London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Jun 27, 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
Thames Water and Energy Operators Warn of Peak Demand Risks During UK Heatwave
Government Conference Highlights Push for Evidence-Led Policy Across UK Public Sector
Insolvency Service Reports Improved Confidence in UK Insolvency System
Security Industry Authority Finds Widespread Safety Failures in UK Night-Time Economy
Nigel Farage Expands Anti-WHO Campaign Into United States With New Lobbying Structure
Home Secretary Seema Mahmood Unveils New Safe Routes Plan for Asylum Seekers
UK Government Warns of Peak Electricity and Water Pressure Amid Ongoing Heatwave
New Nuclear Plant in Wales Named Gwyndod Power Station as Energy Strategy Advances
UK Announces First Major Hydropower Projects in Four Decades to Expand Renewable Capacity
Thirteen Men Charged in Major UK Sexual Abuse Case as Investigation Continues
UK Launches Cross-Sector Climate Security Taskforce Linking Environment and National Security
UN Secretary-General António Guterres Calls for Urgent Global Methane Emissions Cuts in London
World Bank Approves $1 Billion UK-Backed Financing Package for Ukraine Recovery
UK Pledges Emergency Aid and Rescue Team Deployment to Earthquake-Hit Venezuela
Bank of England Holds Interest Rates at 3.75 Percent for Fourth Straight Meeting
Record-Breaking Heatwave Puts Strain on UK Health Services and Energy Networks
London Ambulance Service Sees Record Emergency Demand as Heatwave Intensifies
British Chambers of Commerce Warns of Prolonged Weak Investment Climate Through 2027
Bank of England Holds Interest Rates as Inflation Risks Persist
UK Construction Sector Faces One Percent Contraction Amid Cost and Investment Pressures
Former DUP Leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson Convicted of Sexual Offences
Church of England Appoints Dr Linsay Cunningham to Lead Faith and Public Life Division
UK Armed Forces Day Marked Nationwide With Events From Aberdeen to the Scilly Isles
Rising Tensions in Edinburgh Prompt Joint Warning From Scottish Local Government Leaders
UK Construction Sector Forecast to Contract One Percent in 2026 on Cost Pressures
UK Parliament Backs 87 Percent Emissions Cut as Government Deepens Electrification Drive
British Chambers of Commerce Forecast Weak UK Growth as Investment and Demand Slow
Bank of England Holds Interest Rates at 3.75 Percent Amid Energy and Inflation Uncertainty
London Ambulance Service Reports Record Surge in Life-Threatening Emergency Calls During Heatwave
UK Parliament Approves Legally Binding 87 Percent Emissions Cut Target by 2040
United Kingdom Records Third Consecutive Day of Record June Heat as Europe Faces Worsening Heatwave
Robert Jenrick Defends £5 Million Donation to Nigel Farage Amid Political Scrutiny
Plymouth Museum The Box Wins 2026 Art Fund Museum of the Year Award
UK Government Faces Backlash Over Plans to Use Former Military Sites for Asylum Accommodation
Labour Party Faces Pressure Over Cabinet Stability as Senior Figures Clash on Policy Direction
Heathrow Airport Forecasts Passenger Decline in 2026 as Costs and Climate Disruption Mount
UK Energy Regulator Approves Expansion of Long-Duration Storage to Boost Power System Resilience
Crown Estate Reports Third Consecutive Year of £1 Billion Profit as Debate Over Royal Finances Intensifies
Teenager Charged With Murder in Wales Following Death of 14-Year-Old Boy
Nottingham University Hospitals Maternity Failures Trigger Calls for Public Inquiry Into Patient Safety
EasyJet Rejects £4.9 Billion Takeover Offer From Castlelake but Keeps Door Open for Further Talks
Record Heatwave Triggers UK Transport and Infrastructure Strain as Heathrow Revises Passenger Forecast Downward
Ofgem Approves Sixteen Long-Duration Energy Storage Projects to Strengthen UK Grid Stability
Labour Government Faces Internal Tensions Over Cabinet Decisions and Net Zero Policy Direction
British Food and Drink Exports Fall to Decade Low Amid Trade Friction and US Tariffs
Great Britain Grid Operator Spends £10 Million to Stabilize Electricity Supply During Heatwave Demand Surge
UK Parliament Committee Calls for Urgent National Adaptation Strategy as Extreme Heat Strains Public Infrastructure
Record-Breaking Heatwave Pushes England’s National Health Service to Critical Incident Status as Hospitals Struggle With Surge in Emergencies
UK Government Launches Review of Voluntary National Insurance Contributions System
UK Planning Inspectorate Reports Key Infrastructure and Planning Milestones in Annual Review
×