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I personally deleted my account but what is it about Facebook that is worse than say Twitter (also deleted) ? Twitter was a big bag of toxicity. Not saying it w

I personally deleted my account but what is it about Facebook that is worse than say Twitter (also deleted) ? Twitter was a big bag of toxicity. Not saying it wasn't interested, tons of interesting people to follow; but the discussions were often rude, racist and hateful. And it poses the same problem of teens following supermodels and what not. What I'm saying is this is about social media in general, not about Facebook which just happens to be the (currently) number 1 platform.

yunohn 5y ago
Twitter is not algorithmically pushing supermodel photos to teenage girls. The target demographics are completely different from Instagram. You are correct however, that Twitter is also toxic; like all social media.
- jfk13 5y ago
  The more basic issue seems to be that (many) people are toxic. If not always, to everyone, at least some of the time, towards some other people. The problem with social media, then, is that it allows -- indeed encourages, because "engagement" -- all that toxicity to spread so much more widely and rapidly than ever before.
  - yunohn 5y ago
    We could argue about "general/basic problems" all day. This post is about FB suppressing their own research, which showed that Instagram and its algorithm are toxic to teenage girls. > We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls,” > Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression,” > “This reaction was unprompted and consistent across all groups.”
mandevil 5y ago
That is not what the data researchers currently employed by Facebook said, if you read the article. "They came to the conclusion that some of the problems were specific to Instagram, and not social media more broadly. That is especially true concerning so-called social comparison, which is when people assess their own value in relation to the attractiveness, wealth and success of others." "'Social comparison is worse on Instagram,' states Facebook's deep dive into teen girl body-image issues in 2020, noting that TikTok, a short-video app, is grounded in performance, while users on Snapchat, a rival photo and video-sharing app, are sheltered by jokey filters that 'keep the focus on the face.' In contrast, Instagram focuses heavily on the body and lifestyle." So I suspect that their understanding of the problem is better than yours, and that there is something about Instagram that makes it worse than generic social media.

yunohn 5y ago

Twitter is not algorithmically pushing supermodel photos to teenage girls. The target demographics are completely different from Instagram. You are correct however, that Twitter is also toxic; like all social media.

jfk13 5y ago
The more basic issue seems to be that (many) people are toxic. If not always, to everyone, at least some of the time, towards some other people. The problem with social media, then, is that it allows -- indeed encourages, because "engagement" -- all that toxicity to spread so much more widely and rapidly than ever before.
- yunohn 5y ago
  We could argue about "general/basic problems" all day. This post is about FB suppressing their own research, which showed that Instagram and its algorithm are toxic to teenage girls. > We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls,” > Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression,” > “This reaction was unprompted and consistent across all groups.”

mandevil 5y ago

That is not what the data researchers currently employed by Facebook said, if you read the article. "They came to the conclusion that some of the problems were specific to Instagram, and not social media more broadly. That is especially true concerning so-called social comparison, which is when people assess their own value in relation to the attractiveness, wealth and success of others." "'Social comparison is worse on Instagram,' states Facebook's deep dive into teen girl body-image issues in 2020, noting that TikTok, a short-video app, is grounded in performance, while users on Snapchat, a rival photo and video-sharing app, are sheltered by jokey filters that 'keep the focus on the face.' In contrast, Instagram focuses heavily on the body and lifestyle." So I suspect that their understanding of the problem is better than yours, and that there is something about Instagram that makes it worse than generic social media.