Young Adults And The Emerging Trend Of Depression In Instagram
According to the American Psychiatric Association, depression is a “common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act” (“What is Depression”). Depression is known to be more prominent in young adults, especially with the increasing use of social media, such as Instagram. Many extrinsic and intrinsic factors that contribute to how we, as humans, feel, think, and act, but most importantly social and psychological factors that are leading to depression. Social factors such as loneliness, parasocial relationships, and validation. Psychological factors include self esteem, self acceptance, and unfulfillment of life. 53% of young adults in the United States reported that they have Instagram, and
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Instagram provides a medium for young adults to escape from their loneliness, or lack of social connection, through browsing and broadcasting. Young adults are attracted to the realm of Instagram and endless browsing that they disconnect from the community around them and delve into an alternate reality, this is evident in a journal article about how young adults are “motivated to pursue relaxation, avoid the troubles they encounter in reality, and peek at others’ photographs” (Lee et al., 559). In a journal article, Yang concludes that Instagram broadcasting leads to an increased loneliness, even though broadcasting is an interactive element of Instagram (706). This further elaborates that broadcasting does not create meaningful relationships with others and that young adults are still disconnected from society, which leads them to pursue virtual relationships through Instagram. This is a cycle that leads into more loneliness and it reinforces more browsing and broadcasting. Instagram does not solve the problem of young adult’s loneliness, rather it fuels it into a deeper depressive