Abstract
With the U.S. Surgeon General’s recent warning about the mental health dangers of social media, the topic of social media literacy could not be more timely. Luckily, there are some video resources readily available to introduce into the classroom.
The Instagram Effect, produced by the BBC and available on YouTube, is a prime example. It combines expert interviews with the perspectives of heavy social media users to paint a broad, well-rounded portrait of relevant issues posed by the ubiquity and addictive popularity of social media apps. The focus here is specifically on Instagram, but many of the insights can be applied more broadly to other apps such as TikTok.
The documentary includes interviews with several people who were part of the original design team for Instagram, including Chris Messina, who we’re told invented the hashtag. Through them we hear about how the original intent of Instagram changed after Facebook (now Meta) bought the app in 2012 and started selling ads in 2015.
Frances Haugen, the former Facebook employee turned whistleblower, is also prominently featured. She discusses some of the same concerns presented in her explosive testimony before the U.S. Congress and British Parliament, regarding the deleterious and potentially devastating effects that addictive social media can have on its users.
We meet a social media influencer with more than 100 thousand followers who discusses—through both words and visuals—the connection between her use of Instagram and her eating disorder. We also meet a young woman who ties her social media use to depression and despondency so acute that she needed in-patient treatment before she could resume a more normal life. Emotional clips from her mother and sister reinforce the severity of her situation.
One of the most effective elements of The Instagram Effect is a detailed explanation of algorithms and how they create a feedback loop making the app more addictive. This is presented through a series of graphics as well as interviews clips that add to our understanding of algorithms and how they feed the compulsion to keep using the app. This is a key takeaway in recognizing the addictive nature of such apps and how they hold such a powerful grip on users. A quote from former Instagram employee Bailey Richardson sums it up well: “If an algorithm is making the decision for you . . . it has the ability to take your control away.” Later in the documentary, a researcher shares some ideas on breaking the cycle of the algorithm, but acknowledging how intentional one must be to escape that hold.
Aside from users understanding more about how Instagram works and why it is so addictive, the documentary presents a brief discussion of possible solutions to the most harmful effects of social media addiction, including content moderation to keep users from seeing content that may trigger or exacerbate these effects. But viewers are left with a key question about content moderation: who should decide which content is de-emphasized? App developers? The government? Users themselves? It’s an intriguing query that would make an excellent follow-up discussion in the classroom after watching this excellent documentary.
Another documentary on the addictiveness and potential dangers of social media is Likes, Selfies, and Self-Promotion, produced in France in 2021 and distributed by the German Public Broadcasting Service DW in 2022. Like The Instagram Effect, it is also available on YouTube.
This documentary examines social media more broadly, rather than focusing on a single app. There is more discussion about the psychology of social media use and how it is tied to everything from physiological responses and addiction to identity and self-worth.
Likes, Selfies, and Self-Promotion introduces us to several heavy users of social media—including a young woman who takes 200 photos to get one to post; a 16-year-old who quit all her other hobbies to focus on social media; a mother with four young children who posts photos of everything from family outings to everyday household moments; and a 26-year-old man who quit social media after it almost drove him to suicide.
These are powerful testimonials, told in French with an English translation. The expert interviews, from psychology professionals to researchers, are also in French translated into English. The narration sections are done in English, though the delivery of the narration sounds almost robotic.
The pace of the documentary is slower than that of The Instagram Effect, and a slow music track reinforces the pacing. Overall, Likes, Selfies, and Self-Promotion is not as compelling as The Instagram Effect, but the emphasis on more of the psychological aspects of social media use and addiction make it a worthwhile contribution to the discussion.
Both of these documentaries are of a length that make them practical to show during a class period—or better yet, consider assigning students to watch the documentaries on their own and then use class time for discussion and unpacking the messages these programs deliver.