[cmrdporcupine]

I'm honestly of the opinion that the Internet in its present form is much harder on teens than what came before, and Instagram is only one of the myriad of places with potentially toxic cesspools in them. And not the worst.

For our teen, it was Tumblr that was the first and the worst -- content and conversations on there went dark really quickly, and without our knowledge. Instagram is actually where things were redirected after it became clear a blanket social media ban wasn't going to work. At least on there the focus has (for her) so far mostly been on visual art and self-expression and fandoms and it's a slightly more moderated platform.

I grew up with BBSs, MUDs, MOOs, IRC, etc. and figured I'd be set as a parent for moderating use of this stuff. But nope, it's been probably the worst struggle for us in parenting so far.

[MeinBlutIstBlau]

I think social media is fine, but it should not take precedence over physically meeting and interacting with people. Not to mention legal issues where it's been argued that it's your presence on the web and can be used as a means to serve you (hasn't been truly tested yet, but has been done and upheld before).

The weird thing I've noticed since growing up with the internet is that the internet used to be a destination (and still is), but it has transformed into a a place where you presently interact instead with livestreaming, discord, and whatever else along those lines. It's causing people to believe these forms of interactions can legitimately replace physical ones when that is not the case at all.