That's a bit strong. I love sharing photos with friends and family, and Instagram makes these super easy to do, and quickly, and with easy ways to get comments from those I'm interested in.
Instagram itself is not the problem. How teenagers are using social media is a behavior or perspective issue in my opinion, not a problem with an actual product that just offers a nice tool. Growing up before the internet, these attitudes were in effect, just exposed differently. Honestly I think it is a cultural problem, because there are other places in the world where this obsession with acceptance does not exist, and where everything is not driven by ego or lack thereof.
Flickr never caused the problems Instagram does, and maybe the narcissism and neurotic behavior Insta encourages is purely accidental but it is what is is, which is a pretty nasty invention I'm not so comfortable dismissing.
And even more specifically, I do believe the problems stem most from American teenage behavior, because while kids are kids the world around, American culture does have a much higher degree of judgemental behavior. I'm an American and my eyes were opened to how different it really is in the U.S. compared to other countries when I moved abroad several years ago.
Having traveled pretty extensively, I think judgement comes in different forms with different cultures but it's definitely not an exclusively American phenomenon. In fact, I don't think Americans hold a candle to the Hong Kongese.
Instagram itself is not the problem. How teenagers are using social media is a behavior or perspective issue in my opinion, not a problem with an actual product that just offers a nice tool. Growing up before the internet, these attitudes were in effect, just exposed differently. Honestly I think it is a cultural problem, because there are other places in the world where this obsession with acceptance does not exist, and where everything is not driven by ego or lack thereof.