By Ayelen Hamity, AnyBody Argentina team member

It's one in the morning, a Tuesday, and my face is stained with an angelic luminous blue - the reflection of my cell phone and its faithful companion - Instagram. My Instagram account is relatively chaotic in content. I follow friends and family, models, philosophy accounts, photography, feminists, accounts that teach exercise routines, how to cook, how to make desserts. . . If the only thing that remains when I die is my Instagram account, my death certificate will read 'death by hysteria'. Aside from the chaos of its content, Instagram is an application that I use quite often: before going to sleep, when I wake up, and in those 'dead' moments of the day. Honestly, I never saw it as a problem – in fact – Instagram is my voyeuristic friend: a window to the world.

One day, Google News showed me the dark side of my friend, with a heading that read:

'Looking at Instagram for only 30 minutes a day can wreck your body image.'

What?

I have no idea how much time I spend on Instagram, but this news led me to explore the application a little more closely. What effect can Instagram have on mental health, and specifically, what effect can it have on my relationship with my own body? Before I could answer those questions, I reviewed the basics:

By Meg Finney, Endangered Bodies member

The Italian government recently banned plastic surgery for anyone under 18 years old, and they are not the only country to consider such precautions. In Italy, this legislation has been talked about for several years, specifically in terms of breast augmentation. Recently after a recall in France for breast implants containing carcinogens, Italy passed the ban as reported on Televisia.com (2012). Officially, the law bans plastic surgery for aesthetic purposes for anyone under 18, unless needed for medical purposes. Any surgeons found in violation of the law will face a fine of 20,000 euros and a three-month suspension.