Quotation:
“Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression.”
Comment:
Instagram is the app that I have used the longest out of all social media platforms. I got Instagram on my iPad when I was in fifth grade. I saw all my friends and classmates use Instagram and talk about Instagram, so I begged my parents to let me download it. At first, it seems like a carefree app where you can interact with your friends online by posting and commenting on pictures and videos. But the more I used it, it did impact me a little bit at a young age. At my school, there was an anonymous Instagram account made to rate my classmates and I on a scale of 1-10 based on their looks. This is when I slowly started caring about my looks and appearance. Up until that point, I only cared about getting good grades and having fun with my friends and family. The app turned more and more toxic when I was in middle school. Guys were comparing photoshopped models they saw on Instagram to the girls in their class. A lot of girls started to feel self-conscious of their faces and bodies. First, they would see the models and fitness pages on Instagram as inspiration, but the more they were on the app, the more they compared themselves to these models. This can create eating disorders and body dysmorphia. Back then, no one really knew about photoshop and editing, so everyone thought the girls they saw on Instagram were exactly how they looked in real life. I think that nowadays, girls don’t compare themselves to others on Instagram as much as they used to 5-10 years ago. Everyone knows now about the apps that can completely change a person’s body and face with a couple clicks. I believe that more recently, girls are comparing themselves to the girls they see on TikTok more than Instagram. TikTok is rawer and people can’t really edit their bodies and faces before posting a video like they can with Instagram. I also feel like there is a lot more inclusivity in models shown these past 2 years, so girls are starting to feel more confident in their bodies and not just trying to conform to the “beauty standard”.
Question:
What can people do to not compare themselves to the creators they see online?
