Young People Are Going into Debt Because of Instagram

According to a new investigative report from HuffPost UK and BBC Radio 5, Instagram’s increased shop-ability is causing a growing number of young users to go into debt.

A poll commissioned by the two news agencies found that “over a third [of] 20- to 29-year olds agreed that social media posts by influencers made them spend money they otherwise would not have wanted to spend.”

Additionally, “two in five (39%) of the 20- to 29-year olds agreed that targeted adverts on social media caused them to part with money they otherwise would not have spent.” While these numbers could (in theory) serve as nothing more than proof of concept for Instagram-as-commerce-platform, the story paints a more insidious picture.

One interviewed therapist said that she has seen “an ‘exponential increase’ in patients suffering from [behavioral] disorders linked to social media, including shopping addiction,” and that “those with underlying [vulnerabilities] or those who use shopping as ‘retail therapy’ are at particular risk of damaging [behaviors].”

And now the British government is getting involved: the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, for its part, told HuffPost that they’re going to review how online advertising is regulated in the UK “to assess the impact it has on society,” in an effort to make the UK “the safest place in the world to be online.”

(At this point, “the safest place in the world to be online” is a distinction not unlike “the safest part of a tiger cage” or “the healthiest item on the Dollar Menu,” but that’s neither here nor there.)

That is a good start, but according to one recovering shopping addict, “the solution needs to come straight from the source: the platforms themselves,” the story said. “She wants to see more transparency from tech companies to protect vulnerable young consumers from overspending.”

You can read more about it at HuffPost UK.

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