Too Long; Didn't Read
Between 2010 and 2014, rates of self-harm, depression and anxiety among teenage girls doubled. This is unusual and the cause is unknown. Social psychologists have been studying the data from North American and UK studies and are trying to get to the bottom of it. Instagram exploits the natural vulnerabilities in a developing adolescent girl. The research suggests that Instagram's toxicity does not come from malicious coding of the algorithms. Instead, it is the nature of a platform that girls use to post photographs of themselves and await the public judgments of others.