ESPOSITO: Instagram is not as safe as it seems, especially for young girls
Column: Unapologetically
Instagram Kids is Facebook's newest project that has shaken up terrified mothers and researchers alike. There are two sides to this initiative: Facebook, the parent of Instagram, has announced in recent months that they want to make a separate application, with more parental controls, so kids can use Instagram too but in a safer environment. This was met with mixed reviews, but no major controversy.
That was, until this week, when The Wall Street Journal was given access to leaked Facebook files. Among other concerning issues, was a blaring fact that Facebook knew how harmful Instagram was for young girls and was not doing anything to prevent it.
After being caught under fire, Facebook announced they were pausing, not halting, Instagram Kids, so they could take the time to allow it to become a healthy and safe environment. They still made it clear that they believe it is still the right thing to do.
In an update on their blog, a spokesperson for Instagram said, “While we stand by the need to develop this experience, we have decided to pause this project. This will give us time to work with parents, experts, policymakers and regulators, to listen to their concerns, and to demonstrate the value and importance of this project for younger teens online today.”
Social media is probably the most controversial, taboo subject of today's generation. On one hand, it has connected childhood friends, reunited families and even helped solve crimes. There are communities and friendships that have never been off of the internet.
On another hand, there are many, overwhelmingly darker aspects. It is a fake reality the mongers on self deprecation, misinformation even inciting violence. This is no secret to anyone — extensive studies have been done. Netflix’s documentary “The Social Dilemma” about the dangers of social media was the first documentary on Netflix to ever become the number one most watched movie or show, just one day after being released.
Society is fully aware that the negatives outweigh the positives by a landslide, but the response is simply that it is too far gone. The world is addicted to social media and no statistic or percentage is going to change that.
Instagram was released in 2010, when I was 10 years old. At that point in time, Facebook had already been around for years, and before that there was Myspace. We already had a pretty good gauge on what social media (or the beginning of it) was. I begged and pleaded for an Instagram for a long time before my mother gave in. She was by no means a relaxed parent, for a long time I was only allowed to scroll through the app with her looking over my shoulder.
Anything I wanted to post, usually a picture of me jumping on the trampoline or of my newest Silly Bandz, had to be approved by her. I was monitored in essentially the same way Instagram Kids is planning on monitoring this new generation of young children who want to join social media. And it did not make me feel any better at all.
Whether my mother was standing behind me did not control how I felt when I went onto Instagram as an impressionable young girl. I was obsessed with what my classmates were posting, who they were hanging out with and why it looked like they were doing and having so much more fun than I was. Then it was my obsession with lack of followers, compared to the people that I followed.
It did not matter if my screen time was limited, it was still something I thought about all the time. It has been more than 10 years since I downloaded Instagram, and still, as an adult, that is a feeling that still follows me, even though I had parental control.
Instagram Kids should not be halted, it should be deleted. The main finding of The Wall Street Journal is how harmful Instagram can be for an impressionable young woman, so why encourage them to join social media even earlier?
Even if comments are filtered and screen time is limited, it does not erase the feelings and toll it takes on kids. If Facebook is trying to do the right thing, then young people should be as discouraged as possible to be on social media, so they can emerge from it as whole and non-damaged as they can be.
Laura Esposito is a School of Arts and Sciences senior majoring in journalism and political science. Her column, "Unapologetically," typically runs on alternate Tuesdays.
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