Your Opinion : Are Facebook And Instagram "Addictive" ?
Instagram has caused teenage girls to lose a sense of self-worth?
US Senators evidently believe that Facebook and Instagram are addictive and are damaging Americans lives, particularly teenagers lives.
Is socially media truly addictive in the sense that it will cause people to believe things that harm them?
Instagram has caused teenage girls to lose a sense of self-worth?
Where is the influence of parents, teachers and church leaders?
I am not a teenage girl or an easily influenced person but I wonder why people cant see Facebook for it is and use it with a spirit of fun, which it is supposed to be.
Why have people let Facebook and Instagram take over their personalities?
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www.msn.com /en-us/money/companies/facebook-whistleblower-s-allegations-should-be-investigated-by-regulators-u-s-senator/ar-AAP9NWb
Facebook whistleblower's allegations should be investigated by regulators -U.S. senator
By David Shepardson and Diane Bartz 12 hrs ago 4-5 minutes
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. lawmakers pounded Facebook on Tuesday, accusing CEO Mark Zuckerberg of pushing for higher profits while being cavalier about user safety and they demanded that regulators investigate whistleblower accusations that the social media company harms children and stokes divisions.
Coming a day after Facebook and its units including Instagram suffered an outage, whistleblower Frances Haugen testified in a congressional hearing that "for more than five hours Facebook wasn't used to deepen divides, destabilize democracies and make young girls and women feel bad about their bodies."
In an era when bipartisanship is rare on Capitol Hill, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agreed on the need for big changes at Facebook.
In an opening statement to a Senate Commerce subcommittee, chair Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, said Facebook knew that its products were addictive, like cigarettes. "Tech now faces that big tobacco jawdropping moment of truth," he said.
He called for Zuckerberg to testify before the committee, and for the Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Trade Commission to investigate the company.
"Our children are the ones who are victims. Teens today looking in the mirror feel doubt and insecurity. Mark Zuckerberg ought to be looking at himself in the mirror," Blumenthal said, adding that Zuckerberg instead was going sailing.
Haugen, a former product manager on Facebook's civic misinformation team who has turned whistleblower, said Facebook has sought to keep its operations confidential.
"Today, no regulator has a menu of solutions for how to fix Facebook, because Facebook didn't want them to know enough about what's causing the problems. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been need for a whistleblower," she said.
The top Republican on the subcommittee, Marsha Blackburn, said that Facebook turned a blind eye to children below age 13 on its sites. "It is clear that Facebook prioritizes profit over the well-being of children and all users."
Facebook spokesman Kevin McAlister said in an email ahead of the hearing that the company sees protecting its community as more important than maximizing profits and said it was not accurate that leaked internal research demonstrated that Instagram was "toxic" for teenage girls.
Haugen revealed she was the one who provided documents used in a Wall Street Journal investigation and a Senate hearing on Instagram's harm to teenage girls.
The Journal's stories showed the company contributed to increased polarization online when it made changes to its content algorithm; failed to take steps to reduce vaccine hesitancy; and was aware that Instagram harmed the mental health of teenage girls.
Haugen said Facebook had also done too little to prevent its site from being used by people planning violence.
Facebook was used by people planning mass killings in Myanmar and the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump who were determined to toss out the 2020 election results.
I dont think Facebook can fix that.
FB etc. addictive? Only for those searching for something that does not exist.
Social Media's greatest travesty is profiting from autocratics that will take their's and our freedoms away for their own convenience and security.
The Senators seem to think it is, but I think I agree with you.
all FB is to me is a birthday reminder. instagram? nope. twitter? nope.
It is kind of unsettling to think that so many Americans, especially the young , can be "influenced" by such blatant appeals to narcissism on the internet.
none of my kids are active on FB. it's my mom and 2 sisters that are on it.
Yes. They always have.
That has been part of being a teenager since being a teenager was invented.
Politicians pretending they don't know this is just another slice of their bullshit pie.
I really don't care that I can't open either Facebook or Instagram. I neither need nor want them. And I despise Zukerberg for a lot of reasons and don't need to contribute to his empire. The only good thing he's done as far as I'm concerned is marry a Chinese woman.
I dont look at Instagram because it bores me. I look at Facebook sometimes to see what my family and friends are doing. There's nothing wrong with it, in my opinion, but I am not someone who is easily "influenced" by what I see on the internet, particularly advertising.
only thing i use FB for is family , and toshare some things i find amusing , granted others might not have my sense of humor , but it is mine and i have the setting set so only those people can see what i post so its not like im posting publicly . i love getting pics of the grandkids and being able to text through messenger , addictive? i didnt know FB was down until it came back up , as for the others ? no interest in them at all.
I am on FB, with a total of 100 friends, to keep in touch with family & friends. Don't use Twitter, Instagram or any other app. People need to take responsibility for their usage of social apps, stop blaming others. As far as teens, parents need to do their job and limit time, same with TV and video games.