My particular technology that I researched is Instagram. This photo-sharing app, now owned by the big bad Facebook is the hallmark of photo sharing in modern society and birthed an era of influencers, social media marketing, hashtags, and even mental health issues due to photo editing and "Fear of Missing Out" (Yes that's a real thing). Sleep issues have even become prevalent because of increasing screen time on the app.
Pictured is the evolution of Instagram's logos.
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/102615/story-instagram-rise-1-photo0sharing-app.asp
Instagram was created in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Kreiger in San Francisco. It originally was named "Burbn". This photo sharing platform began with square photos, liking and comments. In 2012, Mark Zuckerburg and Facebook acquired Instagram and its 27 million users for $1b, just a fraction of the platform's profit today.
Instagram connects people all over the world and is currently available in 36 languages. Since those early days, it has now expanded to tagging photos to a stream of photos like it or "hashtags" (#) and tagging locations in photos to see a similar stream. It also has video sharing capabilities and countless filters to put on content shared. There is a program called "Reels" similar to TikTok highlighting short videos, a shopping tab, paid advertisements, photos and videos can go beyond the square size, a "Stories" feature similar to snapchat where things disappear after 24 hours, reposting, direct messaging and so many more capabilities. This app has expanded so far beyond the creator's original idea. Now with Facebook entering the "Metaverse", it should be quite interesting to see how Instagram fits in as well as dodging the seemingly ever-increasing controversies surrounding its parent company and even the app itself.
https://time.com/4793331/instagram-social-media-mental-health/
With so many ways to be expressive, also comes the downfalls of comparison. Many people on Instagram convey a "perfect" life where they edit their photos to look skinnier or prettier and show only the best parts of their lives. This can be very damaging, especially to its younger adolescent target audience and the girls within that target. The government is even being called to action to teach safe social media use within schools. Obviously our parents could never even imagine this having to come to fruition. When talking about Instagram, one survey respondent stated,
“Instagram easily makes girls and women feel as if their bodies aren’t good enough as people add filters and edit their pictures in order for them to look ‘perfect’.”
The article even goes on to say that Instagram is the worst platform for mental health, especially referencing the "Compare and despair" attitude. It is important to note that Instagram and therefore Facebook are very much aware of these issues that users have to grapple with while on the platform, but since they continue to monetize, they do not feel the need to change. With so much freedom of expression, damaging outcomes can occur. Facebook is also knee-deep in crisis with consistent reports of data-stealing, election tampering, tax avoidance and surveillance controversies.
Instagram revolutionized photo-sharing as we know it today and then influenced other platforms to begin allowing photos to be shared. The platform will surely continue to grow through advances of technologies and adapt with today's ever changing social climate.
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