Louise Bernard with Alexis Patri 10:14 am, September 15, 2021

An internal study at Facebook, a group to which the social network Instagram belongs, shows that the platform actively participates in the discomfort and the construction of complexes of certain adolescents.

The information is revealed by our American colleagues from the Wall Street Journal, who show that Instagram does not want to change.

Instagram is bad for the well-being of some teens.

This is no longer a suspicion, but a reality revealed at the end of an internal study conducted by Facebook, which owns Instagram.

This study was to remain confidential.

It was unveiled by the

Wall Street Journal

.

One in five teenagers say in this document that the application harms their self-esteem.

And the most affected seem to be young women.

British teenagers in particular: 23% of them say that the application makes them feel "a little worse" about themselves, and 2% "really worse".

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How to explain this power of the application on self-confidence?

Instagram is particularly focused on images of retouched bodies and idealized moments of life.

Much more than on other social networks like TikTok or Snapchat, where it is more a question of humor, in particular with sometimes ridiculous filters.

A benevolent display contradicts internally

Officially, Instagram says it is working on this problem and looking for solutions to help reduce teenagers' obsession with perfect bodies.

But internally, that would be another story, again according to the

Wall Street Journal

.

Facebook researchers have proposed a solution to management: change the algorithm to put less emphasis on the accounts of stars, fashion or beauty and focus on photos of friends. Suggestions that were not accepted by Facebook. An official of the platform even replied that "people use Instagram because it's a competition. That's what is fun." And too bad for the self-confidence of the teenagers who make the success of the application.