In a frank new interview, Madonna has voiced her concerns about the effects of Instagram. The 60-year-old says she feels bad for upcoming artists who have to constantly compare themselves to others, and says the photo-sharing app is designed to “make you feel bad.”
Speaking to The Sun, she said:
I was lucky enough to have a life as an artist before the phone and Instagram and social media because I did have that time to develop as an artist and a human without feeling the pressure of judgment of other people or comparing myself to other people [..] social media culture runs people’s lives and makes it harder for artists to stick to their guns and be who they are.
She drew particular attention to the way in which users get caught up comparing themselves and their lives to other peoples’, stating that usage of social media often leaves a person questioning whether they should act a certain way in order to become more popular.
Madonna is not the only high-profile musician to speak out against the platform recently, with Selena Gomez – who has for the past few years been one of the most popular people on the platform with 152 million followers – claiming she removed the app from her own phone. “I think it’s just become really unhealthy for young people, including myself, to spend all of their time fixating on all of these comments and letting this stuff in,” she said.
Lead image: "Madonna" by Mexicaans fotomagazijn, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Stop comparing yourself to others. There, luv. Solved it for you.
Next issue?
Simple! Hey NASA, if you want to fly to the Moon without spending any money just fly to the Moon without spending any money! Wow, this way of thinking is incredible!
You're kidding, right?
She's not wrong...
Maybe not, but for her to whine about it when you think about her path to fortune and glory, it rings just a bit hollow.
Probably all accurate, but it is a little hard to take seriously from people whose wealth and fame depend on such mechanisms.
Madonna started without this, so I'm not sure she is the best example of people who "depend" on Instagram for fame.
The mechanisms I am referring to is the deliberate attempt by the media and commercial interests to make us all feel bad about ourselves in order to sell us stuff.
Madonna no doubt benefited from that industry during her career. Ms. Gomez certainly has.
While it is a bit of a cliche, social media is, in no small way, more like anti-social media.
Yes she did, but Ms. Ciccone had her own mechanisms... ;) All the little scandals kept her in the news.
Well I deleted my Instagram for the same reason. Though I'm completely aware that people usually post the good stuff and majority of users don't intend to belittle others, I did felt the same way. Having to not check what others has been up to made me feel better and free from "pressure".
She called herself an artist. Why, God?
Anything is toxic if you allow it to control your life. Madonna is no angel having through the years generated her own share of pop-culture, societal disruptions that likely caused great angst in others. Social toxicity is misplaced blame on the platform when its root causes are really those who come with their social distresses to inhabit the mediascape.
I haven't seen or experienced much negativity on Instagram. Not nearly as much as other platforms at least. And I have wondered why Instagram seems to be a little more civilized.