Analysis of Effects That Instagram Has on Our Society
There are many consequences Instagram have on society. The main being mental health. Based of a survey conducted throughout all the social media apps Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Youtube; Instagram was rated the worst social media app. Instagram received poor marks for cyber bullying, body image, and FOMO. The most harmful being body image. Instagram was created for the purpose of sharing images and communicating with friends and family. Instagram influencers are basically attractive social media celebrities. Not all influencers are making a positive mark. People are constantly comparing themselves to these Instagram models who are photoshopping their pictures and portraying themselves as having “perfect’ bodies. This creates unrealistic beauty standards and creates feelings of low self esteem and anxiety. Although social actions are being taken like #mentalawarness and #loveyourbody there are thousands of hashtags including #proanorexia. These posts are giving women the idea that they should become anorexic to be more beautiful.
Another major consequence of Instagram is cyber bullying. Information spreads fast on social media networks, allowing rude comments and harassing images to go viral within hours. Instagram also makes it easy to set anonymous profiles, which can be used for trolling. It is very easy for users to post pictures of others without their permission. A trend that has been going around Instagram is a ‘finsta’ is a secret or fake Instagram account that people to post content that is different to the real Instagram account. A ‘finsta’ can also be used to cyberbully others. Users make an account using the victims name and their pictures to make it seem like it’s their account. They are basically acting as that person, whatever they so, do, or post people will believe is the person that are posing as. Instagram gives users the opportunity to post malicious and embarrassing photos. As well as commenting mean and threatening messages on other peoples posts.
However Instagram does have some positive effects. The primary one being activism campaigns. Instagram’s ability to spread information faster has completely changed the way we receive and share information. One of the ways information is spread quickly is by using hashtags. This boosts the amount of people that are likely to see the post.
Two Social Actions that have had a huge effect is #mentalhealthawareness and #lovemybody. Mental health awareness weeks helps raise the awareness of serious mental health problems and how they are affecting millions of people. Mental health awareness week has been around for many years but has only been widely recognized because of the attention from media. Love my body campaign is a huge campaign set up to show women that is alright not to have the perfect body and its normal for women not to look like models. Many brands have participated in the campaign by advertising photoshop using models with all different body types. It has been posted all over Instagram which has capture women of all different ages. With so many photos being posted daily using these hashtags reaches a wider audience. Entire communities have adapted and grown together over social media. This has strengthened many activism campaigns and encouraged supporter to take action. Instagram allows people to organize events which is accessible to everyone. This increase the amount of people that reach the campaigns. This increases the possible effect the campaigns can have.
Another way Instagram promotes positivity is self expression. Social media provides a space to be whoever you want. When struggling with your own identity sometimes experimenting with different looks or personality on Instagram can improve mental health. It can also be a way to seek online support not available offline. It gives individuals a place to express their identity with billions of others. It can be a testing ground for people to explore their identities. In the process it can also create online friendships by finding people who are interested in the same things as you.
