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Depression, anxiety, loneliness, disturbed perception of one’s own body – this is a side effect of communing with Instagram. From social media, it is the most destructive factor for the psyche. Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter are ruining it less spectacularly. And only YouTube comes out unscathed because it can be therapeutic. BBC News informs about it referring to the results of British research by the Royal Society for Public Health.
– Instagram is the bane of my patients. Looking only from the perspective of a psychotherapist, I would dream of it being liquidated – says Katarzyna Kucewicz, a psychologist. – Although it allows you to capture and freeze moments, share memories with others, it has one big drawback: its users apply filters to photos, slim down their already slender bodies, add muscles that they do not have in real life. This retouching distorts our aesthetics. A sick pursuit of perfection may end up in a lack of self-confidence, depression, and a desire for isolation – adds the psychologist.
Although no research on their psyche has been carried out among its Polish users, it can be suspected that they would fall out similarly to the British ones.
Scientists from the Royal Society for Public Health lost almost 14 people. They were all aged 24-90. This age group was selected for the study because over XNUMX percent of young people use social media. The respondents answered questions about the most popular of them (YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter). They had to describe how they felt after spending a certain amount of time using each of them. Tightness was about capturing how often and to what extent negative feelings appear – anxiety, depressed mood, alienation, loneliness, and a decrease in self-esteem. The infamous ranking was won by Instagram, a medium dedicated mainly to displaying photos. Almost all Instagram users only show these perfect snippets of their lives, and even if the frames are missing something about perfection, you can always use a filter to tune up the reality. – It makes people watching them feel not only jealous, but even depressed. They begin to perceive their own world as gray, boring and uninteresting. People tend to compare themselves with others. Although it’s pointless and usually only serves to self-depreciate. And comparing your reflection in the mirror to the faces of people presented on Instagram is a guarantee of bad mood. We all know that the photos are filtered, that they have been retouched, and that faces and bodies are lit well before being photographed. Our mind registers the image and immediately starts the comparison, explains Katarzyna Kucewicz. – Young people in particular can become victims of Instagram. They build a vision of a world where everyone has a flawless complexion, wears size zero clothes and drinks kale juice every day. And this is not anyone’s life! – adds the psychologist.
The BBC cites the example of a twenty-year-old woman who became depressed four years ago when she became a social media user as evidence of the destructive effects of social media. At that time, she isolated herself from her friends in real life, spent her free time on the Internet and communicated mainly with friends she met on the Internet. She looked for support in them, but seeing how great they look in the pictures made her even worse mentally. Because it looked bland compared to them. So at the age of 19, she experienced another nervous breakdown. Today, a year later, he feels better. Total honesty turned out to be the cure for her. She began to share her problems online. People in similar condition contacted her, they gave each other support. Some of these contacts turned into real.
Finally, let’s return for a moment to the results of the British research. Snapchat is right behind Instagram in the infamous ranking. Third – the last place on the destructive podium was taken by Facebook, the fourth was Twitter. YouTube was the last one, which means it’s quite psychologically friendly.
Shirley Cramer of the Royal Society for Public Health, who led the study, says that despite the results, she believes that social media, through which people communicate with each other, make new friends, exchange photos and videos, play a positive role. The problem, however, is that the photos we show there are selected in terms of their attractiveness. And although we know about it theoretically … well, only theoretically. And our emotions don’t do anything about it. Katarzyna Kucewicz: “We are constructed in such a way that we have a tendency to distorted thinking, eg to idealization, that is to see the grass in our neighbor as greener. The one at the “neighbor” on Instagram, even if it was turquoise from the filter, should not strip us of common sense.
5 commandments for safe use of Instarama *
1. Children under 16 should not have Instagram at all or use it with parents who will explain the differences between real and what is presented in the picture on an ongoing basis.
2. If we follow people who make us complex – let’s stop doing it. Let’s not torture ourselves with photos of a footballer’s famous wife if she makes us feel guilty and not motivated to play sports. Let’s protect our well-being!
3. Remember that Instagram is a festival of vanity and self-promotion. We will not find any photos in which someone looks ugly and spends time in uninteresting surroundings. A lot of people make money by having perfect photos. Although even in the Maldives it may not be sunny and it may rain.
4. Instead of taking pictures, maybe it is worth observing reality here and now? To absorb what surrounds us, for ourselves, without thinking what we can show to others?
5. Let’s not let the Instagram likes’ hearts affect our self-esteem. Whether there are a thousand or only one – self-esteem should be constant and built on a solid foundation – the internal conviction that we are okay, regardless of whether we use the filter when publishing a photo on Instagram.
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Developed by Katarzyna Kucewicz, a psychologist