Virtue Ethics and Instagram: An Analysis of User Flourishing in Gradual Interaction with Technology

Is the good design of technology sufficient for its moral evaluation? This article, grounded in virtue ethics and informed by science and technology studies, argues that it is not. While ethical design—ensuring technology does not discriminate, violate rights, or cause foreseeable harm—is crucial, it is insufficient on its own. We must also consider whether the technology promotes user flourishing or, conversely, fosters habits that detract from it. A technology that is morally well-designed might still encourage harmful habits and undermine virtuous qualities, thereby impeding one’s path to flourishing from a virtue ethics perspective. This consideration leads to a different approach to evaluating the technology-user relation. As a case study, we will examine certain features of the Instagram social network in the framework of virtue ethics to explore how they impact users’ flourishing.
 
Introduction
The primary question in technology ethics isn’t just about designing technology that incorporates ethical values, respects the rights of all groups, is inclusive, and minimizes risks and harms. Instead, it’s about understanding how a user’s character evolves or is shaped through ongoing interaction with technology. Even if a technology is designed ethically and effectively by skilled designers and ethicists, could users still develop morally questionable habits through their interactions with it? This article aims to explore this issue. To make the discussion more concrete, we will examine Instagram, a widely popular social network, through the lens of virtue ethics and the theoretical framework of science and technology studies. We will investigate how this technology impacts user flourishing.
Virtue Ethics and Instagram
How does a technology like Instagram influence user flourishing? To answer this, we need to consider the concept of the attention economy and its relevance to Instagram. In the attention economy, the attention of users on social networks is a limited resource, leading to competition for this attention. Instagram users, especially those known as influencers, strive to capture and maintain the attention of users. On Instagram, attention is typically directed toward three areas: profession/education, service/product sales, and entertainment/pleasure. Our focus here is on the third area, where individuals create content to entertain or please users, thereby maintaining the attention of their followers.
The problem arises when many people compete to produce entertaining or pleasurable content, potentially leading some to engage in actions that, from a virtue ethics perspective, are considered vices. Here are four types of actions or phenomena that can involve individuals in such practices:
1) Humor and Vulgarity: Some pages feature sexual, sexist, or racist jokes or even harmful funny content. For example, consider staged scenes where someone pretends to cheat on his spouse to share her reaction live. These types of content can gradually reinforce traits of buffoonery and vulgarity in both the page owner and their followers.
2) Display and Authenticity: To attract more followers, some individuals present an unrealistic, retouched image of their lives. Users enjoy seeing a happy family with a romantic couple, healthy children, and a luxurious lifestyle. This can lead page owners to display such images, even if they are not true. The ability to produce live shows on Instagram can reinforce the illusion that followers are witnessing real events.
3) Oversharing: Oversharing involves continuously sharing many details of one’s personal life or the lives of close others on social networks. This is another result of the attention economy. To attract more followers, some users increasingly expose their personal lives. Oversharing can weaken prudence and strengthen digital narcissism and sadfishing.
4) Care and Desensitization: Some influencers engage in risky actions to attract followers, which can be seen as practices of recklessness. Repeating these actions can weaken an individual’s ability to assess and discern risks. From 2011 to 2017, 259 deaths were reported while taking selfies. Exposure to violent content is another issue, as continuous exposure can desensitize individuals.
The Mediation of Instagram
We have discussed how Instagram, particularly at the level of entertainment/pleasure, can reinforce or weaken habits or traits that affect individual flourishing. Two counterarguments can be raised:
Instrumentalist Reaction: Does Instagram’s mediation matter? For example, if someone decides to take a selfie on a cliff edge, has a significant change occurred? People engaged in risky actions before Instagram; it seems Instagram has just created new opportunities. This question underestimates the mediational power of technology. Each new possibility changes the individual, creating new interests and paths. Instagram has created a new phenomenon: bringing together many people from different places online as witnesses to an event. Massive and instant feedback through live shows and receiving likes and comments can create new motivations and tastes, gradually weakening or strengthening habits related to flourishing.
Relativist Reaction: It may be argued that flourishing is relative; the important thing is psychological satisfaction. But does individual satisfaction suffice? If someone is accustomed to an undesirable situation and is psychologically satisfied, is there no room for constructive criticism or change? The answer seems to be no. Psychologically, a person may be satisfied with a terrible life, which should motivate others to encourage change, not abandonment.
Conclusion
A well-designed ethical technology may still reinforce destructive habits and weaken noble traits, hindering individual flourishing from a virtue ethics perspective. What should be done? The answer must be broader than classical responses. Users should consider “responsible use”: how much daily time to allocate to these platforms? Setting time limits can help. This issue has been addressed under “digital minimalism.” Setting filters for sensitive content is important, but actions can be expanded. Instagram should impose restrictions on pages displaying risky actions. Regulatory policy-making is also useful, but the important point here is that policies should be made under ethical standards and in consultation with experts in technology ethics so that policies do not violate the rights of users.