Colleen Gallagher

NMD 200

9 – 26 – 19

Project 1 Draft

Social media and technology have taken the world by storm, nearly everyone has an instagram or twitter, facebook, or snapchat. Even kids who you would think would be too young to have something like that or even their own phone in general. One big issue however that has seemingly increased since this digital and social media era has begun is the rise in depression and anxiety among younger generations. Does this have to do with the social media platforms and technology we allow them to have? Is it because of the influence from random people who are deemed “famous” by some standard have on generations growing up with technology? Or is there some kind of underlying psychological factor that has made itself known more because of the access and influence in which we are more susceptible to viewing and being exposed to? These kinds of questions are what we should be asking ourselves and understanding as to why there is such an increase in depression among younger generations, in hopes to change, alter, or completely redesign certain platforms or technology in hopes to understand why depression has become so apparent in these younger generations. As well as trying to understand why depression itself is linked to technology and social media in hopes to improve them for good as they were intended to be when they were created. 

According to a study done by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) in the UK instagram was found to be the most negative and detrimental social media app to younger generations (1). The study showed that after surveying around 1,500 people from the ages of 14 to 24, based on 14 health and well being issues, instagram was ranked as the most negative platform on mental health and wellbeing while youtube was the most positive, Why is that? Why does youtube have a more positive experience on people’s mental health and wellbeing rather than instagram? While both YouTube and instagram have functions where you are able to look up what you want and follow who you want youtube overall seems to give more of a sense of reality than instagram. It is more accessible to find people who share their everyday struggles or put out into the world that they too are suffering from depression and anxiety. It is easier to find and connect emotionally to someone through youtube than instagram, after you watch a lot of their content and get to know their online personalities it is more of an intimate setting. It is overall seen more that creators are more apt to being ‘real’ or sharing with their viewers and fans their problems because of how intimate the nature of youtube feels and the accessibility vs instagram. So why is instagram so detrimental? 

As many social media platforms can be manipulated in some way and edited instagram seems to take the cake. Pretty much everyone on the platform seems to edit their pictures or “do things for the gram” also known as manipulating their life and surroundings to seem cooler or seem to have a more elaborate fashionable lifestyle than most people. It takes a huge toll on one’s self- esteem, not to mention having to have your likes and follows be a staple of a successful photo. The ideal goal and standard among most of the younger generation is to be famous. The more likes and the more followers you get the cooler you are, there are even people who become brand ambassadors just to get certain deals on clothing or jewellery, even people who are paid to post certain pictures promoting a product. While they usually put somewhere on the post that it is an ad many people try to hide it the best they can, even if they put #ad or in the location put paid sponsorship. 

What are some ways in which we can redesign instagram so it can be a more positive environment and platform especially for younger generations who are easily influenced? To start, we should look at how we can redesign branding and advertising on instagram to acknowledge the difference between real life and social media. If someone is a brand ambassador or influencer who advertises for brands they should have a more visible indicator on their profiles. For example in have their headers of their pages be a vibrant red color or bright blue, that way when people look on their profiles their eyes will go directly onto the color, indicating that they endorse brands so many of their posts may be an alternate reality rather than real life. By adding a red banner on specific post that are endorsing or promoting an object or brand is also a much more noticeable approach to marketing and for younger audiences to recognize that the picture or video posted may not be as true as it seems. This can be another method used to educate children in fake news and glorified lifestyles vs what reality. 

Part of instagram that can also be very mentally straining and psychologically hurting to ones mentality. Likes and followers can be seen as determining if someone is “cool” or accepted in our society. To combat the psychological aspects of gaining likes, while it does release dopamine it can be triggering and upsetting when you don’t get as many likes as you thought you would or as someone else, a good way to improve on this is not to take away the concept of likes completely but to change the way it works. If we took away likes completely then instagram would essentially be another app called vsco. So instead of completely getting rid of likes we can change them to only being able to be viewed by you. So you can still like other peoples pictures and other people can like your own posts, but the public eye would not be able to notice how many likes other people have gotten on their posts. Thus taking away the psychological aspect of feeling depressed or upset with the amount of likes achieved on a post compared to one of your friends or an influencer, only you would know the number of likes achieved.

References 

1

https://www.rsph.org.uk/about-us/news/instagram-ranked-worst-for-young-people-s-mental-health.html 

2

https://time.com/4793331/instagram-social-media-mental-health/