How has Instagram contributed to a rise in teenage anxiety and body image issues?
Aaralyn , BSc Psychology and Childhood Studies with Foundation Year
Adaobi , BSc Adult Nursing with Foundation Year
Aaralyn , BSc Psychology and Childhood Studies with Foundation Year
Adaobi , BSc Adult Nursing with Foundation Year
Aaralyn: I am currently studying a foundation year course in Psychology and childhood studies, I personally chose this course because I want be able to specialise in child Therapy. I want to go into this field because psychology as a whole has always intrigued me, it shows us how to understand how people act in the different ways they do and how we aren’t only raised by our families but we are also raised by our environment and by society in a way. I hope to pass my foundation year so i can progress on to my main course in the following years.
I chose to explore this topic because social media is a big part of our lives today and I feel like in everything we do social media is a part of it therefore I felt like it was a very easy question where I had loads of answers to it and doing this research project, I was able to find out more information that I didn’t even know myself and it makes you understand how much influence social media has on us today.
Adaobi: I am a foundation nursing student. I am studying nursing because I have an intense need to care for others and I bring both heart and intention to my studies in hopes to grow into a nurse who not only heals but truly understands.
I chose to explore how Instagram contributes to teenage anxiety and body image issues because I’ve witnessed how powerful social media can be in shaping self-esteem especially among young people. As a Foundation Nursing student, I’m deeply interested in mental and emotional well-being, and this topic felt especially relevant to the kind of holistic care I aspire to provide in my future career. While my work focused on the psychological impacts, I’d also like to emphasise the importance of compassionate education helping young people navigate social media in a healthier, more self-aware way.
Reference list
Beyens, I., Pouwels, J. L., van Driel, I. I., Keijsers, L., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2020). The effect of social media on well-being differs from adolescent to adolescent. Scientific Reports, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67727-7
Chou, H.-T. G., & Edge, N. (2019). “They Are Happier and Having Better Lives than I Am”: The Impact of Using Facebook on Perceptions of Others’ Lives. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 15(2), 117–121. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2011.0324
Fardouly, J., Diedrichs, P. C., Vartanian, L. R., & Halliwell, E. (2015). Social Comparisons on Social media: the Impact of Facebook on Young women’s Body Image Concerns and Mood. Body Image, 13(1), 38–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2014.12.002
Herrman, J. (2019). What if Instagram Got Rid of Likes? International New York Times, NA-NA. https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA595532552&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=22699740&p=AONE&sw=w
Jiang, S., & Ngien, A. (2020). The Effects of Instagram Use, Social Comparison, and Self-Esteem on Social Anxiety: A Survey Study in Singapore. Social Media + Society, 6(2), 1–10. sagepub. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305120912488
Lavis, A., & Winter, R. (2020). Online harms or benefits? An ethnographic analysis of the positives and negatives of peer-support around self-harm on social media. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 61(8), 842–854. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13245
Lang, B., Ahlich, E., Verzijl, C.L., Thompson, J.K. and Rancourt, D. (2019). The role of drive for thinness in the association between weight status misperception and disordered eating. Eating Behaviors, 35, p.101319. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2019.101319.
Maqsood, A., Sangra, S., & Author, C. (2021). The Effect of Snapchat Filters on Self-Image: A Study of Netflix’s “The Social Dilemma.” Global Media Journal -Arabian Edition, 3(3). https://amityuniversity.ae/gmj-ae/journals/2021/8%20Afsah%20Maqsood.pdf
McLean, C.P., Asnaani, A., Litz, B.T. and Hofmann, S.G. (2011). Gender differences in anxiety disorders: Prevalence, course of illness, comorbidity and burden of illness. Journal of Psychiatric Research, [online] 45(8), pp.1027–1035. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2011.03.006.
O’Reilly, M., Dogra, N., Whiteman, N., Hughes, J., Eruyar, S., & Reilly, P. (2018). Is social media bad for mental health and wellbeing? Exploring the perspectives of adolescents. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 23(4), 601–613. Sage Journals. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359104518775154
Cramer, S., & Inkster, B. (2017). Status of Mind: Social media and young people’s mental health. London: Royal Society for Public Health. https://www.rsph.org.uk/our-work/campaigns/status-of-mind.html
Sherman, L. E., Payton, A. A., Hernandez, L. M., Greenfield, P. M., & Dapretto, M. (2016). The Power of the Like in Adolescence: Effects of Peer Influence on Neural and Behavioral Responses to Social Media. Psychological Science, 27(7), 1027–1035. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616645673