One wrong move, one wrong word or clothing malfunction could change your life forever. That is if the faux pas gets posted on Instagram. If you’re a teenager, the situation is worse, hundredfold worse.
As you may have also heard, Middletown students demolished a bathroom when trying to post a video to TikTok last week in response to a viral TikTok social media post.
This social media frenzy comes on the heels of students returning to school, and a year sequestered in their rooms, trying to learn online while managing their social lives, classes, and homework. It comes as no surprise that in a recent survey, over 40 percent of Rhode Island high school students reported high levels of anxiety and depression lasting two weeks or more.
Often, it is external, independent research that points to the allure of social media on impressionable teenage minds as the root of the problem.
What’s different this time is that the unflattering findings of the impact of social media were conducted by Instagram researchers. Here are some of the findings of the Instagram Teen Mental Health Deep Dive, reported in the Wall Street Journal recently.
1. 1 in 3 girls are negatively impacted by the pictures they see while on Instagram.
2. Instagram teen users report that feeling attractive, having the perfect image, and enough money most likely started when they were exposed to Instagram images.
3. 1 in 5 teenagers report that they feel worse after spending time on Instagram. They specifically point to the number of views, likes and followers that weigh on their minds.
4. Teens cite Instagram as playing a central role in the increased anxiety and depression levels.
5. Teens also note the bullying, hate speech and over-sexualizing of girls as commonplace on the platform.
While Instagram is not the only point of entry for teens using social media, it has been reported as more popular than Facebook, and more emotionally scarring than TikTok and Snapchat. Despite negative reports, Instagram executives claim the positive effects of the platform, lauding the site for keeping teens socially engaged and connected but this is contradicted by their own research.
Heightening an already tense situation, Instagram and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced his plans to launch a new Instagram platform for 13-year-old and younger users. At the present, Instagram users must be 13 years old, but anyone who knows adolescents knows that they find ways around the age requirement when they set up their profiles.
In response to the Instagram findings, one Harvard doctor argued that Instagram was more of an anti-social platform than a social one, keeping adolescents glued to their phones instead of interacting with each other face to face.
Social media experts report that part of the most damaging aspects of Instagram, besides the likes and number of followers, is the manipulation of photos that are posted to Instagram along with the ads that are targeted toward teen users, especially girls.
Think of it, a 14-year-old girl sees a manipulated selfie of her friend in a bathing suit and then gets blasted with ads for weight reduction plans and fasting sites. For a young undeveloped mind (brains are not fully developed until age 25), that image of her friend is imprinted in her brain. If the girls are at all unsure of their body image, the feeling intensifies every time they open the Instagram app on their phones. Maladaptive behaviors such as anorexia and bulimia can result along with anxiety, depression and feelings of “not being good enough”.
Other teen social platforms, such as TikTok, are attempting to curb impulsive teenage behavior. For example, if a teenager begins searching through TikTok for video posts about suicide, the site automatically takes users to local suicide prevention sites. But is it enough? I am unconvinced that the potent artificial intelligence algorithms that reinforce clicks and diminish the health and welfare of our teens will continue.
To quell some of the misuses of social media, some professionals are asking for social media and mental health curricula in schools, like the 40 hours student drivers undergo to get their driver’s license. But will it really make a difference? Probably not.
One important action parents can take is to create awareness with their children. After they see their child on social media, for instance, parents can ask them how they feel and if the things they read and saw on social media made them feel good or bad. Don’t stop. Continue asking them how they feel after going on social media. If nothing else children will become more aware of their emotions after immersing themselves in social media.
There are several apps to limit time spent on social media. One of the more popular ones is called Opal. The app asks users a series of questions, such as why they want to limit social media–to save time, be productive, reduce stress or improve sleep, how much time they currently spend and how much time they would like to reduce. At the end, users receive a digital health score along with methods to reduce the time they spend on social media.
Clinicians also recommend that parents of young children wait for as long as possible to purchase phones for their children. Many behaviorists claim that 10-year-olds do not need their own phones and certainly do not need to befriend social media platforms.
Apparently, Zuckerberg disagrees.
Long story short: Parents beware: A new social network is coming to town.
Jamie Lehane is president and CEO of Newport Mental Health in Middletown. Peace of Mind, which is co-written with Sandra Oxx, runs in The Daily News and online at newportri.com.
