Instagram: The Catalyst to the Mental Health Crisis in Today’s Youth 

The rise of social media has affected its users in many ways. Not only has social media brought people and communities closer together, it has torn people apart. Instagram, one of many social media platforms, has assisted many creators in their rise to the social-media spotlight, and, therefore, created an outlet for artistry; however, many artists who have large followings are still struggling to make it on art alone. Instagram does not just affect artists, however, it has also contributed greatly to the decreasing mental health of teens and young adults across the globe and can affect the way people present themselves. 

           Instagram was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, released to iOS—Apple’s operating system—on October 6, 2010, and, later, to Android in April 2012 (“Instagram”). Instagram allows users to upload pictures, videos (up to a minute on a user’s page; IGTV, longer than a minute; or Reel, a fifteen second video to music or voiceover). Instagram has helped introduce many artists to the world—including makeup artist and CoverGirl’s first Cover Boy, James Charles (Safronova). 

           Artists and businesses on Instagram have the ability to make their profile a business profile. This helps enable artists to connect an online shop to their profile for their followers to find and interact with easily. LA Times found that some artists are not only selling work via Instagram, but also receiving show requests from those who have found the artist’s work via social media—including “’galleries and curators,’” according to interviewee Laura Rokas, a drawing artist, painter, sculptor, and weaver. The app has also helped artists grow their following across the globe (Lien). 

           Although artists have the ability to create and be discovered via Instagram, the social media platform has also created difficulty for artists who are less likely to engage with their audience on a regular basis. NPR interviewed artist Pavana Reddy, a poet, who currently has 93.7 thousand followers on Instagram. According to NPR, although Reddy is able to sell books and gain book deals via Instagram, Reddy is still working as a barista in order to pay her bills (Sanders). To maintain or grow the following these artists have, as Sam Sanders of NPR stated, they have to consistently put out what their audience wants. In other words, many artists are unable to post honest and raw images of their life, or they lose followers (Sanders).  

           This is not the only scenario in which users of Instagram have felt they needed to be extremely active on the app: a survey conducted by the Royal Society for Public Health found 91 percent of 16 to 24-year-olds use social media. This use of social media, specifically Instagram, has led to what is called the fear of missing out, also known as FOMO. According to the RSPH, “The sharing of photos and videos on social media means that young people are experiencing a practically endless stream of others’ experiences that can potentially fuel feelings that they are missing out on life.” The study also found this fear is “robustly linked to higher levels of social media engagement.” Because teens are feeling as though they are missing out on the experiences of others, they are becoming more active on social media in an attempt to remedy the feeling of anxiety they are linking to being unable to join in the activities others are posting about. 

           Body image has been greatly affected by Instagram. Social media, according to BBC, “does appear to be correlated with body image concerns.” This claim is backed up by twenty papers published in 2016 (Oakes). These papers found “photo-based activities,” such as scrolling through social media based on photo and video posts (i.e., Instagram, Facebook, etcetera) were a specific concern when it came to intensified negative thoughts about one’s body.  

           An anonymous young adult (aged 20-24) from Northern Ireland told the RSPH, “Instagram easily makes girls and women feel as if their bodies aren’t good enough as people add filters and edit their pictures in order for them to look ‘perfect’.” BBC notes a survey conducted with 227 female university students who reported comparing their appearance negatively with peers and celebrities, something they reportedly do not do with family’s photos and posts (Oakes). Laci Green, a YouTube health vlogger—video blogger—told CNN, “platforms like Instagram and Facebook present highly curated versions of the people we know and the world around us. It is easy for our perspective of reality to become distorted” (Fox).  

           This image Laci Green was referring to is being fed to teens and young adults by social media influencers they love and hold in high regard. There are many influencers known for using Facetune—an app to edit photos—or Photoshop to edit out blemishes, lessen prominent features, and change body shapes. Some influencers, such as James Charles, previously mentioned, are open about using these apps and tell their audience it is okay to want to make something look brighter or more defined, but they don’t change the shape of their face or body. Other influencers, however, have been caught using these programs by followers due to distorted backgrounds, including the Kardashian women. Because of this, Dr. Luke Evans MP wrote a Bill that would ensure any digitally altered images changing the physical appearance of anyone in a post would have to be legally labeled. His reason for this is the current mental health crisis revolving around body image and social media (Laws). 

           Facetune and Photoshop introduced something else to social media: changing the way one presents themself to others. Of course, people have been changing themselves around certain groups or communities to look better, interviews are a great example of this, for quite some time. However, the unrealistic expectation image editing has created for teens and young adults is bleeding into everyday life. A report by Girlguiding found 45 percent of girls between 11 and 16 are editing their appearances in images (“Almost Half of Young Girls Regularly Use Filters to Make Themselves Look Better - CBBC Newsround). Body image issues don’t just stay on social media; these edited images show how teens and young adults are seeing themselves outside of their posts—unworthy.  

           Because influencers are editing their images, they are creating an unattainable beauty standard. This standard is being accepted by teens and young adults who are suffering simply because they do not look like what they are seeing on their Instagram feed. Small waists, flawless skin, plump lips, and wide hips—all while being considered slim—are currently being shown to impressionable minds on a daily basis by Instagram and the influencers which make money off the platform.  

           According to Pew Research, 72 percent of U.S. teens who have social media use Instagram, second only to YouTube (Anderson). Social media is constantly in front of young adults and teens, some of the most impressionable years in one’s life. It is unsure what the effects of social media will be long-term, but Instagram is undoubtedly affecting teens and young adults here and now, causing the current mental health crisis among young adults and children.  

           Instagram can be great for marketing, sharing art, and gaining business; but Instagram is currently negatively affecting the minds of the generation which will soon be leading businesses across America. Constant scrolling through social media has resulted in the fear of missing out, leading to an increase in social media use, and that media use is creating body image issues in America's youth.  

 

Works Cited 

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           www.rsph.org.uk/static/uploaded/d125b27c-0b62-41c5-a2c0155a8887cd01.pdf.  

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