instagram.
Researchers also found Instagram negatively impacted some teenage boys, including the previous findings that 14% of boys in the U.S. said Instagram made them feel more negatively about themselves.
