A recent study by the Wall Street Journal indicated that Instagram makes body issues worse for 1 in 3 girls. If I’m honest, I have scrolled through Instagram countless times, and felt jealous, for example, about how a friend looked in a bathing suit. While I did think my friend looked amazing, I couldn’t stop my brain from thinking, “I’m so fat, I would never be able to wear that bikini” and “how is she so pretty when I’m so ugly.” I remember this sad feeling washing over me. I felt ugly, envious and jealous, but also ashamed, that those were my feelings upon seeing a great picture of my friend who I should be happy for. After I became a more skilled IG user, I  realized there were filters you could use to change all sorts of features on your photo, including your size, complexion,  and lighting, to name a few, making it hard to tell which of someone’s features were real and which were altered. While I knew many of the pictures I was seeing had used filters, it really didn’t make me feel any better.

Though I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I usually grab my phone to check my social media accounts within 20-30 minutes of waking up each morning, if I took a poll of my friends, I would guess that I am on the later side, with most them reaching for the phones almost immediately upon waking. I have often wonder why, what’s my hurry? It’s not that I am excitedly looking forward to scrolling through the posts of my 2000 “friends” some of whom I barely know, in fact, one part of me dreads it. I know with almost certainty that I’m going to come across an IG or Snapchat story or post that is going to upset me. Whether it’s a group of friends at a party, or out to a dinner that I wasn’t included in or invited to, or a seemingly fabulous and flawless photo of a friend or a friend, I know I’m likely not going to close out IG or Snapchat feeling good about myself and it seems I’m not alone. According to a recent social media blog I looked at, almost 25% of teens see social media as having a negative effect

While the negative attributes of social media definitely seem to outweigh the positive, at least for me, I don’t see social media going away or lessening its popularity among teen girls. I guess all that we can hope is that the light that has been shined on the negative impact apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, Tik Tok and Twitter, can have on the mental health of teenage girls will make a difference. Clearly these platforms need regulation beyond just self-regulation to make sure social media is what it was intended to be, interactive technologies that provide for the free and open creation, sharing and exchange of ideas, information and interests.