You know how cigarette companies were forced by legislation across the world to tell people that smoking kills and that it can lead to lung cancer?
For some people, this has always been a feature of the styling of a pack of cigarettes, but for those of us a little bit older, we remember the days before graphics warnings and even pictures depicting what smoking can do to you.
Well, it seems some Instagram models like Gigi Hadid (who we have covered here before) are using a phone case with a similarly styled warning about social media which reads “Social Media seriously harms your mental health.”
This text is thus really prominent when the user is taking a selfie so, in a way, they’re telling us that taking selfies is a bad thing. The Verge reports that Gigi Hadid and other prominent Instagram personalities such as Madison Beer, Hailey Bieber, and Delilah Belle, among others, have used the selfie warning sticker.
There is a lot of science to back up the claim that social media obsession is bad for a person’s mental health, and even Instagram has made some efforts to address the issue.
The Verge quoted Instagram model Petra Vukotic when asked to describe the drug-like mechanics at play in the Instagram space: “It’s just a constant reminder on my stories that we just do it for the likes…I look at it as a reminder for me that the likes and social media are a drug. It’s addictive. It’s a form of validation that we are worthwhile.”
The case is a product from a company called Urban Sophistication which often markets items that play off of things in a tongue-in-cheek manner. Nonetheless, the message on the phone case is very real which makes its surreptitious use interesting indeed.
You can view the case here.
What do you think of social media? Let us know your thoughts about Instagram and others in the comments below.
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