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Re:Facebook knows Instagram is toxic for teen girls, company... by tgv on Tuesday September 14, 2021 @09:56AM (#28524863)
I've never really believed it was Hollywood or the fashion industry that created it. People know who's attractive in their circle. You compete with them. The magazines and ads have upped the ante, and facebook turned it into an addiction, but the mechanism was there all along, I think.
Re:Facebook knows Instagram is toxic for teen girls, company... by TheOtherHobbes on Tuesday September 14, 2021 @10:08AM (#28525049)
The mechanism are also there to prefer sugar and fat to healthier food, to become addicted to nicotine and opiates, and to do many other self-harming things.

That doesn't mean giant corporations should allowed to exploit these mechanisms for profit.

Re:Facebook knows Instagram is toxic for teen girls, company... by rhines on Tuesday September 14, 2021 @10:39AM (#28525524)
Perhaps, but what would you propose?

Do we take the approach we take with opiates, and ban companies from allowing users to upload images?

Or do we take the approach we take with nicotine, and force companies to disclose the possible harms that can come from social interactions online?

Or is there another approach you'd propose?

Hopefully this doesn't come across too confrontational - I genuinely am curious as to what solutions are viable, and I do recognize the harm social media can cause. But it seems to me that as long as there exists any platform where we can freely post photos, we'll have toxic comparisons, and I don't see more education changing this - I don't think it's a rational choice that we make, to choose to compare ourselves to others.

Re:Facebook knows Instagram is toxic for teen girls, company... by tgv on Tuesday September 14, 2021 @10:16AM (#28525183)
Of course. If anything, it gives them a greater responsibility (and accountability), because it's such an easy trap.