Authors: Nikita Naik, Sweety Sharma, Yukta Patil.
Introduction:
“Instagram, one of the most popular social media platforms, has emerged as a ubiquitous presence in the lives of young adults, especially female college students. This report delves into the profound influence of Instagram on the mental health of this demographic. As Instagram usage continues to rise, so do concerns regarding its potential impact on mental health and overall well-being. Through a comprehensive survey, we aim to shed light on the complex relationship between Instagram and the mental health of female college students, exploring the various factors and dynamics at play. Our findings will provide valuable insights into this contemporary issue and its implications for the well-being of young women in the digital age.”
Objective:
To understand the underlying phenomenon of “The Impact of Instagram on mental health of Female College Students using it”.
Literature Review:
The social network Instagram stands out for enabling the transmission of a positive experience about the consumption of products and services through images, usually edited and formulated to draw attention, with less emphasis on the text. Its focus on the production, editing, dissemination, and sharing of images makes Instagram the most used social network for the activities of influencers who seek to evolve socially in their online spaces by producing creative and innovative content, focusing on maintaining relationships and engagement for consumption.
Lifestyle influencing is a specific niche, where influencers tend to attract the public more strongly, especially young people. Fitspiration, for example, is one of the phenomena of disseminating images on social networks with the aim of inspiring people to adhere to diet and exercise regimes for a healthy life.
Given the use of digital resources to inform oneself about health and the tendency to search for them on the Internet, it becomes necessary to observe the dissemination of this type of content on social networks. Depending on how the interaction with the content occurs and how it is disseminated, it can generate serious damage in those who view it. However, when the quality of information is guaranteed, the broad access offered by social networks can benefit various types of populations and needs. For example, information sharing is a positive and cost-effective feature of social networks, making it fundamental and current in helping with health issues by effectively disseminating messages and countering negative views around health promotion. Social networks are also popular digital resources for information about health conditions, including initiatives such as the recruitment of groups with specific conditions and an interest in information about their conditions, contributing to their search for health and quality of life, becoming important and efficient tools in public engagement for health promotion.
The use of these digital resources for health is also identified in research involving the high rate of intervention programs for weight loss behaviors associated with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, which can positively influence changes in eating and exercise behavior. The information available has the potential to contribute to individuals’ health knowledge, aiming to find health problems in themselves or others from information found on the Internet.
Media has been identified as an important contributing factor to the development of body image concerns and disordered eating. Recent research demonstrates a relationship between time spent on social networking sites (SNS) and body image concerns. However, less is known about which aspects of SNS use are most relevant. This program of research used a mixed-methods approach to examine the specific aspects of SNS that are related to body image issues and disordered eating in young women, as well as to explore potential aspects of SNS that may promote positive body image.
Body image is a multifaceted construct that refers to an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors associated with their body and physical appearance (Cash, 2004). Body dissatisfaction refers to negative self-perceptions of one’s physical body shape and weight (Stice & Shaw, 2002). Notably, there are high rates of body dissatisfaction among young women in Western society, to such an extent that it is often referred to as ‘normative discontent’ (Tiggemann, 2011). In a recent survey of Australians, almost half of young women (18-30 years) reported being dissatisfied with their appearance (The Butterfly Research Institute, 2017). Body dissatisfaction has been consistently implicated in the etiology and maintenance of eating disorders, obesity, low self-esteem, depression, unhealthy dieting, excessive exercise, and cosmetic surgery (The National Eating Disorders Collaboration, 2017). Given the prevalence of body dissatisfaction and its harmful implications, most research to date has focused on negative body image and its influencing factors.
Traditional Media and Body Image Concerns:
The portrayal of female beauty in Western society is narrow, with media imagery depicting the ideal female body as extremely thin and, in more recent years, also fit and toned (Homan, McHugh, Wells, Watson, & King, 2012; Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). Such societal ideals of appearance are not representative of the diverse range of body shapes and sizes that exist in the general population and are physically unattainable for most women. Sociocultural theories of body image disturbance (Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, & Tantleff-Dunn, 1999) assert that the media portrayal of the thin ideal plays a key role in body dissatisfaction and, in turn, eating disturbance. According to the Tripartite Influence Model, this detrimental process occurs through two main pathways: internalization of the thin-ideal societal standards of attractiveness and a tendency to make appearance comparisons (Thompson et al., 1999). According to this model, when women internalize the thin ideal and compare themselves to women they perceive as more attractive than themselves, they are likely to become dissatisfied with their own appearance, which in turn may contribute to disordered eating behaviors (Kalpidou, Costin, & Morris, 2011; Thompson & Stice, 2001; Van den Berg, Thompson, Obremski-Brandon, & Coovert, 2002).
Social Media and Body Image Concerns:
With the recent proliferation of social networking sites (SNS), research has begun to investigate the relationship between social media and body image outcomes. SNS, such as Facebook and Instagram, are internet-based sites that enable the rapid sharing of user-generated photos, videos, and comments via personal profiles (Perloff, 2014). Facebook has over 2.4 billion users, and Instagram has over 1 billion users (Facebook, 2019), with users sharing more than 95 million photos a day on Instagram alone (Pew Research Center, 2018). SNS like Facebook and Instagram are particularly popular with young women, with over 80% of women aged 18-29 years who are online using Facebook, and over 60% using Instagram (Pew Research Center, 2018). SNS have been described as a dominant way in which individuals form perceptions of social norms (Morris et al., 2011). Research shows that young women spend significantly more time viewing online appearance-oriented media than traditional media forms such as magazines and television (Bair, Kelly, Serdar, & Mazzeo, 2012). As in traditional media, thin-ideal and objectifying content pervades SNS and may affect body image by reinforcing thin-ideal internalization, self-objectification, and fostering appearance comparisons. Social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954) posits that people are more likely to compare themselves to similar others for self-evaluative purposes.
Data Collection:
For the problem we selected “The Impact of Instagram on mental health of Female College Students using it”, we made following five questions:
Q1. I get depressed while using Instagram.
Q2. I am addicted to Instagram.
Q3. I get anxiety using Instagram.
Q4. I get stressed while using Instagram.
Q5. Instagram affects my academic productivity.
And surveyed 100 students, who answered on scale of -2, -1, 0, 1, 2. Where, -2 being strongly disagree and 2 being strongly agree.
Data Analysis:
After getting the responses on Google form, the mean, SD, SE, were calculated; Which are reflected in the below table. And Z values are calculated with the hypothesised mean as 3.
|
Question Numbers |
Question 1 |
Question 2 |
Question 3 |
Question 4 |
Question 5 |
|
Mean |
-0.40 |
-011 |
-052 |
-0.35 |
0.32 |
|
Standard Deviation |
1.52 |
1.37 |
1.30 |
1.57 |
1.34 |
|
Standard Error |
0.15 |
0.14 |
0.13 |
0.16 |
0.13 |
|
Z |
-2.64 |
-0.80 |
-4.00 |
-2.23 |
2.39 |
|
Result |
Negative |
Neutral |
Negative |
Negative |
Positive |
Conclusion:
- People are negative towards getting depressed while using Instagram.
- People are neutral towards addiction of Instagram.
- People are negative towards getting anxiety using Instagram.
- People are negative towards getting stressed while using Instagram.
- People are positive towards Instagram affecting their academic productivity.
References:
Hollier, C. N. (2018). The influence of body dissatisfaction, colorism and self-esteem on disordered eating behaviors among female black college students (Order No. 10929891). Available from ProQuest Central. (2189871643). Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/influence-body-dissatisfaction-colorism-self/docview/2189871643/se-2
Cohen, R. (2020). Social media and body image in young women: Examining the positive and negative role of appearance-focused activities (Order No. 30611679). Available from ProQuest Central. (2877962900). Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/social-media-body-image-young-women-examining/docview/2877962900/se-2
