How Does Social Media Affect Mental Health

August 3, 2021 Macy Gilson

Until a few months ago, I had never asked myself, “How does social media affect mental health?” or even, “Does social media affect mental health?”

I never asked these questions because when I started out on Instagram, I had a personal account, likely one similar to yours, and I used my account to keep up with family and friends, as they did with me.

Are you looking for activities to foster your child’s emotional health? I’ve created a FREE workbook to help your child share his/her thoughts in a safe and healthy way. Click here to download my FREE workbook: Letters From My Heart, full of daily or weekly prompts to help your child express him/herself in a developmentally appropriate way. Click here to download instantly!

After deciding I wanted to share more about the disability community with my family and friends, I began using my personal account as a way to educate my inner circle about disabilities and expose them to people that they might not otherwise meet. I also used my account to shed light on different disability related topics, such as inclusion, awareness, and social injustice. More and more people became interested and my personal account began to grow very fast, very quickly. I changed my personal account into a business account in an effort to continue educating more people and this growth ultimately inspired me to start my business and publish my children’s book.

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, you can read my disclosure statement here.

How Instagram Works

Instagram has been a really powerful way to reach people that I would not otherwise be able to reach. However, it has become more detrimental than beneficial. Instagram is changing the way that its algorithm functions, which makes it very difficult for content creators to reach the people who follow us.

Content creators are people like me that create “content” (posts, videos, stories, etc.) to be consumed by users like you. If someone follows a content creator, chances are, they are interested in the content that person is creating - think of your favorite fashion bloggers, or home decor accounts, or chefs sharing recipes. All of these are different types of content creators. I am an educational content creator, meaning my goal is not to get you to buy something, or to inspire you, but to educate you. I do this by sharing infographics like this, or stories like this, or even tips like this! Chances are, if you chose to follow me, you like this kind of content! I use your “likes,” “comments,” “saves,” and “shares” to gain insight into the topics you like, the topics you don’t, or the topics you’d like to learn more about.

The Instagram Algorithm

The latest adjustment to the algorithm has given Instagram even more power to decide what content you see, and what content you don’t. Regardless of which accounts you have chosen to follow, Instagram will only show you content that they deem “worthy” or “valuable.”

Let’s say you’re a part of the disability community and you are interested in the content I am sharing, so you choose to follow me. In years past, when you follow someone, you are shown their content on your home feed each time they post something new. However, following someone no longer means you are guaranteed to see their content. Who decides what content is shown and what content is not….? You guessed it - it’s Instagram!

This is devastating for so many reasons…

A corporation is controlling what you see and what you don’t.
A corporation is telling content creators which content is worthy and which content is not, regardless of what that person’s community thinks.
A corporation is overriding what users are interested in by not showing them content that they deem unworthy.

Instagram And Mental Health

It goes without saying, but when you’re really passionate about something, and someone tells you that thing is not important, it hurts. And it hurts even more when you’re trying to share that with 20,000 other people that are also passionate about it, and you can’t. It’s hard to continue to create content every day, to put a lot of thought and effort and time into what you’re doing to give it to people that want to hear it, only for Instagram to tell you that it’s not good enough for them. I can’t explain how absolutely exhausting it is to put your heart and soul into your work, only to be told someone doesn’t like it - especially when it’s not who you created it for!

It’s not just me that is facing this issue with Instagram. So many content creators are taking a break until this is resolved, or even leaving the platform altogether. There are so many accounts that I follow because they provide value to my life, but so often, I don’t see their posts. What’s the point of following an account if you can’t see what they are sharing?! I know I am not alone in this feeling based on the messages and comments you left on this video and I think the problem is a lot bigger than the algorithm, because Instagram is, after all, a business, and the main goal of a business is to make money.

Fortunately for me, that’s not my main goal. My goal is to continue to connect with the 20,000 of you that I have been connecting with, to make sure you are seeing the content I am creating for you, to make sure you are getting value from the content I am sharing with you, and most importantly, to continue to work together to make the world a kinder, more inclusive place.

Because I won’t be using Instagram to connect with you anymore, you can still receive my content by filling out the form below! I will be sharing the same information that I used to share on Instagram, but it will come straight to your inbox now!

See this content in the original post

How Instagram Works

The Instagram Algorithm

Instagram And Mental Health

More Blog Posts and Resources: