Study: Instagram harmful to teen girls' mental health

Instagram plans to marque changes aft a study revealed however the app affects teen girls' intelligence health.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook — which owns Instagram — has been looking into however the app affects young users.

Researchers recovered that astir a 3rd of teen girls utilizing the app felt atrocious astir their bodies and that Instagram made them consciousness worse.

Instagram says it's looking into ways to discourage users from focusing connected their carnal appearance. One enactment they're considering is to punctual users to look astatine antithetic topics erstwhile they repeatedly presumption contented related to appearance.

Facebook's survey isn't the archetypal to look into the intelligence wellness of teens who usage societal media. Jean Twenge started researching however societal media affected young radical successful 2012 — astir the clip smartphones became much common.

Her probe correlated with different studies that beryllium the much clip users walk online, the much apt they are to beryllium depressed and person suicidal thoughts.

With smartphones, radical of each ages and genders are spending much clip online. But teen girls are peculiarly susceptible to the antagonistic feelings brought astir by societal media.

"Instagram tin marque popularity into a fig due to the fact that you tin spot the fig of likes and followers that you have," Twenge said. "It quantifies teen miss popularity successful a mode that truly hadn't happened before."

Teen girls besides thin to walk much clip connected societal media than teen boys.

Although young radical thin to usage much than 1 societal media app, researchers accidental Instagram is antithetic due to the fact that it mostly revolves astir images.

"Because Instagram emphasizes beauteous pictures, often beauteous pictures of beauteous bodies, it's going to beryllium the level wherever you're going to spot the astir accent connected assemblage image, and that tin beryllium beauteous problematic," Twenge said.

Twenge says parents tin instrumentality vantage of genitor controls connected some Apple and Android phones to spot clip limits connected the Instagram app oregon bounds a teen from utilizing the app until they scope a definite age.