Undoubtedly, Instagram has been one of the most popular and influential social media among teenagers around the globe. More than 40% of Instagram’s users are 22 years old and younger, and about 22 million teenagers log onto this platform in the US every day. People can share their lives and thoughts on the platform by posting their self-made gorgeous photos and videos, and make connections with other users without boundaries. However, as the networking getting “too large”, more and more mental health issues correlated with this app have been reported.
According to a slide presentation posted to Facebook’s internal message board, “32% of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse,” indicating that the comparison in photos, number of likes, or followers have huge power to shape teenagers’ values and thus change how they view themselves. In more extreme cases, among teenagers who reported suicidal thoughts, 13% of British users and 6% of American users traced the desire to harm themselves to Instagram.
Two surveys mentioned in the 2019 Instagram slide presentation called “Teen Mental Health Deep Dive” pointed out what teens think when it came to mental health and Instagram. One survey investigated several feelings people think that start on the app. Among 565 and 557 participants from the US and UK, respectively, there are four feelings that more than 25% of people reported: “having to create perfect image”, “not attractive”, “don’t have enough money”, and “don’t have enough friends”. Another research done by one thousand participants from US and UK, respectively, even showed that, “one in five teens say that Instagram makes them feel worse about themselves, with UK girls most negative.”
The problems from Instagram are so obvious that experts have found countless real-world evidence to prove. Though Facebook spokesperson said that the company welcomed collaborative research with external researchers on studies related to these issues, however, “Facebook’s answers were so evasive—failing to even respond to all our questions—that they really raise questions about what Facebook might be hiding,” Sen. Blumenthal said in an email. As Jean Twenge, a professor in psychology at San Diego State University who published a finding that social media is harmful to some kids, once said, “If you believe that R.J. Reynolds should have been more truthful about the link between smoking and lung cancer, then you should probably believe that Facebook should be more upfront about links to depression among teen girls.”