The recent revelation from a Facebook whistleblower that the company chooses profits over safety should come as a surprise to no one. But the notion that Instagram was worsening body image issues among teenagers caught my attention. The question needs to be addressed and it certainly affects how we teach and how students learn.

Young people often see themselves as passive recipients of technology and its contents; this is a fantasy that older people realize as they saw the extraordinary effect this technology has had on everything from our politics to our economy to our education.

Young students need to be reminded that social media sites are gathering and selling information about them based on their inquiries. A student’s negative self-image has an adverse effect on the academic process.

Our schools and educators must work as a guardrail against this attack upon impressionable adolescent minds.