Page 18 - IFV Issue 11 November 2023

Today’s Child

iPHONES, iPADS AND iWORRY

BY DR ILSE RUANE

nstagram is a visually-led social media health and wellbeing. While Instagram we feel.
platform where the primary method got points for self-expression and self- Social media is making it impossible to
Iof interaction is double-tapping an identity, it was associated with anxiety, avoid comparing. Researchers are even
image to like it. Posts go viral due to depression, bullying and the fear of calling this the ‘compare and despair’ of
the posts feeding into the dominant missing out (FOMO). Instagram looks Instagram. The typical Instagram user
culture. The app allows users to post their friendly and fun, but: spends most of his/her time observing
photos or videos onto their feed. Photos • users have little control over what they other people and messaging, but not too
or videos are often edited or enhanced seeing; often posting. In other words, users spend
before sharing to gain as many likes as • the pseudo-positivity of Instagram most of their time gathering information
possible. encourages its users to present an about others. As a result, it is nearly
By following the person, you are able attractive image to get maximum impossible not to use this information to
to access their online gallery of photos, followers; compare our lives with others.
provided they have not hidden it from • it presents unrealistic, edited images Teenagers also believe other people
you. and posts that speak directly to teens. have more friends than they really do,
Locations may also be shared, which They quickly forget that people edit based on the number of followers a
opens up all sorts of concerns. Instagram’s their photographs. These can lead to the person has. The teen user may have
algorithm tailormakes feeds for the risk of developing an unhealthy body hundreds or thousands of followers
user based on their previous searches, image. They can also set unrealistic because of the skilful posting they do; in
hashtags and other users they follow. expectations and create feelings of fact, they only really know a handful of
Instagram has three account settings to inadequacy and low self-esteem; those people and are friends with even
choose from: private, business or open. • teens start investing more time online fewer.
The widest net for gaining followers at the expense of communicating and For the teen with fewer followers, the
and ‘friends’ is an open account. But interacting in real life, in sports and in assumption then is that they are less
this also means anyone on the internet friendships; liked, less connected and therefore less
has access to all your posts, photos and • it’s always about looking flawless. It is popular. The seduction comes into play
videos – and, therefore, ultimately has not real; and where the ‘less popular’ teen must create
access to you. • it creates an unreal popularity contest. a post which will get more followers, or
For a teen, the goal of having an they must be more active on Instagram.
Instagram account is to gain the most Compare and despair The idea of “Followers” versus
likes. Some teens go to great lengths to Instagram makes it is easy to compare “Following” is an irony in itself. The goal
gain these likes – but online life isn’t real the number of ‘friends’ you have against is to have more people following you
life. your peers. It is natural to compare. We than who you follow. When this goal is
According to studies, Instagram is the compare ourselves with others in terms looked at objectively, it is ironic. Having
worst social media network for mental of ability, social standing and even how more people following you cannot

16 • Issue 11 2023 • The Villager