Is Instagram hurting your mental health? A study by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) seems to point in that direction. In their study #StatusOfMind, the RSPH wanted to see what kinds of positive and negative effects social media had and has on the health of young people. 1500 individuals ages 14-24 were surveyed by the RSPH for this study. The results showed that while some apps were seen as more positive than others, it was clear that the app associated with the most negative consequences was Instagram. Some of these negative consequences include poorer sleeping habits, issues with body image, and increased "FOMO".
Instagram is described on its website as "a community of more than 600 million who capture and share the world's moments on [Instagram]." I find this to be a surprisingly accurate description for this study's results, despite its obvious vagueness; by capturing the world's moments on Instagram, people will not just be capturing the good perspectives in the world, but also the negative ones. And some of these negative perspectives are inevitably that of the world's unrealistic standards and unhealthy ways of coping with the negativity.
It's clear that Instagram's image-based community is very focused on appearance by its very definition. In addition, a list of the 100 most popular hashtags on Instagram show some pretty obvious signs of Instagram's focus as well. It turns out that #beautiful, #cute, and #selfie are all within the top 15 most-searchable terms. Research has already been done on selfies and how they are associated with lower self-esteem, addictive behavior, and narcissistic tendencies. The fact that we place so much emphasis on beauty and the "perfect look" is just further perpetuated by websites like Instagram that make images of beauty (many of which have gone through numerous edits and filters) an unhealthy focus.
This study by the RSPH is only driving a point home that many of us are well-aware of: appearances are everything in our society, which will take a toll on our mental health when we continuously embrace them. That's why the RSPH is asking social media sites like Instagram to take a stand against the mental health problems that people are facing from heavy consumption of these sites. For instance, the RSPH recommends pop-up warnings that mention the consequences of overuse of social media. They've also suggested that photos that have been manipulated in some way be tagged as such.
The promotion of mental health and safety in conjunction with the advising against too much social media usage is not a message to take lightly. I think we all know just how addicting social media can be. So if that addictiveness means overusing these sites leads to poorer mental health, we need to readjust our priorities from having the most likes on Instagram to taking care of our bodies and our minds and making time for the real world. And no, Instagram is not the real world.
