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Facebook has been caught stealing a page from the tobacco industry’s playbook: Deny your product is harmful, even as your own researchers prove that it is. And just as a wealth of public health evidence refuted tobacco industry PR, years of research into social media use has documented harmful psychological effects.
Much of that harm falls on adolescents, particularly girls. Psychologist Christia Spears Brown explains why Instagram is particularly problematic and details two ways the social media platform hits teens where they’re vulnerable: social standing and body image. She also offers advice for parents on how to help their teens avoid the pitfalls of Instagram.
In the meantime, Mark Zuckerberg is left to ponder the possibility that history will label him the digital equivalent of a tobacco company CEO.
Also today:
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Eric Smalley
Science + Technology Editor
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Instagram’s emphasis on filtered photos of bodies harms girls’ self-image.
Thomas Barwick/DigitalVision via Getty Images
Christia Spears Brown, University of Kentucky
There is ample research about how harmful Instagram is for teen girls, especially around body image. It turns out Facebook’s own research confirms it.
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Health
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Rayna M Letourneau, University of South Florida
Long-term solutions to the nursing shortage call for changes that value nurses and offer them a safe place to work.
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Kathleen Mazor, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School; Kimberly Fisher, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School
There are a variety of reasons why people do or don’t want to be vaccinated. Depending on how they frame their messaging around vaccination, doctors can often be the deciding factor.
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Environment + Energy
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Marie Simonin, Inrae; Emily S. Bernhardt, Duke University
Rivers are among the most embattled ecosystems on Earth. Researchers are testing a new, inexpensive way to study river health by using eDNA to count the species that rivers harbor.
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Scott D. Stewart, University of Tennessee
This year’s unprecedented fall armyworm invasion has laid waste to lawns, athletic fields and crops. Is it a fluke? When will it end?
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Economy + Business
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Morgan Henderson, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Morgane Mouslim, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Health researchers hope a new regulation requiring hospitals to post their prices will tame soaring health care costs, but compliance and standardization are hurdles.
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Science + Technology
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Iain Boyd, University of Colorado Boulder
Electromagnetic beams of the right power and wavelength can cause pain and zap electronics. Could they also be used to disrupt a person’s nervous system?
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Supriya Chakrabarti, University of Massachusetts Lowell
In the past decade, the number of satellites in orbit has skyrocketed thanks to tiny electronics and cheap launches. The crowded night sky is posing problems for astronomers and astronauts.
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Politics + Society
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Michael Z. Green, Texas A&M University
CEOs in private industry who have been accused of sexual harassment can cost their companies if they do as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo did and fight the charges.
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Podcast 🎙️
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Gemma Ware, The Conversation; Daniel Merino, The Conversation
Plus, new clues on why mosquitoes bite some people more than others. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.
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From our international editions
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Patricia A. O'Brien, Georgetown University
The secrecy surrounding this major announcement is troubling, and there are many questions still to be answered.
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Jason Gilchrist, Edinburgh Napier University
Helicoptering heavy herbivores across Africa is no laughing matter.
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Fiona Amery, University of Cambridge
Depending on who you ask, the northern lights may, very occasionally, sound like ‘rustling silk’ or ‘two planks meeting flat ways’.
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