In simpler times teens would have never had to worry about how many likes they’ve received on an Instagram picture or how many people found that tweet funny. But these days social media anxiety is becoming a huge issue within the youth community.
Where many teens either don’t post online due to the pressure of posting the wrong thing, or those that do end up going through excruciating processes to get the best picture.
The NHS recently conducted a survey and found that the social media platform that causes the most negative aspects amongst teens is Instagram and the site that causes the least is YouTube. The survey also found that sleep, bullying, and fear of missing out had the greatest negative impact on British teens.
Which becomes worrying when the amount of time teens spend on their devices is increasing rapidly with one teen admitting to spending at least 2 hours a day on each of her social media applications Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram; and Another, Chloe Lefebvre said she uses Instagram “Every day, literally all the time. I kind of just flick on to it…even it’s just to scroll through. I’m just kind of on it.”
Although social media usage is collective amongst teens. Younger social media users are more susceptible to the negative aspects of social media as they are easily influenced by their peers and are less likely to simply delete the applications due to the fear of missing out.
Instagram, however, have introduced features to help those sensitive to the content they are seeing. One of the most effective ways is to use the mute button that allows users to mute the pages they follow for however long. Another technique is the ‘see fewer post like this’ button that can be used on the explore page.