Instagram is bad for mental health

Is Instagram bad for mental health?

         Today social media is popular, and the users are increasing over years.  People from different age are using social media, even retired people (old people) learn how to use them. People use it every day to read or check news such as reading news from Twitter. Therefore, Instagram is part of people’s daily lives. People who feel lonely and stress use social media in general to express their feeling or themselves to other people; it is kind of helping them to check their feeling. Instagram or other social networking allows users to keep connections with followers, and users are able to share information, photos, videos or stories to friends (followers). Nevertheless, young people are relying on Instagram a lot which is different compare in the past generation where there was not social media. Also, Instagram which a lot people use it overseas to share their pictures and stories to friends, so their friends can comment or like to their pictures. Individuals are spending too much time every day which might affect their health.  Yet not all young people realize it, but they cannot stop been addict to Instagram because using Instagram become a routine to most people; these people may want to become a famous on it. Furthermore, Instagram easily leads people feel that their bodies are not in good shape, so they edit and filters such as black and white on their photos in order to look perfect as other users or followers. For example, I remembered when I was in high school my friends and I were using some of social networks platform like WhatsApp to send pictures and funny videos between each other; yet my mother gave me advice that staying a lot on WhatsApp which we used over phone can affect my eyes and learning from school. However, Instagram is bad for mental health because Instagram causes it users to become addict to it.

            Instagram has many features that are very interest to users such as Instagram story, video post, picture post, messaging and video call to their followers. Also, the users use caption and hashtags, so the followers or no followers are able to see the post, and they may become followers if they like the post.  These features people rely on it a lot because it helps them to communicate other followers. Also, users want to become famous like their favorite actress or actors, so they want to get more followers, like and comments. Nevertheless, some users are focus on fashion which lead to rely on Instagram to check new fashion style that their followers or actress who post fancy dress on Instagram. These users feel they are travelling when they see their followers post when they are on vacation at very beautiful and expensive place that they cannot afford to visit. Users see their followers do a lot interest stuff such as travel on their aircraft which leading them to become jealous to it.  Instagram users are anti-social because they are obsessed about their followers instead of talking with someone outside of internet. For example, if individuals have job interview, they are more likely stress out and feel uncomfortable because they are never having communication professionally with real people face to face such as conversations with some strangers in coffee house, street or they do not have much experience about how they start conversation with strangers or with interviewers. 

Recently, there are many studies show that kids usually spend much time every day in social media to check news about video games, movies or their favorite actors, actress, athletic basketball or soccer teams status which cause them to become addict to social media. These kids may have low performance during a day at school or home because they do not get enough sleep whole night every day, or they do not eat health every day. The reasons people become addict to Instagram because it provides many interest features on it such as users can comment and like onto followers’ post, yet these features convince users stay on it and do not leave it.

Therefore, there are sensitive stuffs on the social media which are inappropriate for children to see it such as violent seen or seen for adult and these seen are not allow around children; for instance, news or stories about some guys who have mental problem, these guys can teach children bad stuff through the Instagram, so then very young children get this attitude or behavior from them. This may not happen a lot, but I cannot imagine if children see sensitive material that are not allow for children what are going to happen to them are they going to be effect or have mental issue?

Parents and schools including teachers should be aware about this situation to those children who addict to Instagram because it is happening a lot to students in modern day; they may notice this issue with teenagers also during high school because they want to have attention on school by having more followers than other students in school. It seems children or students become jealous from other, so they spend a lot of time on Instagram then they become addict to it.

These teenagers are checking their followers on Instagram stories and post picture or video, so they may write comment on their picture post or like it every day. Also, teenagers accept following from strangers account, sometimes these strangers might be dangerous to them because they can affect users’ behaviors which may lead to teens to act aggressive toward other or these accounts are fake not real users. These fake accounts may hacker or steel users account or any information; then, these hackers ask users to pay money to them in order to give them back their account or personal information which are painful to these users to stay calm and to hold this situation.

Addiction to Instagram is very common in modern day, people spends hours on it which may these people can be affect their mental health. As most people know one of the reason that people become addict to Instagram because they are interest see what their favorite actress news or they feel bored. In other word, to be addicted to Instagram is similar to who are addicted to drugs or alcohol.  For instance, every day these individuals are posting new picture and sharing video story on Instagram sometimes to impress their friends or they want to get million follow in Instagram it is seen like competition about who have more follow than other. In the article “If We’re All So Sick of You, Facebook, Why Can’t We Quit You?”  the author claims that “daily active… well that covers everyone from the status-updating, picture-posting addict to the time-strapped user who, say, quickly checks her Facebook index every morning as matter of habit” (Dumenco, 408). In other words, being active on social media such as Instagram become a routine to amount of people who check, change status or posting pictures on Instagram daily in the morning or anytime even if they are at work or school. It is similar to people who are addicted  to drugs or alcohol they cannot stop to use it or quit.

In the article “In the Digital Age, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” he explains that many people rely on the internet to manage a great deal of their social lives, so they share too much personal information” (Rodriguez, 416). In other hand, people share their personal information on social network in order to be more social, yet there are bad people who can use other personal information against them. Also, there are amount of people who make their Instagram accounts non-private which can put them in danger because not all people on Instagram are going to be nice to you.

Not all people will have the same view about social media that cause people to have mental issue with their health, they claim that social media can help people to communicate with other people who live far from them easily or to read news instead of reading it from papers.
People can find every type of news: sports, news overseas, technologies, movies, TV shows, medical stuff or new video games coming soon.  For example, in the past some people who live far from their home find it is hard to contact family and friends back home, but now people can contact them or showing their relative including friends and family the new status through Instagram by putting stories or pictures of what they are doing through daily or weekly just to keep them on budge. Moreover, family and close friends are able to comment on the post and message them through the Instagram because this platform gives people opportunity to interact with friends and family, then, people will not feel very warred about their sons or daughters who live or study aboard. Also, it is routine to those people may upload many pictures and stories daily in order to convince other to follow them. They probably have a chance to become famous like celebrities from Hollywood or soccer player who have more than million followers; for example, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson who has over one hundred million followers through Instagram.

But it is clear that Instagram still lead people to have pain and issue with mental health, and it can drive people crazy specially those who do not get sleep and leave it even for just small moment of hours or minutes, so those people hold their smartphones everywhere and all the time. Instagram is one of most popular social media websites or applications that many people are using it, and they depend on it a lot today to have conversations between each other from different part of the world, so individual can show friends that he or she is on good shape. This conversation through the Instagram is not perfect as much people know because usually this conversation is over text not over speak like real need to have skill. There are couple of reasons why these people are not talking with new people: one is these people feel scare of strangers, secure or shy to talk to them. For example, when amount of new international students meets American students or other international students, they stay salient and look into their phones because they are stress out when they enter new places. Also, they do not know how to start conversation with others.  It seems students prefer to stay on Instagram or other social media platform because new generation use it a lot and the users are growing very fast.

Overall, Instagram is affecting people’s mental health which is very bad those people who are addicted to Instagram and should limit their time using it.  As people are not able minimize their time of using Instagram, they are probably going to be effect on mental health more. Someone will argue that we cannot stop using Instagram since social media is gathering many stuff and features that make life easier for users to see interest material on it such as reading news of sports, movies or video games, yet they are wrong people can spend less time on Instagram if they can control themselves such as leaving phone or internet for hours.  There are some beneficial you can do instead of using Instagram; for example, going to gym, exercising outdoor like running, reading or even hangout with your family and close friends, these might help people to avoid Instagram for couple hours, keeping relationship with family and health by avoiding internet. Furthermore, changing routine every day or weekly is very helpful to quit of wasting time on the Instagram or other social media platform which a lot of people use it in present day.  Less using internet will have benefit to our society; people will be more creative and healthy.  

Work Cited:

Rodriguez, Salvador. “In the Digital Age, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” Signs of Life in The USA, edited by Sonia Massik and Jack Solomon, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016, pp. 415–417.

Dumenco, Simon. “If We’re All So Sick of You, Facebook, Why Can’t We Quit You?” Signs of Life in The USA, edited by Sonia Massik and Jack Solomon, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016, pp. 407–409.