Blog Post #2: Victoria Williams
The “social shaping of technology” is an interesting perspective because it takes into account both technological determinism, and social constructivism. It combines the causes of people and technology, rather than focusing on one perspective. (Baym, 28). This means that the negative effects of technology are caused by the technology itself, and the people engaging in the use of the technology. In The Guardian article, Facebook aware of Instagram’s harmful effect on teenage girls, leak reveals, the author highlights that Facebook had been hiding Instagram research that demonstrates the negative effects that the app has on teenage girl’s body image. (Gayle, 2021). It is obvious that the unrealistic ideals of what women’s bodies should look like is prominent on Instagram and can seriously affect the mental health of young girls being exposed to this. I believe that the social shaping of technology essentially demonstrates that the app is most definitely one of the causes for the deterioration in young girl’s mental health, but it is also partly due to the extensive use of the app by the teens. I think that it is essential for researchers to focus on how to teach young girls to diminish their use of these apps and to not take what they are exposed to as the “norm.” It is important that Instagram works to figure out how they can make their app more useful in terms of mental health, rather than having it destroy confidence.
Hi Victoria, Great post! You did a great job at explaining how technological determinism and social constructivism have had an effect on Kayla, and on the people who experience these issues within the real world. Media is filled with false reality, whether this is through unrealistic bodies, or a 20 year old living an unrealistic life, it makes us all second guess our own lives, asking questions such as; What did they do for that? Why am I not there? Have you ever experienced something like this?
ReplyDeleteHi Victoria,
ReplyDeleteI also took a social shaping of technology approach to the Guardian article as this perspective integrates both technological determinism and social constructivism, recognizing the dual influence of technology and human behaviour. Given your insights from the reading on Instagram's negative effects on teenage girls' mental health, what strategies do you think could effectively encourage young girls to reduce their usage of these platforms and challenge unrealistic beauty standards perpetuated on social media?
Hi Abby! I think that it would be difficult to try to convince young girls of something that they are so used to and revolve their lives around heavily. That said, it is important to make an effort to educate them as much as possible so that they are aware of the risks and especially so that they are aware that these beauty standards are unrealistic. It would be useful to start talking about these issues in school because awareness is an important aspect when it comes to getting this point across. It might also be useful for the social media apps to partner with a lot of these celebrities and even large companies such as Sephora that the young girls are interested in, so that they can spread awareness on the platforms themselves.
DeleteHi Victoria,
ReplyDeleteReally great post! You did a really good job at discussing the effects of body image on young girls based on the Guardian article. I know this is an experience I have been through and it is one I imagine every girl has gone through at some point. I think your explanation of how this could be because of the excessive usage of the app was particularly interesting. I have not really thought of the amount of time I spend online having an effect on the way I view myself (or the way young girls may view themselves) but I believe you are absolutely right. Was this something that surprised you to discover or had you already assumed what the article aimed to teach?