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Instagram worst social media app for young people's mental health

by Kara Fox, CNN

Updated 2128 GMT (0528 HKT) May 19, 2017

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Researchers at <a href="http://www.bmap.ucla.edu/" target="_blank">UCLA's Brain Mapping Center</a> found that when teenagers' photos get lots of "likes" on social media apps, such as Instagram, their brains respond in a similar way to seeing loved ones or winning money.
Photos: How social media affects the teenage brain
Researchers at UCLA's Brain Mapping Center found that when teenagers' photos get lots of "likes" on social media apps, such as Instagram, their brains respond in a similar way to seeing loved ones or winning money.
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Thirty-two teenagers took part in the experiment, with brain scans showing how their nucleus accumbens -- the part of their brain linked to rewards -- became especially active.
Photos: How social media affects the teenage brain
Thirty-two teenagers took part in the experiment, with brain scans showing how their nucleus accumbens -- the part of their brain linked to rewards -- became especially active.
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Being appreciated on social media, through "likes," was seen in brain scans to activate the reward centers of the brain, pictured.
Photos: How social media affects the teenage brain
Being appreciated on social media, through "likes," was seen in brain scans to activate the reward centers of the brain, pictured.
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Reward circuitry is thought to be particularly sensitive during adolescence, which may partly explain why teenagers are such avid social media users.
Photos: How social media affects the teenage brain
Reward circuitry is thought to be particularly sensitive during adolescence, which may partly explain why teenagers are such avid social media users.
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The teenagers were shown a bespoke version of Instagram during the experiment where the "likes" they saw weren't given by their peers, but instead assigned by the research team.<br />
Photos: How social media affects the teenage brain
The teenagers were shown a bespoke version of Instagram during the experiment where the "likes" they saw weren't given by their peers, but instead assigned by the research team.
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The teens were shown "neutral" photos showing things like food and friends, and "risky" photos depicting cigarettes and alcohol, pictured. The study found that teens were more likely to "like" popular photos, regardless of the type of image.
Photos: How social media affects the teenage brain
The teens were shown "neutral" photos showing things like food and friends, and "risky" photos depicting cigarettes and alcohol, pictured. The study found that teens were more likely to "like" popular photos, regardless of the type of image.
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While social media has the potential to influence teenagers in good ways, it's important for parents to be aware of who their teens are interacting with online, says Lauren Sherman, lead author of the study.
Photos: How social media affects the teenage brain
While social media has the potential to influence teenagers in good ways, it's important for parents to be aware of who their teens are interacting with online, says Lauren Sherman, lead author of the study.
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facebook appteenagers phoneteenagers social media brain scanfacebook phonesocial media teenager study 2social media teenager study 1getty image teens cell phones

Story highlights

  • Young people's mental health was negatively affected by Instagram and Snapchat use
  • The report calls for changes such as "heavy usage pop-up warnings"

(CNN)Instagram is the most detrimental social networking app for young people's mental health, followed closely by Snapchat, according to a new report by the Royal Society for Public Health in the UK.

Their study, #StatusofMind, surveyed almost 1,500 young people aged 14 to 24 on how certain social media platforms impact health and well-being issues such as anxiety, depression, self-identity and body image.
    YouTube was found to have the most positive impact, while Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter all demonstrated negative affects overall on young people's mental health.
    Study links social media use to isolation in young adults
    Study links social media use to isolation in young adults
    Instagram -- the image-saturated app with over 700 million users worldwide -- topped the list in terms of negative impact, most notably among young women, stated the report, published Friday.
    Instagram draws young women to "compare themselves against unrealistic, largely curated, filtered and Photoshopped versions of reality," said Matt Keracher, author of the report.
    Read More
    "Instagram easily makes girls and women feel as if their bodies aren't good enough as people add filters and edit their pictures in order for them to look 'perfect,' " an anonymous female respondent said in the report.
    To tackle the problem, the Royal Society for Public Health has called for social media platforms to take action in order to help combat young users' feelings of inadequacy and anxiety by placing a warning on images that have been digitally manipulated.
    Snapchat? No thanks; I'm an Old Millennial
    Snapchat? No thanks; I'm an Old Millennial
    "We're not asking these platforms to ban Photoshop or filters but rather to let people know when images have been altered so that users don't take the images on face value as real," Keracher said.
    "We really want to equip young people with the tools and the knowledge to be able to navigate social media platforms not only in a positive way but in a way that promotes good mental health," he added.
    The survey concluded that while Instagram negatively affected body image, sleep patterns and added to a sense of "FOMO" -- the fear of missing out -- the image app was also a positive outlet for self-expression and self-identity for many of its young users.
    Professional YouTuber Laci Green, a health vlogger with 1.5 million subscribers, said that education surrounding mental health issues in a digital age is an educational imperative for young people.
    #StatusofMind rankings

    The impact of five social media sites were evaluated in the following order:

    1. YouTube (the only platform with a positive net impact)
    2. Twitter
    3. Facebook
    4. Snapchat
    5. Instagram (most negative)

    "Because platforms like Instagram and Facebook present highly curated versions of the people we know and the world around us. It is easy for our perspective of reality to become distorted," she said. "Socializing from behind a screen can also be uniquely isolating, obscuring mental health challenges even more than usual."
    Green added that it is important we lay the groundwork now to minimize potential harm as the first generation of social media users become adults.
    Teens: This is how social media affects your brain
    YouTube was the only social media platform that demonstrated an overall positive impact on young people's mental health in the study.
    The report also found that it's not just what young people are engaging with on social media but also how long they are engaging with it.
    Young people who spend more than two hours per day connecting on social networking sites are more likely to report poor mental health, including psychological distress, according to the report.
    "Platforms that are supposed to help young people connect with each other may actually be fueling a mental health crisis," Shirley Cramer, chief executive of the royal society, noted in the report.
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    To address this, the society has also recommended the introduction of a pop-up warning to alert users that they have been online for too long.
    Seven in 10 young people surveyed supported the recommendation, but with experts describing social media use as more addictive than cigarettes and alcohol, it's not clear whether a "heavy usage" pop-up would be enough to break through that barrier.
    Sir Simon Wessely, president of the UK's Royal College of Psychiatrists, supports an education-based approach and warns that demonizing social media is not the answer.
    "I am sure that social media plays a role in unhappiness, but it has as many benefits as it does negatives," he said. "We need to teach children how to cope with all aspects of social media -- good and bad -- to prepare them for an increasingly digitized world. There is real danger in blaming the medium for the message."