
I’m Sorry to Report Instagram Is Bad Now - malvosenior
https://www.buzzfeed.com/katienotopoulos/what-if-instagram-is-bad-now
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malvosenior
While I totally agree that Instagram is “bad”, I’m not sure why the author
ever thought it was less toxic than the other social media properties when the
article even says:

 _”A 2017 study showed that Instagram was the worst social media site for the
mental health of young people, who said it made them feel loneliness,
insecurity, and a negative body image.”_

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mthoms
I _think_ toxic has generally come to refer to when people treat other people
poorly (ie. insults, name-calling, political extremism, uncivilized debate).

You're right that Instagram presents its own set of problems though... mostly
related to self-image. But there's rarely any malicious _intent_ on the part
of users (compared to Twitter and Facebook).

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malvosenior
I always took toxic to mean unhealthy or bad (that’s the dictionary definition
at least) so in that sense it does seem like Instagram is toxic.

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brad0
I'm happy to see more "social media platform X sucks" articles.

More of these articles means public perception changes regarding social media
platforms in general.

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diogenescynic
The change from sorting based on popularity instead of chronological order was
the beginning of the downfall. Since then, it’s been overtaken by instagram
promoters and other junk.

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joejerryronnie
Instagram blatantly ripped off Snap and now they're choking on their pilfered
feature set. Good. Figure out your own damn innovation.

This reminds me of the time that Larry and Sergey tried to rip off Mark. They
built a whole bunch of social stuff without really understanding why. Now Mark
is trying to rip off Evan and building a bunch of stuff the kids like without
really understanding why.

I know that all the tech giants have essentially stolen basic ideas from their
predecessors but it is typically because they can see potential and a future
that nobody else has envisioned. Yes, they steal the original concept but then
innovate and expand. What IG is doing with Snap features is a desparate ploy
to crush a competitor without truly understanding them, their users, or their
marketplace.

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inteleng
Your mistake is thinking that Larry or Sergey or Mark or Evan knew what they
were doing in the first place with their own companies.

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sattoshi
It was driven by a "this is cool" at the very foundation. They wanted to do a
thing and details were largely irrelevant. What GP is describing is adding
things to a service which ultimately serve no use and aren't cool either.
They're just there to say "there, look, we have it too now!" Which feels cold
and loveless to the users.

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inteleng
Correct.

