Instagram makes me anxious: 5 tips to manage the discomfort

For many people, Instagram is a source of anxiety. What to do in these cases?

If social networks are the stage where we exhibit our personal world, Instagram is surely the greatest representative of this trend.

Many people use the platform to expose their lives to others, or to discover the new tourist destination or success that an influencer has had. The problem is that all this can generate discomfort, especially if it is something that we would like to have and that, unfortunately, we do not have.

This makes many people think of the phrase: "Instagram gives me anxiety".How is it possible for a mobile app to affect us so much? Let's see it below and what we can do about it.

Instagram gives me anxiety: what to do?

Social networks are part of our lives, both personal and professional. Since they became popular in the first decade of the 21st century, especially with the appearance of big names such as YouTube and Facebook, there have been many new websites that have tried to emulate the formula. These social networks invaded the lives of their users even more when they made the leap to smartphones.. The one that has turned out to be the most personally invasive, also affecting the mental health of its users, has undoubtedly been Instagram.

Appeared in 2010, acquired by Facebook in 2012 and expanding vertiginously since that year, Instagram has become the stage on which all kinds of vanity scenes are represented. Every day, its nearly 800 million users, mostly teenagers and adults aged 20 to 30, post about 80 million photos, with an average interaction of 3.5 billion "likes" and 40 billion "shares".

"Insta," as we users call it, has become the network on which young people receive all kinds of content that can affect their body image, self-esteem and, in some cases, health. and, in some cases, mental health in general. Wanting to emulate the lifestyle of the "influencers" makes us feel a not at all healthy envy, which does not allow us to know how to value what we already have, feeling great anxiety as a result.

To top it all off, Instagram's algorithm doesn't help. This artificial intelligence is designed to show us those images and stories that have to do with our tastes and previous searches. For example, if we search for videos of puppies, we will get photos and videos of puppies, special accounts dedicated to dogs and similar content.

The problem is that most of us are looking for things related to image and travel, or in general aspects that are related to a desire we would like to fulfill in the future. In addition, and even accidentally, the simple fact of gossiping the image of a shirtless celebrity, while traveling in Hawaii and putting below the typical comment of "here, suffering", makes us get hundreds of images of other celebrities in different tourist destinations with phrases like that. So it's normal that Instagram gives us anxiety, because in certain cases it in some cases it makes us feel bad about our lives..

Impact of the app on mental health

To find out the impact of social networks on mental health, especially on the onset of anxiety disorders and depression, the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) and the Young Health Movement (YHM) studied a group of 1,500 British users aged between 14 and 24 years. According to the research, the most damaging network for mental health was Instagram, and it was linked above all to anxiety, lack of sleep and depression..

The young people themselves recognized that Instagram, where they were exposed to all kinds of idealized photographs, affected their body image very negatively. In addition, a phenomenon known as FoMO: the Fear of Missing Out was common. They were afraid that, by uninstalling it or stopping viewing the stories, they would miss out on something and that it would isolate them a bit from their peer group.

How to cope with this anxiety?

Social networks have helped us to communicate, but also, as we were saying, to have negative feelings, especially when they are misused.

Anxiety is a psychological state that in some cases becomes pathological, a symptom of a disorder already formed or that is developing.. The people who present it can do it for different reasons, in which genetics and environment are mixed. It can be that one has a very dysfunctional relationship with the family, it can be that one has lived a traumatic experience or other type of stressful events.

These situations, although they can be overcome with the proper psychological help, are something that is part of the patient's life, and they cannot erase the traumatic event from their memory or completely disassociate themselves from their family. On the other hand, "Insta" is something that we can remove from our lives, since most people can get rid of this application without our lives going down the drain. Here are some tips on how to deal with the anxiety that Instagram causes.

1. Control time

It is possible that we spend hours glued to the application.. This may seem surprising, but if we go to the menu and look where it says "Your activity" we can see the number of minutes we have dedicated each day during the last week, and the average total.

Instagram has enabled an option to avoid spending too much time with the application, being able to ask for a "pop-up" when we spend too much time. It should be noted that it does not prevent us from using the application, but it does help us to take into account when we are spending too much time.

2. Insta on time

A good option to avoid being glued to Instagram all the time and that takes time, while it generates more discomfort watching all kinds of influencers being "super happy" is to have a specific time to look at the app.

Insta on your time. We can set an hour in the afternoon, after homework or work, to dedicate some time to the application.. After the hour, Instagram is closed.

3. Distinguish between the real world and the virtual world.

What appears on social networks is not reality. Reality is in the street, not in the live feeds, stories and photos with Instagram filters..

The perfect life that famous and not so famous people claim to have through the networks does not exist. Okay, the trip to Hawaii makes us envious, but did you have such a good time on that trip? Were you happy all the time?

People are roller coasters of emotions, and influencers are people too. They may have fulfilled some of their dreams, but they are still mortals and their Instagram life is like makeup: it covers up what's behind it..

4. Identify the problem

Everyone uses social networks differently, and not everyone who suffers from anxiety because of Instagram has to have a serious problem, although it is advisable to stop using it for a while.

If you are one of those who feel the need to look at the application almost every half hour, while you are studying or working, it is interrupting you in your duties.

Also, if the first thing you do when you wake up is to pick up your cell phone and gossip every single "story", while you should be getting ready for the day, you are doing the same thing that smokers do when they wake up: being a slave to an addiction..

The "likes", the views and being aware of what the "crush" or the ex has posted are factors that can be interpreted as meters of our popularity and happiness, but they are nothing more than symptoms that we have a problem and we should consider seeking help.

5. Uninstalling

Finally, and perhaps the most obvious advice, is to uninstall the application. It is not an easy task, since the FoMO is something that makes it very difficult for us to make this decision.

But, and in relation to the previous advice, if we have a serious problem, if our self-esteem, our body image and our mental health are being harmed. because of "Insta", the best thing to do is to close your account. Let's not let an application destroy our lives.

Bibliographic references:

• YHMM & RSPH (2017). #StatusOfMind: Social media and young people's mental health and wellbeing. United Kingdom. Royal Society of Public Health.