Michela Stutzman

September 30, 2021

English-101-09

Mx. Edward Wells

Teenage girls, body image and Instagrams ‘perfect storm’

Instagram and other social media platforms have begun to play a big role in our society;

especially in teengers. Social media has its benefits. For example, social media makes

communication easier and faster, seeing what family and friends are up to, and also providing

entertainment. But do these benefits outweigh the cons? Many teenagers who use social media

report having body image issues as well as increased anxiety and depression. In the article,

Teenage girls, body image and Instagrams ‘perfect storm’, Dan Milmo and Clea Skopeliti argue

that Instagram is damaging to teenage girls and their mental health.

The authors begin their article with the story of Emily who had spiraled into a crisis centered

around body image. They talk about The Wall Street Journal and leaked internal research that

shows the app has made body image issues worse for one in three girls and a facebook survey

that revealed that more than 40% of teenaged Instagram users said they felt “unattractive” and

that that feeling began while using the app. Towards the end of the article the authors talk about

the Online Safety Bill to take back control on social media apps and help in educating young

people on how to navigate the social media world.

Dan Milmo and Clea Skopeliti use logos and pathos to draw the audience. The authors use

pathos by telling the story of Emily who started using Instagram in her mid-teens. While using

Instagram, Emily started to develop a body image disorder and at 19 she was diagnosed with an

eating disorder. “ I felt like my body wasn’t good enough, because even though I did go to the
gym a lot, my body still never looked like the bodies of these influencers,” says Emily, now a

20-year-old student who is in recovery.” The authors use logos by using statistics. “Two in five

girls (40%) aged 11 to 16 in the UK say they have seen images online that have made them feel

insecure or less confident about themselves. This increases to half (50%) in girls aged 17 to 21,

according to research by Girlguiding in its annual girls’ attitude survey.” Dan Milmo and Clea

Skopeliti also talk about Sonia Livingstone, a professor of social psychology at the department of

media and communications. “Sonia Livingstone describes adolescence for teenage girls as an

“arc” that tends to begin with the staple experiences of interests in pets, painting or playing with

younger siblings, through to the more confident young women ready to face the world. But it is

the experience in the middle of that parabola that represents a particular challenge, and where

Instagram can be most troubling.”

There is no counter-argument in this article. If the authors were to include a counter-argument, it

would have helped in making their position stronger.

In conclusion, Dan Milmo and Clea Skopeliti have a strong argument that Instagram is damaging

to tennagers and their confidence. They did use logos and pathos very well to support their

argument. They could have had a sutronger argument if they had a counter-argument and more

credible sources for their statistics.

Works cited: “Teenage girls, body image and Instagrams ‘perfect storm’ ” The Gaurdian
18 sept. 2021
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/sep/18/teenage-girls-body-image-and-
instagrams-perfect-storm