“Instagram is a site that provides freedom to everyone and anyone searching for attention," stated Ashley McCarthy, a senior at Plainfield High School. The site was created October 6, 2010. The purpose of creating Instagram was to give the users of the site the opportunity to share their pictures and videos with others. The site also enables users to share the pictures and videos onto other sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and so on. It also gives professional photographers the chance to confine their creations into a square border. The intended target audience for Instagram is photographers or those who enjoy the thrill of picture taking and have the desire to share their creativity. This site is also very popular among those who are curious; in example, females who wish to receive compliments based upon their looks. The most beneficial aspect of the site is that it is not only intended for professional photographers, but also those who are not. Instagram enables users to express themselves, comment openly, and post whatever they desire without the pressure of being picture perfect.

Instagram provides its users with a way to explore their curiosity and share their creativity, giving them the opportunity to express themselves better. By Instagram allowing users to do so, it enables them to promote their self confidence. One common way that Instagram users promote their confidence is by taking a “selfie." A selfie is a picture of oneself taken by his or herself with a smartphone, camera, or webcam and is then shared through social media. “If I ask myself why I occasionally take selfies, I’d say it’s because it’s a fun way to capture a moment with a friend, or to show my friends what I’m doing. But that’s not really true. If I ask myself really honestly, I’d say it’s part of showing everyone Brand Radhika.”, states Radhika Sanghani from The Telegraph. Selfies are taken because it determines how “hot” one teen may be. Selfies and the attention given by them boost self confidence, especially in girls, to make them feel more beautiful. It is also a way in which teens try to define themselves by testing out a plethora of different personalities to see what fits best. It gives adolescence the freedom they need in order to find themselves while struggling to cope with that awkward stage of their life. Although the site has been proven to boost an individual’s self esteem, it can also be harmful to one’s thoughts and self confidence.

Instagram also gives followers and even non-followers the opportunity to comment openly on one’s pictures. Even though there are cases where comments can be positive, it is the negative comments that affect one’s self esteem the most. “Negative comments from people are what seem to stick with me the most," states McCarthy “I feel that Instagram alone has an obsessive amount of judgment, which I find very degrading." McCarthy is one person of many who remembers the negatives more than the positives, not because she has a negative mindset, but simply because of psychology. Live Science states that details you remember about a negative event are more likely to be accurate than that of a positive one. This is possible due to our emotional reactions that occur during an event, which, in turn, make it easier to recall a memory. The comments that people make can affect the self esteem of a teen negatively, and later lead them to have emotional problems in their adult life. Open comments can lead users to question their appearance, especially when it comes to females.

Unfortunately, another function that Instagram contains is its ability to give users the right to post promiscuous pictures. Due to the fact that users are also able to post freely, it allows them to portray their own self-image towards others. This is especially a problem for young teenage girls who want to appear sexy in the eyes of young men. However, due to the fact that these girls are still very young, they tend to mistake sexy for slutty very easily. Pew Research not only found that females use every major social media channel more than males, but that 20 percent of females use Instagram versus 17 percent of males, (ADWeek). Women use these sites, such as Instagram, the most because it revolves around the ideals of attention and affection. This is also where filters and the beauty of Photoshop will come into play to remove any imperfections one might see about their pictures. One will change their photos in any way they wish all to receive “likes” by friends, or even random people. The problem with this is that many people will take advantage of the tools to the point that they are unrecognizable in person. I remember vividly one girl in my high school last year who would receive a majority of 200 or more likes on her profile, but in person she would look nothing close to how her pictures appeared. At this point, users begin to receive the label “Catfish," or someone who changes their looks to receive attention. What users do not realize is that a picture is worth a thousand words. You can give yourself a reputation without the intention of ever meaning to. Of course, all social media have their positives and negatives. It is all just a matter of who receives what the most; relatively females versus the male population.

Social media contains a source of power that can overwhelm any individual associated with it. It can be the icing on the confidence cake or the reason one may fall apart. However you may use Instagram, or any other social media site, just make sure to keep a careful eye and think twice before you share.