Anxiety is becoming more and more of a problem in the United States, especially in young adults. According to the National Survey of Children’s Health, anxiety in teenagers rose 20% from 2007 to 2012. More recently, according to a Washington Post article from 2018, anxiety is the number one mental health problem in the American young generation. A proposed reason for this increase in anxiety disorder is that of social media. The Pew Research Center reported in April of this year that 67% of 18 to 29 year olds use Instagram. That’s a lot of people!

The chart below displays the increase in Instagram use over time, according to the Pew Research Center.

*There is not sufficient information for the years missing on the graph, but the rise in usage can still be seen.

And it’s not just anxiety that is arising from this increase in social media usage. In conjunction with this information, I found that the number of adults ages 18 to 25 reporting mental health symptoms has increased 63% from 2009 to 2017, according to Science Daily. There is not currently an exact link to connect mental health and the rise of social media, but that does not negate the correlation between the two. A study of 1,787 19-32 year-old Americans was conducted, and their social media usage was observed over time. The study showed that individuals that visited social media sites at least 58 times a week were 3 times more likely to feel isolated socially (compared to individuals who only used social media less than 9 times a week). 

So, social media is affecting your brain. What should you do? According to the National Center for Health Research, there are quite a few things you can do in order to combat Instagram’s effects.

• Turn off notifications for specific apps. Being overcrowded with information isn’t a good thing.
• If an app makes you feel bad about yourself, delete it.
• Use a real alarm clock so you feel less inclined to reach for your phone first thing in the morning.
• Once in a while, have a detox from social media for a day.
• Put your phone by the door when you come home so you spend more time with your family.

 

Instagram recently removed the display of the number of likes an individual receives from their platform. This was in their newest update after complaints of problems arising with body image issues and bullying due to the app, which both can relate to mental health issues. Celebrities such as Gigi Hadid, Madison Beer, Hailey Bieber, and Kaia Gerber, along with other famous people, have been seen with a phone case that reads, “Social media seriously harms your mental health.” Maybe actions like those of these individuals prompted Instagram to remove likes, as they have a lot of influence in the social media realm. It’s hard to gauge whether this measure will help with mental health issues in the future; only time will tell.

I decided to send out a Google Form to Washington and Lee students I know in order to find out whether they like the change Instagram made, and why or why not (a link to the original survey can be found here). I created six reasons to choose from, but left an “other” fill in the blank answer, just in case people didn’t feel as if the proposed answers were accurate. A total of 32 individuals ended up responding, with somewhat inconclusive answers. The results are shown below.

It surprised me that the votes were split half yes and half no; I thought almost everyone would respond yes. The “Why or why not?” question helped me to understand people’s reasoning a little more. The two most frequently chosen options were “I like to see how many likes I get compared to others” and “I am curious to see how many likes others receive,” which were each 15.6% of the total votes.

It’s funny to me that an electronic numerical value, “likes,” can have such a large impact on the way people view themselves, or others. It’s no wonder then as to why social media does have an impact on mental heath, as we’re giving it control of our emotions with a digital construct of value. We have constructed an alternate reality where we put our best foot, and only our best foot, forward, where we refuse to let the bad slip through the cracks of our seemingly-perfect lives. Where the value we’re given as human beings is determined by others, where your follower count is more important than the quality of your followers. What we fail to realize is that this alternate reality is a facade. That everyone wants the same thing: to be liked (literally and metaphorically). That everyone is equal and validated, no matter how many followers or likes they have. That everyone is hiding something sad or “not insta-worthy.”

Remember, “social media seriously harms your mental health” the next time you scroll.

Works Cited

American Psychological Association. “Mental Health Issues Increased Significantly in Young Adults over Last Decade.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 15 Mar. 2019, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190315110908.htm.

Jennings, Rebecca. “Removing Likes Won’t Fix Instagram’s Biggest Problem.” Vox, Vox, 2 Dec. 2019, www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/12/2/20983760/instagram-removing-likes-authenticity.

McCarthy, Claire. “Anxiety in Teens Is Rising: What’s Going On?” HealthyChildren.org, 20 Nov. 2019, www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/emotional-problems/Pages/Anxiety-Disorders.aspx.

Mir, Elina, and Caroline Novas. “Social Media and Adolescents’ and Young Adults’ Mental Health.” National Center for Health Research, 17 Oct. 2018, www.center4research.org/social-media-affects-mental-health/.

Nutt, Amy. “Why Kids and Teens May Face Far More Anxiety These Days.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 30 Mar. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/05/10/why-kids-and-teens-may-face-far-more-anxiety-these-days/.

Perrin, Andrew, and Monica Anderson. “Share of U.S. Adults Using Social Media, Including Facebook, Is Mostly Unchanged since 2018.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 10 Apr. 2019, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/.