Why does Instagram have a negative effect on teenagers' mental health? – News @ Northeastern

Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University News @ Northeastern Homepage Why does Instagram have a negative effect on teenagers’ mental health? 0% Rachel Rodgers is associate professor of applied psychology in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern. Photo by Adam Glanzman/Northeastern University Since at least March 2020, Facebook officials have known that Instagram—the photo-sharing app owned by Facebook, Inc.—has the power to make teenagers feel worse about their bodies, according to an internal report obtained by The Wall Street Journal. “Thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse,” Facebook researchers wrote in the presentation about the negative effects of Instagram, according to the Journal. The effect may have as much to do with the mechanics of the app itself as with its audience, says Rachel Rodgers, associate professor of applied psychology at Northeastern. The highly visual nature of social media platforms favored by younger people—TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram—put a social premium on appearance, says Rodgers, who studies sociocultural influences on body image and eating concerns. At the same time, the adolescents drawn to them are still developing their sense of identity. “It’s a bit like animals whose shells…
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