London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Mar 14, 2026

Instagram is wreaking havoc on young girls - and knows it

Instagram is wreaking havoc on young girls - and knows it

Real teens open up about how unrealistic body standards on Instagram are harming their mental health, leading them to crave plastic surgery and causing eating disorders.

When teenager Chloe Weinstein scrolls through Instagram posts by wildly popular, glamorous influencers such as Kylie Jenner, Daisy Keech and Madison Beer, she can’t help but envy their jet-setting lifestyles and compare her figure to their toned silhouettes.

Such feelings of inferiority have partly contributed to the 18-year-old’s desire for breast implants.

“I get down on myself as I’m often thinking: ‘How do [the influencers] look so good in bikinis, flaunting all the fun stuff they do in places like the Bahamas?’” Weinstein told The Post.

The college freshman of Randolph, New Jersey, is among the 32% of young, female Instagram subscribers identified by researchers as harmed by the platform. They found it exacerbates negative body image, low self-esteem, anxiety, depression and, in extreme cases, suicidal thoughts.

The March 2020 study was commissioned by Facebook, the company which acquired Instagram nine years ago. But executives like CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Karina Newton, Instagram’s head of public policy, buried the concerns it raised, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Newton posted on Instagram that while she believes the WSJ piece “focuses on a limited set of findings and casts them in a negative light,” she added that “we stand by this research.”

Social media influencer and TED Talk speaker Victoria Garrick is critical of “inauthentic” images posted to Instagram.


“We’re increasingly focused on addressing negative social comparison and negative body image,” she wrote.

But their efforts don’t wash with social media influencer and TED Talk speaker Victoria Garrick. While acknowledging benefits of Instagram, such as facilitating connections across the world, the 24-year-old slams the constant promotion of “inauthentic,” doctored photos and other exaggerated aspirational content impossible for impressionable young girls to achieve.

Admitting to being part of the problem in the past, Garrick, who launched a lifestyle account in 2015, said: “When I first got on Instagram, I felt a pressure to portray a certain image. I edited and altered my photos and presented a highlight reel online.”

The constant fakery took its toll on her mental health and, after seeking therapy, she did a 180 by posting unfiltered pictures revealing her true, warts-and-all self. The LA resident, whose following has grown to 337,000 on Insta, now uses the hashtag #realpost and hopes other influencers and celebrities will follow suit.

Posting side by side images of herself, Victoria Garrick showed her followers the easily done technique of “perfecting” women’s bodies using digital trickery.


This development would be welcomed by Arizona native Carolyn, a 16-year-old who who is currently in treatment for an eating disorder. The high school junior, who asked that her last name be withheld for privacy reasons, maintains that her unhealthy obsession with fitness was partially triggered by Instagram. It was made worse by the platform’s “Explore” function, which employs artificial intelligence to serve users with curated material similar to content they’ve previously viewed. In Carolyn’s case, once she showed an interest in body building and related workouts, she was bombarded with so-called “fitspiration” posts.

“If this is what social media is telling me that’s healthy, then I’m going to start doing those things,” she said. “I wanted to be like those people.”

The posts featured buff-looking gym rats with washboard stomachs and wasp-like waists. Diet advice came under headings such as “The Golden Pyramid of Fat Loss” and “Top Fat Loss Supplements,” and cutesy graphics and images of “healthy” portions.

Mercifully, Carolyn, who is now working with nutritionist Megan Kniskern, is more mindful of the damage Instagram can cause vulnerable teens.

“Instagram does not care for our well-being because they’re not going to filter out all the bad stuff that could hurt our brains,” she observed. “They just spit out the things that young girls my age click on — fitness workouts and posts about calories — which lead to fanaticism about our health.”

Carolyn said the first thing Instagram should take to curb toxic content is re-thinking that “Explore” algorithm. “It sucks you in,” she said, lamenting that if you “like” or follow one potentially-problematic post or account, it’s a “slippery slope” to similar content.

“There needs to be some level of responsibility for sure… I don’t know what that would look like.”

Indeed, changes Instagram can make are amorphous because content is user-driven. Activists such as Garrick say that it would be too big a hill to climb to have the platform monitor every post — banning filters would be impossible to police.

Instead, Garrick urges influencers and celebrities to take this matter into their own hands by being truthful about digitally enhancing their images. “I’d like to ask everyone for transparency,” Garrick said, suggesting those who use filters or PhotoShop add a hashtag or label to the picture signaling the alterations.

Filters aside, images of willowy stars are impossible to avoid on social media. For Gwenyth Harrington, a member of the adolescent and teen support group run by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD), pics of Gigi Hadid and Taylor Swift were some of the dangerous factors behind her eating disorder.

She was also negatively impacted by the platform’s “thinspiration” posts, which can often spark competition between young girls to look the skinniest of their peers.

The 17-year-old from upstate New York was twice admitted to the hospital where counseling helped her assess the damage caused by social media.

“I thought: ‘Wow! I need to unfollow people, especially the diet accounts and certain celebrities, cutting ties with them for the sake of my health,’” said Harrington. “Instead, I started following a girl who promotes body positivity in every one of her posts.

“It’s been a huge help and made me feel a whole lot better.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Middle East War Highlights Strategic Importance of Strong UK–Ireland Cooperation
Weak Growth Signals UK Economy Was Faltering Even Before Middle East Energy Shock
Marks & Spencer Tops UK Fashion Retail Rankings as Most Considered Brand
United States Launches Trade Investigation Into Allies Over Forced Labour Practices
United States Launches Trade Investigation Into Allies Over Forced Labour Practices
Russia Accuses Britain Over Storm Shadow Strike as London Reaffirms Ukraine’s Right to Self-Defence
Russia Accuses Britain Over Storm Shadow Strike as London Reaffirms Ukraine’s Right to Self-Defence
Royal Navy to Acquire Twenty Uncrewed Surface Vessels for Autonomous Warfare Testing
Russia Summons British and French Envoys After Ukrainian Storm Shadow Strike on Strategic Facility
Starmer Confirms Britain Will Maintain Sanctions on Russia Despite U.S. Policy Shift
UK Moves to Refine AI Definition in Investment Security Reform
UK Economy Stalls in January as Growth Unexpectedly Falls to Zero
Asian Energy Security Tested as Strait of Hormuz Disruption Threatens Oil Supplies
Iran Sets Three Conditions for Ending Regional War as Diplomatic Efforts Intensify
Tesla Secures Approval to Supply Electricity Directly to Homes Across Britain
Prince William Delivers Tribute to Australia’s Naval Alliance Amid Renewed Royal Spotlight on the Country
UK Foreign Secretary Travels to Saudi Arabia to Reinforce Support for Regional Allies
Putin’s ‘Hidden Hand’ May Be Assisting Iran in Conflict With Trump, UK Defence Secretary Warns
UK Sets April Deadline for Tech Platforms to Strengthen Online Protections for Children
Elon Musk Moves Into Britain’s Energy Market as Tesla Wins Licence to Supply Power
UK Watchdog Warns Fuel Retailers Against Profiteering Amid Iran War Price Surge
Report Claims Iran Used UK Charity Network to Expand Influence
United States and United Kingdom Establish Joint Standards for Counter-Drone Technology
Iran May Be Laying Naval Mines in Strait of Hormuz, UK Warns Amid Escalating Gulf Tensions
US Deploys Bunker-Buster Bombs to UK Airbase as Iran Conflict Intensifies
British Troops in Iraq Intercept Iranian Drones Targeting Coalition Base
Release of Mandelson Files Raises Tensions as UK Seeks Stable Relations With Donald Trump
UK Documents Reveal Starmer Was Warned About Mandelson’s Epstein Links Before Ambassador Appointment
Nearly Five Hundred UK Mortgage Deals Withdrawn in Two Days as Market Volatility Forces Lenders to Reprice
Three Cargo Ships Hit Near Iran as Attacks Spread to Strategic Strait of Hormuz
Why British Police Repeatedly Declined to Investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s UK Links
UK Parliament Ends Hereditary Seats in House of Lords, Closing Chapter on Centuries of Aristocratic Lawmaking
EU and UK Urge Israel to Act Against Rising West Bank Settler Violence Amid Regional Tensions
US Senator John Kennedy Says Keir Starmer Should Not Be Trusted for Military Advice Amid Iran War Debate
UK High Court Rejects Attempt to Revive Terrorism Charge Against Kneecap Rapper
Revolut Secures Full UK Banking Licence After Multi-Year Regulatory Wait
Kentucky’s Bench Boost Powers Wildcats Past LSU in SEC Tournament Opener
British Couple Die After Being Pulled From Water at Australian Beach During Family Visit
Global Energy Agency Announces Record Release of 400 Million Barrels to Stabilize Oil Markets Amid Hormuz Disruption
British Airways Suspends UK Repatriation Flights as Middle East Travel Disruption Deepens
US Forces Prepare Ordnance at RAF Fairford as Strategic Bombers Deploy for Middle East Operations
Nigel Farage Faces Criticism After Saying Britain Should Stay Out of Iran War
Landmark UK Trial Begins Over Sony’s PlayStation Store Pricing
UK High Court Rejects Bid to Challenge Britain’s Chagos Islands Agreement With Mauritius
Finnish Duo Triumphs in England’s Annual Wife-Carrying Race, Winning a Barrel of Ale
How U.S. and UK National Security Strategies Are Reshaping the Global Business Landscape
Green Party Gains Momentum as Labour Shifts Toward the Political Centre
Royal Navy Destroyer HMS Dragon Sets Sail for Eastern Mediterranean as Regional Tensions Rise
UK Homebuilder Persimmon Warns Iran Conflict Could Dent Property Buyer Confidence
Roman Abramovich Signals Legal Fight if UK Seeks to Seize Chelsea Sale Funds
×