A few days ago, the organizations Royal Society for Public Health and Young Health Movement, both based in the United Kingdom, released a report entitled #StatusOfMind. This report analyzes the positive and negative effects that social media have on the mental health of young people. To this end, nearly 1,500 individuals between the ages of 14 and 24 were surveyed on how certain social media platforms affect their health and well-being.
This report asserts that Instagram is the most detrimental application for the mental health of young people. With over 700 million users worldwide, this social network generates a significant negative impact, as it encourages young people to "compare themselves against unrealistic, largely curated, filtered, and modified versions of reality," citing Matt Keracher, the report's author.
This is a reality that has not gone unnoticed by the creators of this application. A few weeks ago, Instagram initiated a strong activism effort in favor of the mental health of its users, disseminating through the platform "Instagram Together" various tools to contribute to the well-being of its community around the world.
«Every day on Instagram, we see people sharing their mental health status and connecting with supportive communities,» says Instagram co-founder and CEO Kevin Systrom. «From accounts dedicated to a specific issue to unique hashtags adopted by groups (for example #hereforyou, the campaign hashtag with which this initiative was launched), these communities are helping to make illnesses often invisible to friends and family visible through photos and videos.»
Instagram Together provides information on the resources that Instagram offers to block certain options on the platform (for example, disabling comments, reporting specific users, among others); highlights the inspiring voices of mental health activist users; and provides help tools that allow users to request support for contacts they are concerned about.
«We have teams working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, reviewing these reports», says Systrom. «We also display these resources when someone visits the page of a sensitive topic hashtag.»
At De-mentes, we celebrate this initiative: Instagram chose not to remain indifferent to the impact that its platform may have on the mental health of its users. On the contrary, its creators have been the architects of a pioneering effort that consolidates various tools to contribute to the well-being of its community, promoting greater openness to discuss mental health and to become involved in this issue. We hope that this effort will not be an isolated one and that an increasing number of organizations will join this movement. #TodosPorLaSaludMental
For more information, please visit: www.instagram-together.com.
