Addiction & problematic use

Social comparison, body image, loneliness, SSI, and problematic use were the top categories of harm reported by teens on Instagram

We ranked issues by each category (reach, intensity, IG impact and expectation), to generate a composite average rank such that lower average indicates that the issue should be …

Unnamed employee

Knowledge

Yoav Shapira: "We're sharing bad metrics externally"

Our data as currently shown is incorrect. It's not just that Apple / Google have better data. Ours is wrong. Far worse. We're sharing bad metrics externally. …

Yoav Shapira

ConcealmentKnowledge

Meta debated unshipping Time Spent tools despite knowing they were "the biggest proof point we have on tech addiction"

████: "We're emailing to start the process of unshipping Time Spent. …

Yoav Shapira · Karina Newton and names withheld in filing

Profits over Safety

Yoav Shapira: "We've consistently deprioritized addiction as a work area, which I think is the right call"

We've consistently deprioritized addiction as a work area, which I think is the right call anyhow. Investing further here isn't likely. …

Yoav Shapira

Profits over Safety

"[W]e will not focus on problematic use for the foreseeable future"

[Appendix: Detail on considerations]: …

Unnamed employee

Profits over Safety

"We recruited 8 teens from the survey, and found they thought they were spending too much time on social media, becoming emotionally exhausted, and felt they had to manage their accounts rather than enjoy them"

"These teens reported that while their phone didn't wake them at night, it was a constant distraction during both the night and the day" "Before bed, these teens used their phone …

Unnamed employee

KnowledgeProfits over Safety

"we keep making tools no one is using... because we make it a control" ████: "i said do it for teens at least!"

████: "do you happen to have anyyyy screenshots of recent [TikTok]] take a break?? or know how long i need to scroll for to find it lol" …

Dayna Geldwert and names withheld in filing

Profits over Safety

"[We have] [f]ew allies on well-being issues as well as product or policy proof points"

[RISKS]: "We're playing catch up and people might think we aren't doing enough. …

Unnamed employee

Knowledge

"[P]roblematic use appears to affect 12.5% of people."

Commonly agreed on facets of problematic use include perceived lack of control over the time spent on Facebook; negative feelings about own Facebook usage (e.g., guilt, regret …

Unnamed employee

Knowledge

"The best external research indicates that Facebook's impact on people's well-being is negative"

The best external research indicates that Facebook's impact on people's well-being* is negative. …

Unnamed employee

Knowledge

"Over 10 triggers contribute to the potential for problematic use"

We heard about 10+ triggers contributing to PU habits." "Notifications – Getting too many minor/irrelevant notifications. …

Unnamed employee

Knowledge

17% of teens reported seeing too much inappropriate content and being contacted by strangers

NEGATIVE EXPERIENCES ON INSTAGRAM: SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS" …

Unnamed employee

Knowledge

"WHILE APP ADDICTION IS COMMON ON IG, IT ALSO OCCURS ON MANY OTHER APPS"

Unnamed employee

Knowledge

US Teen: "When I'm sleeping, I get a lot of Instagram notifications"

More people are using Instagram longer, and more frequently, than ever before." "MAP + 37% YoY" "DAP + 36% YoY" "Avg daily time spent + 16% YoY" "Avg daily sessions/DAP + 9% YoY" …

Unnamed employee

Knowledge

"8th graders who use social media for 10+ hrs/week are 56% more likely to be unhappy"

A person's momentary happiness increases with low/ moderate Facebook usage" "However, these gains are reversed and actually decline below baseline with heavy usage (>3x/day)" …

Unnamed employee

Knowledge

"[W]e must build some sticky new features that are built for Tweens first in order to make the experience truly compelling to Tweens."

We believe that in addition to building an age appropriate experience with guardian supervision we must build some sticky new features that are built for Tweens first in order to …

Unnamed employee

Youth Targeting

"These may lead to feelings of being manipulated, feeling lack of control related to certain behaviors, and feelings of dependence on checking or going on Facebook that could be related to lower well-being - and could be fueling the subjective, colloquial experiences of feeling 'addicted' to Facebook."

We hypothesize that unpredictable, low value rewards and cues that promote frequent, automatic, undesired behaviors are contributing to reward learning and habit formation in a …

Unnamed employee

Knowledge

"When someone looks at one post that makes them feel bad, IG mechanics nudge them to keep consuming similar content"

Are we making problematic usage worse on Instagram?" "Teens report that it's easy to get distracted and mindlessly scroll in the app without getting a lot of meaning/utility" …

Unnamed employee

Knowledge

"[A] substantial fraction of people, perhaps 30% of college students, exhibit many of the symptoms of addiction / compulsion."

Use of Facebook that interferes with regular life, or amounts of Facebook use that exceed a person's desires/intent may indicate an addiction." …

Unnamed employee

Knowledge

"It is worthwhile to consider how far we might consider going to make tradeoffs that prioritize user agency and that can simultaneously reduce engagement (unwanted engagement perhaps, from the users' perspective, but engagement nonetheless)."

Dark patterns and 'addictive'-like features rob users of their agency" …

Unnamed employee

Profits over SafetyConcealment

"The stance we have historically taken is to give people control, but not in a way that hurts metrics."

Unnamed employee

Knowledge

Instagram was forced to reduce its goal for percentage of weekly active teens with meaningful adoption of mental well-being features "from 0.6% to 0.25% given the tactics we have aligned and prioritized for this half."

Thanks for the feedback! …

Unnamed employee

Profits over Safety

"Repeatedly over the past year, across topics and workstreams, we've heard teens complain bitterly about Instagram's non-chronological feed"

Unnamed employee

Profits over Safety

12-Year-Old Instagram user: "Couldn't survive – need to see what everyone's up to - feel I am not missing out. I see what other 7th graders are doing that I should try."

[INSTAGRAM DRIVERS]: [EMOTIONAL BENEFITS / LIFELINE]: "IN CONTROL OF LIFE" "I'm not alone" "FOMO – not missing out" "On trend" …

Unnamed employee

Youth TargetingKnowledge