We live in a time when people are obsessed with image, constantly consuming examples of photoshopped bodies which we’ve been told to perceive as ‘perfection’. What society deems as beautiful is now defined by lip filler and plastic surgery. As we consume these images across social media platforms, should the platforms themselves be held accountable for content posted which promotes these unrealistic beauty standards? Or is it the responsibility of users?
A whistle-blower is someone within an organisation who raises concern about how an organisation is run. Recently a former Facebook employee, Frances Haugen has made headlines by leaking internal research which determines that Instagram can be harmful for teens body image and is causing many young people in society. She claims that leadership as Facebook prioritises the unethical business model of “profits before people” therefore encouraging harmful and unrealistic content to be shared.
Research shows that more than 40% of Instagram’s users are under 22 years old and using social media has been linked to young people feeling unconfident with their bodies because of looking different to the images they consume on these platforms. All this information leads me to believe that Instagram should put plans into action to protect young people from developing these feelings and making their platform more ethical. Whilst I can appreciate that the vast number of users makes it difficult for Instagram to manage every post, there are a few things they can do within the app to make it more clear to users when content is edited in some way. Earlier this year, they made the change to display when any post on to stories has a filter made by Instagram applied to it. However, users can still edit their photos on other apps and then upload to Instagram and escape this disclaimer.
This leads to the question of whether we can tackle this problem at all? The #FilterDrop movement encourages users to stop using filters and editing their posts. With a larger profile this could be a positive campaign and be used to encourage Instagram users to stop using edited content on one day every week. This would eventually lead to a more realistic body standard being used. Some major fashion brands such as Boohoo, PLT and ASOS have started to promote a more realistic body image by showing stretch marks, scars and embracing imperfections.
Do you think Instagram should be responsible for promoting a realistic body image? I’d love to hear your thoughts on how we can all work to make sure content being consumed is more realistic.