Argument 3

Daniel Manzo

Mr. Amaral

AP English and Composition

February 11, 2020

Instagram or Insta Depression?

I understand why some people see social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat as a  way of life, a way of communication in the modern age, a way of being socially active without having to leave the comfort of your bed. It’s quite amazing to see how far technology has come to be able to allow us to talk to our friends even if they are miles apart.

But with that said, there comes a point where scrolling through that good ol Instagram fee may not be the best for everyone’s mental health. I mean sure, making a living off of 10 second videos can for sure make anyone happy, but what about the 2 million people watching the video? Are they happy? Are they mentally stable like everyone else? Are they as social as their posts say they are?

I honestly believe that even though social media changes people’s lives and allows activity outside of the real world, it can be seen as a leading cause of depression in teens and young adults. It may be a place where people can lose touch with reality even if its purpose is to do the opposite.

Social media is not only the news for the modern day, but it lets people all around the world talk and communicate with friends and even play games. It’s a place to go when you need to either burn some time or to have fun catching up on what your friends have been up to.

Although social media has all of those benefits and great qualities, it’s not always the best thing in the world. Caroline Miller, an analyst from Child Mind Institute claims that,”In several recent studies, teenage and young adult users who spend an elongated time on Instagram, Facebook, and others  were shown to have a substantially higher rate of reported depression than those who spent the least time.”

Meaning that teens and young adults are proven to have a higher rate of depression. So what does this mean exactly? Does it mean we should get teens off social platforms? No, we just need to limit the time some of these kid’s time they spend on social media. If they are on it too often then it can affect their mental health.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that maybe social media isn’t the best place for our kids. For instance according to childmind.org, “People are spending less time on more authentic social experiences that decreases PSI.” If you don’t happen to know what PSI is let me explain. PSI stands for “perceived social isolation” which is how isolated people keep themselves and when teens over use social platforms, their levels of PSI shoot up.

But even with that out there we can’t deny that social media is the home of rich, successful content creators. Social media can change peoples lives just by letting them create their own videos to post into the world. But then again, problems seem to always arise. In a statement made by childmind.org it says that “Especially in teenage girls, when they compare themselves negatively with artfully created images of those who appear, prettier, thinner, more popular and richer.”

They basically tell themselves that they aren’t good enough if they aren’t as good as famous Instagram models. In the end they make themselves feel insecure by telling themselves they will never be good enough. Another reason teens should lower their time on social platforms.

But even after all of that. Social media is still one of the most useful technologies of the modern age. And it is used by millions of people all around the world. It keeps millions of people connected no matter how far away they are. Not to mention it produces our high quality memes.

Although it has a good and bad side we can’t ever deny is that we can change that. We don’t have to kick all of these people off or boycott anything. We just need restrictions. Because when people don’t have restrictions they don’t know when to stop. We just have to limit the time teens spend on social media. Instead of being on it for hours and hours we can cut it down to just a couple of hours. Another thing we can try is getting our kids some real social interaction. Because it is a lot better for not only lowering depression but for also improving social skills.