Digital Wellness
February 7, 2020
Instagram & Mental Well-Being
Instagram is a fun, photo-heavy social media platform. Everyone’s photography game leveled up when Instagram began. Now over 1 billion people use Instagram every month and 500 million scroll through on a daily basis, with 53% of those users identifying as women (Statista, 2019; Aslam, 2020). In the journal article, Exploring the relationship between frequency of Instagram use, exposure to idealized images, and psychological well-being in women, by researchers, Mary Sherlock and Danielle L. Wagstaff of the Federation University in Australia, discuss Instagram’s negative effects on the mental well-being of women. Within the article, the authors highlight the ‘social comparison theory’ which essentially “centers on the belief that individuals have an internal drive to gain accurate self-evaluations and do so by engaging in upward social comparisons,” (people whom they think are better than them), “or downward social comparisons,”(people whom they think are inferior to themselves) (Sherlock & Wagstaff, 2019). The article goes on to explain how we find our “social and personal worth” by comparing ourselves to others on social media which can have negative effects when people are only highlighting the best parts of their lives.
Another important topic the authors touch on is how Instagram can harm body image and aid in developing eating disorders or disordered eating in general. One example of this is the craze of the hashtag “#fitspo” which is essentially fitness inspiration that consists of fit people showing off their bodies. The hashtag feature on Instagram helps users search for different photos and topics that are tagged using certain hashtags. The ‘fitspo’ hashtag is said to be used for motivating women to live healthier lifestyles. Yet, as the authors point out, the photos contain mainly incredibly fit and ultra-thin women. Bodies that are not easily attainable and aren’t typical results, even if one lives a relatively healthy lifestyle. Setting an unrealistic and impossible beauty standard.
Since most of the research found regarding the relationship between social media and women’s psychological well-being is based on Facebook, they decided to conduct their own study to further determine Instagram’s role. The study found that spending a lot of time on Instagram can cause psychological distress like depression, anxiety, lessen self-esteem, negative body image, appearance anxiety and make social comparison worse (2019).
I really connected to this article. I don’t think I realized how much I actually used Instagram and the effects it’s been having on my own personal well-being, as well as, the dark side of social media until I read this article and the other research I did regarding digital wellness. Things that I’ve been struggling with such as productivity, procrastination, creativity blocks and just a general funk at where I’m at in life is probably because of my social media usage, particularly Instagram. There are so many pretty pictures and fun things people are doing on Instagram which is really easy to get caught up in, wishing you lived the life seemingly do. I almost bought a van and traveled the country, because of how fun it looks in people’s Instagram feeds. Luckily, a couple of friends did it before me and helped bring me back to reality. It reminded me how much I hate sitting in long car rides and how expensive gas is, things they don’t show you in pictures. Probably because those photos won’t get that many likes. The dark side to Instagram, or social media in general, I believe can be especially detrimental to people already struggling with their mental and emotional well-being. Therefore, it’s important to be mindful of your social media use. Some ideas that I want to apply to my digital life are setting time limits on social media and not checking it first thing in the morning or scrolling through the last hour before bed. I plan to create new routines so that I run to social media when I need a quick pick me up of pretty pictures. Like going for more walks or bike rides, turning on the music or an audiobook to get the day started and winding down with an actual book made out of paper. Instagram and its parent companies’ whole goal is to suck us in and keep us scrolling. Let’s take control of our digital wellness and aim to create more balance.
Sherlock, M. & Wagstaff, D.L. (2019). Exploring the relationship between frequency of Instagram use, exposure to idealized images, and psychological well-being in women. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(4), 482-490. https://doi-org.leo.lib.unomaha.edu/10.1037/ppm0000182
Statista. (2019). Distribution of Instagram users in the United States as of November 2019, by gender. https://www-statista-com.leo.lib.unomaha.edu/statistics/530498/instagram-users-in-the-us-by-gender/
Aslam, S. (2020). Instagram by the numbers: Stats, demographics & fun facts. https://www.omnicoreagency.com/instagram-statistics/
