How does instagram influence society
7 Unexpected Ways Instagram Has Changed the World
In the past two years, Instagram has gone from strength to strength, amassing a billion active users and growing at the fastest rate of any of the major social platforms.
And with users now spending 53 minutes per day, on average, in the photo-sharing app, its impact on our day to day lives has been significant - and I don’t just mean the amount of people who refuse to take a bite of their meal until they’ve taken the perfect #brunchgoals picture.
Instagram has created sub-genres, businesses and careers, and has disrupted whole industries. In this post, we'll look at seven ways that Instagram has influenced modern behaviors, which is worth considering in your marketing and outreach process.
1. It's diversified beauty standardsInstagram has received its fair share of criticism when it comes to affecting young people’s mental health. Some blame the amount of filtered, edited images, which present an unrealistic expectation of beauty - but there is also a flip side to this. In giving consumers such an accessible platform, a more diverse vision of beauty can also be shared.
People are no longer reliant on traditional media broadcasting a narrow definition of beauty. From users sharing their unfiltered pimples, stretch marks and scars, to the rise in plus size, trans and disabled influencers, efforts are being made via Instagram to break beauty taboos.
These diverse representations are growing on the platform, and building significant audience traction, causing brands to take note.
2. It's changed the way we travelInstagram is a treasure trove for travel inspiration. Within the palm of our hand, we can see pictures of the most idyllic spots from around the world, and travel behaviors are changing as a result.
Whether it’s using the app to research the best places to go before we travel, or choosing a particular spot because we want to recreate a picture perfect post, ‘Insta-tourism’ is having an impact. According to research conducted by Facebook, 70% of travel enthusiasts (those using travel-related hashtags) use the platform to share their travel plans, while 67% use Instagram to find inspiration for new journeys.
Those trends are also being reflected in Insta-popular locations. In 2016, China opened the world’s highest and longest glass bottom bridge. It had to be closed just thirteen days later after thousands of tourists flocked to get their shot for the ‘gram.
The rise in Instagram-influenced travel has caused those in the tourism sector to re-think their strategies. Tourism Australia's official Instagram account (@australia) currently has more than 3.2m followers thanks to its stunning mix of commissioned photography, UGC and witty captions.
Nick Henderson, Tourism Australia's global manager of social media, recently told CNN:
"We've seen that Instagram can play a role in people's decision-making process on where to travel. Places like Rottnest Island in Western Australia and the lavender farms in Tasmania have seen significant growth in visitation, partly as a result of their 'Instagramability'".
3. It's turned flat lays into a phenomenonStill-life shots have always been popular, but Instagram has made the flat lay trend go mainstream.
A search of the #flatlay hashtag brings up more than five million results on the platform, and we’ve all become familiar with these artfully arranged, overhead product shots.
There's something about the simple and visually pleasing flat lay which really lends itself to an Instagram grid, its simplicity standing out in a sea of selfies. Now dedicated accounts like @flatlay and @flatlays share their favorites with thousands of flat lay-loving followers, and countless how-to articles provide tips on how to achieve the perfect shot.
4. It's sparked new food trendsIn London’s hip borough of Hackney, you’ll find Palm Vaults, a cafe which has fully grasped the benefit of providing maximum Instagram opportunity. Potted plants hang over marble tables, full of pastel-colored lattes and flower-topped granola. Its an influencer’s paradise and in attracting them, the business receives plenty of free advertising.
Other venues have followed suit, and while there are no official stats, I'd hazard a guess that the usage of neon signs, flower walls and pink plates in restaurants has risen considerably.
In general, the rule tends to be that the things that stand out succeed. Avocado on toast no longer makes the cut. Think Matcha lattes, charcoal activated croissants, acai bowls and rainbow bagels.
5. It's created entire social brandsAs brands have jumped on board the Instagram marketing bandwagon, there have been some standout success stories.
Some of the savviest early adopters have been able to create brands entirely on Instagram. Watch brand Daniel Wellington is a perfect example - they've used the platform to advertise their product, bypassing traditional advertising altogether. Its strategy of using its ad budget to gift watches to influencers has resulted in a flood of posts, and that hype has translated to sales, helping it become Europe’s fastest growing company between 2013 and 2015.
Frank Body is another example - the ground coffee body scrub maker has made strategic use of influencers in order to boost its presence, creating a buzz that turned into a $20 million global beauty brand.
As co-founder Jess Hatzis told Forbes:
“We really saw an opportunity to launch a great product through social media, with smaller barriers to entry than ever before. We wouldn't have the business we have today had it not been for our ability to leverage platforms like Instagram and Facebook.”
6. It's mobilized ActivismWith an emphasis on all things visual, and direct access to millions, Instagram has also helped bring worthy causes to the fore.
Imagery is incredibly powerful, and many activists now use Instagram as a storytelling device to spread their message far and wide, inspiring others to get involved. It also gives influential individuals direct access to their followers to deliver undiluted messages of support - like Justin Beiber’s Insta announcement of his support for the #blacklivesmatter movement.
Through this awareness building, causes are finding that they're being discovered by new audiences. The #postboxselfie campaign was credited for mobilizing marriage equality voters in Australia last year.
In sharing their voting moment, it was a fun and encouraging way to connect with a young audience who, despite supporting marriage equality, were thought to be reluctant to vote.
Bloggers were already popular in 2010, but Instagram gave them a platform to distribute short and sweet updates. With one image and a caption, they were able to make bite-size content which could be published more regularly for more frequent conversations with their followers.
Some used this to complement their blog content, some switched to Instagram completely, while others found social fame on Insta alone. The app has undoubtedly propelled the influencer movement, and turned some personalities into social celebrities.
Beauty influencer Huda Katta topped this year’s Instagram rich list. She has 27.7m followers and her own beauty line, 'Huda Beauty', which gives fans the opportunity to buy into her 'Insta-perfect' look with products like the #FauxFilter Foundation.
When fashion influencer Chiara Ferragni married earlier this year it was in a lavish ceremony, two haute couture Dior gowns, with a follow-up feature in Vogue. Even less established are now able to earn a living through brand collaborations on Instagram.
The next phase? Virtual influencers like Shudu Gram and Miquela Sousa, created digitally, who live on Instagram alone.
As you can see, there's a range of ways in which Instagram is influencing culture, and changing the way we communicate, discover and get involved in different elements. From a marketing perspective, it pays to have an understanding of these developments in order to better contextualize not only your Instagram strategy, but how Instagram's growth is changing consumption habits more broadly also.
How Instagram changed our world | Instagram
One day in the autumn of 2015, a small but significant change was implemented at the Instagram offices in Menlo Park, California. Employees arrived at work to discover the rubbish bins under each desk had disappeared.
The bins had allowed people to work efficiently – no one had to stand up to throw away a coconut water carton or wasabi pea wrapper after they’d enjoyed the company’s free food. But the bins weren’t really Instagram’s – they were installed by Facebook, which had purchased the photo-sharing app for $1bn in 2012.
Kevin Systrom, Instagram’s co-founder, didn’t like the bins. He didn’t like the cardboard boxes employees used to file papers and paraphernalia. He hated old, sagging birthday balloons. Instagram’s offices, he explained, after removing the bins, should represent its ethos. They should be beautiful, simple, pristine – much like the app itself.
Tech reporter Sarah Frier, author of No Filter: The Inside Story of How Instagram Transformed Business, Celebrity and Our Culture, explains this story is significant for three reasons. First, it demonstrates Systrom’s aesthetic sensibilities. Second, it is indicative of his frustration with Facebook. (A year earlier he had torn down motivational posters belonging to the parent company, one of which said: “Done is Better than Perfect.
”) And third, while the incident obviously affected Instagram employees – they dubbed it #trashcangate – it also represented an issue facing its users, who were, Frier says, “intimidated about posting because they thought Instagram warranted perfection”.
In the decade since the invention of Instagram, social media has dramatically changed our lives. This pursuit of perfection has led to a rise in filter-inspired plastic surgery and a boom in oversized desserts that don’t fit in your mouth, but fit perfectly into a little square posted online. How did this simple photo-sharing service get 1bn users in eight years? Does Instagram create or reflect our values? And, if the former, shouldn’t we know a little more about the mindset and motivations of the men behind the app?
‘He wants everything to be at a level of quality because he believes in that quality’: Kevin Systrom. Photograph: Matt Edge/The New York Times/Red/eyevineFrier and I talk on the phone a week before her book is published.
No Filter, she says, is an omniscient narration of Instagram’s birth and growth, cobbled together from insiders’ memories. Frier interviewed a different person each day for a year after getting the book deal in 2018. Many spoke without Facebook’s permission, and the majority of her sources remain anonymous. “I realised that there was so much uncharted territory,” she says. “My editor told me a book is ready to be written when you have 100 things in your pocket that nobody else has published.” Frier surpassed this benchmark.
One anecdote recalls Systrom saving actor Ashton Kutcher from a 4am fire in a log cabin. In return, Kutcher helped Instagram grow credibility with celebs. (He hosted a party to introduce Systrom to superstars like Ariana Grande, who the Instagram CEO didn’t recognise.) Then there’s the time the Instagram team celebrated the sale to Facebook with an all-expenses trip to the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, where they were greeted with personal congratulatory notes from Ivanka Trump.
But gossip isn’t at the heart of Frier’s book and it’s the mundane stories about Systrom that are most revealing. A Stanford alumnus who, at 25, worked in marketing at Google, he founded his company with software engineer and friend Mike Krieger in 2009. His original idea was a website called Burbn, which showed people where their friends were partying in real time. The name was inspired by Systrom’s love of the whiskey. Throughout the book, Frier reveals his passion for prestige. Systrom enjoys fine drinks and bespoke bicycles – he snubbed Facebook’s free coffee by importing beans that he only used at their “peak point” (four days after roasting).
“I think that products are ultimately a reflection of their leaders,” Frier says. “He wants everything to be at a level of quality because he believes in that quality.” Systrom turned Burbn into Instagram when he realised there was a gap in the market for an app that helped people quickly share pictures from phones.
But there was another problem he hoped to solve: back then, phone cameras were shoddy and took unattractive pictures. When Instagram launched, it offered filters that people could use to make their photos – and by extension, their lives – look more appealing.
From the outset, his demand for quality shifted our reality. “A filter on Instagram was like if Twitter had a button to make you more clever,” Frier says. Instagram was heavily curated in its early days. Because there are no mechanisms to go viral on the app (users can’t share posts), Instagram employees manually chose photos to push on its “Popular” page. “Instagram had a hand in it in a way none of us on the outside would ever necessarily realise,” Frier says.
For example, in 2013, one Instagram employee dedicated his time to “discovering pets”. He tracked adorable dogs, birds and lizards in a spreadsheet before highlighting them on the official @instagram page.
Frier chronicles how these decisions changed real lives. Courtney Dasher, for example, was a dog owner with a cute-looking pet named Tuna. She quit her job and earned money via Instagram thanks to the decision of that employee. Dasher tells Frier that pictures of her dog helped fans cope with anxiety and depression. “The tastes of one Instagram employee directly affected the habits of the 2m people who now follow that dog,” Frier says.
How else have we been influenced by Instagram? Frier’s examples range from how we organise bookshelves by cover colour to how once rarely visited tourist destinations are now trampled underfoot. “By constantly serving users images of visually appealing lives and hobbies,” she says, Instagram forced people to “make their lives more worthy of posting about.” She notes how leisure time became a status symbol – how Instagram gradually affected the economy, as people began to value experiences over things. More of us now “pursue vacations in more picturesque settings,” Frier says, in part because pictures taken in those locations look great on the ’gram.
(She links the app with nine major retailers filing for bankruptcy in the US in 2017).
And it’s not just our lives that have to look interesting on Instagram – our faces do, too. Photo-editing apps, like Facetune, have boomed in popularity. Teens slim their noses, enhance their waists and hide their spots with the help of digital editing tools. One plastic surgeon told Frier that his clients now seek impossible-to-achieve adjustments inspired by the app. Kim Kardashian, owner of the seventh most popular Instagram account (and a famously large behind) can arguably be linked to the 20,000 people in the US who had a Brazilian bum lift in 2017.
This isn’t something Systrom actually wanted. Frier says that selfies and bikini shots were against the CEO’s “artistic sensibilities”. These posts became popular despite the fact they were ignored by the official @instagram account. Yet Frier says that Instagram incentivised selfies and surgery through its metrics, if not its values. The choice to display numbers of followers and likes turned the app “into a game one could win”.
In 2017 a study by the Royal Society for Public Health found that Instagram was the worst app for teens’ mental health. Was this an inevitable outcome?
Frier starts her final chapter with a quote from an anonymous Instagram executive: “Everything breaks at a billion.” Instagram reached 1bn active monthly users for the first time in June 2018. “I think at a certain point you lose control of something when it gets that big,” she says, noting that 6m accounts on Instagram now have over 1m followers. “They wanted to build a better community, but they just didn’t have the resources to do that, which is such a silly thing to say about a product that is part of a gigantic, well-sourced company, like Facebook.”
Mark Zuckerberg bought Instagram in April 2012, when the app had just 13 employees and hadn’t made a single penny in profit. Zuckerberg declined to be interviewed for Frier’s book, sending over a single emailed quote via a PR person. “It’s simple,” he wrote, when asked why he both purchased Instagram and committed to keeping the company independent, “it was a great service and we wanted to help it grow.
” Despite the fact he refused to take part in Frier’s reporting, No Filter is as much about Zuckerberg and Facebook as it is about Systrom and Instagram. (The word “Facebook” appears 1,179 times in the book, while “Instagram” appears 1,673.)
“A lot of times we think when a company has been acquired that their business story is over,” Frier says. She argues this isn’t the case here. The book chronicles the power struggles between Systrom and Zuckerberg. Frier believes Zuckerberg acquired Instagram due to his paranoia about competition. Consequently, Zuckerberg occasionally held Instagram back – after it reached 1bn users, the Facebook founder deleted a feature that automatically linked Facebook users to their friends’ Instagram pages. He also prevented the company from hiring more staff and prioritised Facebook’s content moderation over Instagram’s. Ineffective moderation allowed troubling practices – such as the sale of opioids and the proliferation of self-harm – to flourish on Instagram.
For every banal coffee bean anecdote about Systrom, there is a story that makes Zuckerberg look equally weird. In 2012, on the night the Instagram deal was finalised, the Facebook founder’s sheepdog, Beast, bit the leg of Facebook deals director Amin Zoufonoun. He later joked that Zuckerberg showed more concern for the dog than the man. On a separate occasion, Zuckerberg lost a game of Scrabble to a teenager on a corporate jet and “was so frustrated he built a computer program to find him all the word options for his letters”. He ended every staff meeting by shouting: “Domination!”
Both men have had a profound impact on our lives and yet when we criticise Instagram, we often criticise women. Articles condemning beautiful influencers for earning millions on Instagram are viral fodder. “Those stories take the airwaves and we don’t think, ‘How did we end up valuing this?’” Frier says.
Though influencers are often denounced for not disclosing when they’ve been paid to promote a product, Frier traces this issue back to Systrom. The founder was so dedicated to keeping Instagram aesthetically pleasing that he didn’t want ads on the app to look like ads. (Once he even edited a brand’s picture of French fries so they looked less soggy.)
While we’re busy criticising influencers, Instagram has also avoided scrutiny in other ways. Zuckerberg was called before Congress in 2018 to answer questions about how Facebook allowed user data to be processed by the political firm Cambridge Analytica. Much was made of Facebook’s role in helping Donald Trump win the 2016 presidential election after Russian troll farms targeted divisive ads at Americans. And yet, six months after Zuckerberg’s hearing, a Senate research group discovered that Russian ads had actually received more likes and comments on Instagram than Facebook. “The media spent a day writing about it, and then moved on,” Frier says.
It’s easy (and perhaps enjoyable) to think that bikini shots and Brazilian bum lifts are Instagram’s biggest impact on society – the reality is more complex. Because Zuckerberg allowed Instagram to maintain its independence, the app isn’t tainted by Facebook’s scandals. Yet ultimately, Zuckerberg still owns it – Systrom stepped down as CEO in 2018, partly because of contrasting values, partly because he wanted to return to his “creative roots”. Now, one man controls Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, a global network of 2.5bn users.
What next for Instagram? Frier says the site will continue to face moderation issues as Facebook is prioritised. She also believes advertising on Instagram will increase as Zuckerberg seeks a return on his investment. Frier also notes that the current coronavirus crisis may change the app. While some influencers are seeing their businesses crumble, others are becoming more creative by releasing books, video tutorials, workout classes and even their own filters.
These changes might stick once lockdown is over.
But is this really revolutionary? “People still know the way to win at Instagram is to do something visually arresting,” Frier says. “I don’t think that’s going to go away.” From the moment Instagram introduced us to reality-adjusting filters, it changed the way we presented ourselves to the world. A striking observation in No Filter is that Instagram wanted to build a community that valued art and creativity. Instead, “they built a mall”. While much is made of beautiful influencers flogging diet pills and luxury travel on the app, everyone on Instagram is selling their life in some way.
No Filter by Sarah Frier is published by Cornerstone at £20. Order a copy for £17.20 at guardianbookshop.com
Experts: Instagram has a negative impact on human mental health
Despite the fact that Instagram looks like the “most ideal” social network, the consequences of its use are very negative. Experts say that watching the tape suppresses the psyche of a person who begins to feel inferior in comparison with other people.
Fake aesthetics
Instagram is one of the most popular mobile apps in the world, consisting only of pictures and videos. Seeing staged photos, perfect selfies and landscapes with a lot of filters, one gets the feeling that Instagram is the most pleasant and friendly place on Earth, but experts and doctors unanimously say that this is not so. nine0003
The Guardian published the story of fashion blogger Scarlett Dixon, who posts colorful pictures of moments from her own life on Instagram. In one such shot, she is sitting on a bed surrounded by balloons, drinking tea and pancakes in her pink pajamas. “The best days start with a smile and positive thoughts. And pancakes. And strawberries. And endless tea,” reads the caption to the photo, which has collected about 6,000 “Like” marks.
Her post was posted on his Twitter by a user named Nathan, who expressed his dissatisfaction with such posts. nine0003
"Instagram is a ridiculous lie factory designed to make us feel inferior,"
Nathan wrote, garnering 22 times more "likes" than Scarlett Dixon's original post.
He was supported by other Twitter users, who criticized the social network and the picture of the girl blogger.
Fuck off this is anybody's normal morning.
— Nathan (@hintofsarcasm) August 31, 2018
Instagram is a ridiculous lie factory made to make us all feel inadequate. pic.twitter.com/arV7uCusiJ
“Totally agree. It's sad that teenagers and young people buy into this idealized fake aesthetic and feel inferior to others, ”writes one commenter.
Unfortunately, there is a great deal of truth in these words, which greatly disturbs psychiatrists. Instagram's main problem is its hypertrophied positivity.
If Facebook shows that everyone around you is boring, and Twitter proves that everyone is angry and sarcastic, then Instagram makes you think that everything around you is perfect - except for you. nine0003
“More upset”
Last year, the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH), a UK citizen welfare organization, conducted a survey among young people aged 14 to 24.
His goal was to establish the consequences after using the five major social networks - Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram.
Instagram ranked last - respondents complained of sleep problems, body aversion and other symptoms that occur after watching the feed on this platform. nine0003
“Instagram looks great on the surface, but endless scrolling is bad for mental health and well-being,” said RSPH spokesperson and parliamentarian Niamh McDaid. She added that users often see images that are not real, which is especially dangerous for young people.
"Some people look at expensive cars and get anxiety and depression because they can't afford them," McDaid said.
Stephen, 24, from London, who is a frequent Instagram user, shares her views. According to him, after breaking up with a girl, he began to feel depressed, which only worsened after he began to follow the life of the former in a social network.
“Instagram's main problem is that you only post content that makes you look good.
There are far fewer posts on Twitter and Facebook like “Hey, look how cool I live,” the young man said. nine0003
“I've been on Instagram since 2013 and I liked it at first,” says Adnan, a 25-year-old Syrian living in Cape Town, “but over the years, the feed has become... a competition to showcase a life that doesn't exist. When I'm sad, I look at other people's "perfect" photos and get even more upset."
People post photos from weddings, travel, cafes, gyms and other places, creating the illusion of endless employment.
Everyone around them leads a busy life, except for the one who scrolls through the feed - he only has time to sit on Instagram. nine0003
How social media affects our mood, sleep, mental health and relationships
- Jessica Brown
- BBC Future
Three billion people around the world, that is, about 40% of the population, use social networks on the Internet. We spend an average of two hours daily on them: posting notes, sharing photos, responding to friends' posts. nine0003
Social media users send almost half a million tweets and photos to Snapchat every minute.
If social media plays such a big role in our lives, it is very important to understand how they affect us.
Are we sacrificing our mental health and well-being and wasting our precious time in order to communicate online? What do scientific studies say about this?
• How to prevent employees from "surfing the Internet" during work hours
Since social media is a relatively new phenomenon, there are no definitive conclusions yet.
The available studies are mainly based on the reports of the users themselves, presenting the information is not objective enough.
However, the data of the conducted studies already allow us to draw certain conclusions. The BBC Future reviewer got acquainted with the results of the most important of them.
STRESS
Social media is a place where we often express our outrage about anything from substandard services to political issues. This allows us to let off steam, but turns our news feed into an endless stream of negativity. nine0003
In 2015, researchers at the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C., tried to find out whether social networks actually free us from negative emotions or, conversely, cause more stress.
Image copyright, Getty Images
Image caption,Studies show that mobile has a bad effect on the quality of live communication
A survey of 1,800 people showed that women are much more stressed than men by social networks. They called Twitter the biggest source of negativity, as it constantly reminds of unpleasant situations in other people's lives.
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Twitter, however, was also an effective way to reduce the effects of stress: the more women used it, the less stressed they felt.
Interestingly, this effect was not observed in men. According to the researchers, they do not take social networks to heart as women do. Overall, the researchers concluded that social media use was associated with "comparatively lower levels of stress."
MOOD
In 2014, Austrian researchers found that 20 minutes spent on Facebook left users in a worse mood than after browsing other pages on the Internet. Obviously, this was due to the fact that the use of social networks seemed to them a waste of time, scientists say. nine0003
According to researchers from the University of California, a good or bad mood can quickly spread between users of social networks.
Between 2009 and 2012, scientists analyzed the emotional component of more than a billion statuses of about 100 million Facebook users.
• Likes and shares can cost careers
Analysis showed, for example, that bad weather increased the number of negative posts by 1%. One negative post someone wrote while it was raining influenced 1.3 messages from friends in other cities where the weather was sunny at the time. nine0003
It's good that the funny messages had a strong impact. As the scientists found, each pleasant post inspired 1.75 posts written on a positive note.
Although whether such statuses increased the real mood of users, it remains unknown.
Anxiety
The researchers also tried to find out how social networks affect the overall level of anxiety, sleep and concentration.
A study published in the journal Computers and Human Behavior found that people who use seven or more networks have three times the overall level of anxiety as users of 0-2 platforms. nine0003
Image copyright, Getty Images
Image caption, The appeal of social media lies primarily in the fact that it perfectly mimics the pleasant sensations of the game.
A 2016 study conducted at the University of Babes-Bolyai in Romania on the relationship between social anxiety and social media use produced mixed results.
DEPRESSION
Although some past research has found a link between depression and net use, new research in this area suggests the opposite effect.
Two studies of more than 700 students found that symptoms of depression, such as low mood, feelings of inadequacy and despair, are associated with the quality of online communication.
Those who had mostly negative emotions from virtual communication had higher depressive symptoms. nine0003
A similar 2016 study of 1,700 people found that those who used multiple social media platforms were three times more likely to have depression and anxiety.
Among the reasons given by the researchers were, first of all, virtual bullying and a distorted view of other people's lives.
However, researchers are also looking into how social media can identify symptoms of depression, which can help people seek professional help more quickly. nine0003
Commissioned by Microsoft, researchers surveyed 476 Twitter users and analyzed their profiles on the social network, paying attention to the style of messages, emotions, type of interaction with other users and signs of depressive behavior.
Using this data, they developed a questionnaire that, in seven out of ten cases, predicts the risk of depression even before the first symptoms appear.
- Researchers: Instagram is the worst social network for the psyche of young people
Last year, scientists from Harvard University and the University of Vermont developed a similar Instagram photo analysis tool that has the same efficiency. The study involved 166 network users.
SLEEP
For most of our history, people spent their evenings in the dark, and only in recent centuries has artificial lighting been introduced into our bedrooms.
Studies show that it suppresses the production of the hormone melatonin, which promotes sleep. The worst effect on it is blue light from the screens of smartphones and laptops. nine0003
So, the habit of checking the news feed on Facebook or Twitter before going to bed has a bad effect on the quality of sleep.
- Smartphones have identified the laziest and most active countries
Last year, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh surveyed 1,700 people aged 18 to 30 about how they use social networks.
Image copyright, Getty Images
Image caption,The worst time to use social media is before bed
Scientists have found that the blue light emitted by our gadgets plays a significant role in disturbing sleep. nine0003
- Smartphones in bed do not disturb sleep
The worst effect was not the total time spent online, but the frequency of online activities, which indicated a "compulsive habit" to constantly check for updates.
Researchers, however, have not definitively found out whether social networks cause sleep disorders or whether those who already suffer from insomnia spend more time on networks.
ADDICTION
Despite claims by several researchers that Twitter is more addictive than cigarettes and alcohol, compulsive web use has not been listed as a mental health disorder. nine0003
However, social media is changing faster than scientists can study it.
Some researchers pay attention to different types of obsessive behavior in social networks.
For example, Dutch scientists have recently developed their own scale to identify possible addiction.
However, if social media addiction really exists, it can be considered a type of general Internet addiction, which is an officially recognized disorder.
In 2011, University of Nottingham scientists Daria Coussi and Mark Griffiths analyzed 43 previous studies in the field and concluded that social media addiction is indeed a mental disorder and requires professional help.
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• Facebook will have a new feature to block posts
They found a link between excessive use of networks and relationship problems, poorer academic performance and less participation in real communication.
According to scientists, alcoholics, extroverts and those who compensate for the lack of real relationships with networks are more prone to such addictions.
SELF-ESTATE
Women's magazines with Photoshopped photos of overly thin models have long been recognized as a source of low self-esteem in young women. But now social media has begun to cause concern among some groups of activists. nine0003
Special filters in them, as well as lighting and shooting angle, make it possible to create unrealistic photographs.
Image copyright, Getty Images
Image caption,Viewing other people's selfies can be bad for self-esteem
According to a survey of 1,500 users by the charity Scope, more than half of young people aged 18-34 say that social networks make them feel themselves unattractive.
A 2016 study from Pennsylvania State University found that viewing other people's selfies lowers self-esteem, as users compare themselves to photographs of people at the happiest moment of their lives. nine0003
And women tend to negatively compare themselves to selfies of other women, researchers from the University of Strathclyde in Ohio and the University of Iowa found.
However, not only selfies of other users have a bad effect on self-esteem. A survey of 1,000 Facebook users in Sweden found that, in general, women who spend a lot of time on the social network feel less happy and confident.
The researchers concluded: "Facebook users compare their lives with other people's career achievements and happy relationships, and such comparisons are often not in their favor." nine0003
However, one small study found that viewing your account instead of other people's photos can increase your self-esteem.
Researchers at Cornell University in New York figured this out in an experiment in which one group of students sat in front of a mirror while another looked at their Facebook account.
Image copyright, Josh Rose / Unsplash
Image caption,In some cases, social media has a positive effect on mood and emotional well-being
The social network had a positive effect on participants' self-esteem. The researchers explain this by saying that mirrors or photographs force us to compare ourselves to social standards, while viewing our own Facebook profile allows us to control how we present ourselves to the world.
FEELING
In a study launched in 2013, researchers found that the more time people spent on Facebook, the less satisfied they were with life. nine0003
However, some other experiments have found the opposite. People with emotional instability are more likely to write about their feelings. As a result, the support they receive online helps them recover from negative experiences faster.
• How printers are spying on us
Although the issue is generally controversial, social media has a worse effect on the well-being of people suffering from social exclusion.
RELATIONSHIPS
If you've ever had a conversation with a friend and he or she took out their smartphone and started scrolling through Instagram, you've probably wondered how social media affects relationships. nine0003
This also applies to romantic relationships. Researchers from the University of Guelph in Canada asked 300 Facebook users aged 17-24 whether they "get jealous when their partner adds a stranger of the opposite sex as a friend."
Image copyright, Getty Images
Image caption,A survey of 1,800 people found that women are much more likely to be stressed by social media than men Facebook than men are more likely to experience jealousy. nine0003
The researchers concluded that "the very environment of the social network contributes to this feeling, and also increases anxiety about the quality of their romantic relationship."
ENVY
In a study of 600 adults, about a third reported that social media caused negative emotions in them - mostly frustration, which was caused by envy.
Her unflattering juxtaposition of her life with the lives of other people evokes her, and above all this concerns photographs from travels. nine0003
Feelings of envy cause the so-called "envy spiral" when people begin to publish more of these photos that make them jealous.
However, envy is not necessarily a destructive emotion. It often makes us work harder, according to researchers at the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
During the experiment, they showed 380 students photos and messages from Facebook and Twitter, which usually cause envy - a message about buying valuable goods, travel and engagement. nine0003
But the feelings that they aroused in the subjects, scientists characterized as "benign envy", that is, one that inspires one's own achievements.
LONELY
A study published last year in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine of 7,000 people aged 19 to 32 found that those who spent a lot of time on social media were twice as likely to feel socially isolated.
They lack a sense of belonging to a group, as well as interaction with others and fulfilling relationships. nine0003
According to the researchers, in such people, social networks crowd out personal relationships and make them feel lonely.
Image copyright Jacob Ufkes / Unsplash
Image caption,When social media replaces face-to-face communication, people feel lonely and successful. Such thoughts are increasingly exacerbating social exclusion." nine0003
CONCLUSIONS?
It is clear that it is too early to draw final conclusions on many issues. However, it can be said that social networks have a very different impact on people, depending on many conditions, and above all, on their personality traits.
As with food, gambling, and many other modern temptations, excessive use of social media may not be desirable for some people.
But, on the other hand, it would be a mistake to say that they are an undeniable evil, because networks provide many advantages.
