The toll Instagram can take on mental health
I would consider myself a confident person.
But if you were to see the effort I go through before posting a picture on Instagram, you would probably not agree. It’s embarrassing for me to share this, but if I don’t, you wouldn’t understand just how dangerous Instagram can be.
My routine typically starts with me and my friends or little sister at an event or downtown; anywhere that is a place of interest. We find our picture perfect spot, and we begin taking photos. After taking anywhere from 25 to 250 photos at every possible angle, we evaluate them. If they’re good, we move on to the next location or leave, and if they’re bad, we start over. The next few minutes consist of us going through each photo and favoriting the ones we like best. When judging the quality of a photo, we have to make sure that we look good, the location looks good, and if there are other people in it, they look good. After we choose our top contenders, the editing process begins. This process varies depending the user. Some people will just put their photo in VSCO and add good filter to it, but others will manipulate it in Perfect360 or FaceTune. I’ve done some harmless edits: whitened my teeth, edited out a sign in the background and added some cool filters. But I’ve also made some edits that have crossed a line: enlarged my eyes, softened my skin and played with the sizes of my arms and legs. Now, I might have lost you there. But unfortunately, this is normal. I know people who make all of these edits, and more. After making some edits, I’ll compare photos and choose my top three or five. Next, I’ll send them to select people to get their opinions. It’s important to send the photos to someone who will be honest with you and not let you post a picture where you look bad.
After looking at the same picture nearly one hundred times, I usually have a headache by then and have also chosen my picture. Now comes the caption. When generating a caption, it’s important to make it sound effortless; like you didn’t try hard. This can be the hardest part for many users. After your caption is written, you can play around with the location and the people tagged before posting. After posting, many users will throw their phone across the room, or sometimes even delete the Instagram app. It can be stressful to see who is liking and commenting on your photo in the moment. Unfortunately, once the picture is posted, the stress is not over. Now, you have to make sure this post got more likes than your last post, and your followers are all commenting nice things. I have some friends that will text in our friend groupchat right after they post saying “posted” so we can all go like and comment on it. I have other friends that will delete posts because they didn’t get enough likes. I even have friends that will track to see if their followers unfollow them after they post. Why are young people putting so much effort into this?
In the age of influencers, everyone wants to be an Instagram model with branded posts and a flawless body. Instagram has evolved from an app where you post pictures of yourself to everyone’s personal portfolio of perfect pictures. Influencers have set an example for what regular people should post, and even in attempts to “make Instagram casual again,” so many people continue to cultivate their feed to perfection. In fact, the first “Instagram vs. reality” meme was created in 2012, two years after the app launched, proving that it has always been a place to post your best moments. This problem has escalated to the point where people need to make “finstas” just to show who they really are.
There’s pressure on everyone on Instagram: normal people have pressure to live up to the standard of perfection set by influencers, and influencers have pressure to continue being perfect. No wonder people are developing body image insecurities and mental health problems. The sad thing is, this is a normal part of Instagram. Everyone is used to rating people based on a number of likes and then using that number as a measure of their worth.
Debbie Contreras-Tadych, licensed psychologist in the Counseling Center said students come in all the time to talk about social media.
She said a student recently told her she is planning to rush a sorority next semester.
“During our discussion about this, she commented that each sorority looks at all the social media accounts of the students rushing and rates them for fit into their specific organization,” Contreras-Tadych said. “I had not heard of this before, but if it is true, think of the added pressure that this would cause.”
Contreras-Tadych said she would imagine that the number of followers and the number of likes received on posts would play into how one’s profile is perceived.
“There is a lot of pressure out there to fit in, to connect with others and to feel a part of things,” Contreras-Tadych said. “Nowadays students don’t only have to do that in person, but also on their social media accounts, as social media has become such an important part of our daily lives.”
Contreras-Tadych said this pressure comes from a need for young adults to document everything they do, post it and wait for likes and comments to come in.
“Receiving a large number of likes can be reinforcing to students that they are popular and are being noticed,” Contreras-Tadych said. “Conversely, not receiving a large number of likes can be demoralizing, as students may interpret this as not being liked or not being popular enough.”
Contreras-Tadych said that when someone does not receive the response they were hoping for, self-esteem and self-worth can be impacted which can manifest into symptoms of anxiety, depression and negative body image.
According to a recent survey of 1,500 teens and young adults, Instagram has been named the worst social media network for mental health and wellbeing, as it is linked to high levels of anxiety, depression, negative body image, bullying, loneliness and FOMO, or the “fear of missing out.”
After learning more about Instagram’s initiative to remove likes, Contreras-Tadych said she thinks it’s a step in the right direction, in terms of working to improve mental health and body image issues, but it is not a solution to the problem.
While no one can see the number of likes on a photo, you can still see who has liked a photo.
While this will perhaps remove some potential embarrassment from others not seeing that a given post received a small number of likes, the person who posted will still see who liked their post, and will still therefore be able to internalize how well, or not well, their post was received, Contreras-Tadych said.
“I do not think that this alone will completely solve the problem, but I do think it will help,” Contreras-Tadych said. “It will be interesting to hear the response once this is implemented completely. Only then will we be able to gauge the true effectiveness.”
Contreras-Tadych recommended that Instagram should consider permanently removing the like feature.
“I think that permanently removing the like feature would be a positive step in helping address the downside and negative impact that social media can have on a person’s mental health,” Contreras-Tadych.
