Abstract
In 2021, a former employee of Meta Inc. leaked thousands of confidential documents from the company in what became known as “The Facebook Files”. The documents included a slideshow titled “Teen Mental Health Deep Dive”, which showed internal research based on surveys in the US and in the UK regarding the mental health issues of teenagers and how Instagram may affect them. It also revealed internal discussions about the potential impact on the mental health of young users balanced against the company’s fight with rival social media apps for these consumers. Apps that employ graphics, photos and video are often more appealing to the youngest users. Facing heavy competition from Snapchat and TikTok, Meta sought to build products that could help funnel preteens onto the main Instagram platform and ultimately Facebook. Internal research determined that Instagram could cause damaging negative social comparisons among teens. Importantly, it can exacerbate body image issues among those struggling with the issue, especially young women. Our research set out to evaluate the extent to which Meta’s internal research results can be corroborated and to determine the extent of negative consequences of social media use by teenage girls. We report on the results of a nationwide survey of 392 girls between the ages of 13 and 18 regarding their social media use and concerns.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Social Media, Social Media Networks, Problematic Social Media Use, Teenagers
