Blain 1

Kinsey Blain

Dr. Myers

English 1201

26 March 2020

Instagram and Twitter in Daily Lives

Social media is considered a common pastime in today's society. People spend many

hours on different social media sites. There are multiple viewpoints on social media and its

effects on people. Over the past decade, social media has taken over millions of lives and is

growing more popular everyday. Two popular social media platforms are Instagram and Twitter.

The use of Twitter and Instagram can affect a person’s communication, self image, mental

health, time management, personal promotion, and education.

Twitter and Instagram have been around for more than a decade. Twitter was introduced

in 2006 and Instagram followed not long after that, in 2010. These social media platforms have

gone through many changes to make them the sites they are today. Twitter was created as a way

to send a text message in a group (Bellis). Since then, it has evolved into a platform used to

express one’s ideas. Instagram, on the other hand, was created as a photo app. Today, it still

holds its main purpose and has risen to the number one photo app on the internet (Harrison).

These two platforms are commonly used for communication and news. Twitter is used

for spreading news and getting any type of information quickly. With recent events going on,

getting information quickly is important. A study done by the American Press Institute reported

that eighty-six percent of Twitter users use the app for news (Rosenstiel et al.). This is important

because it quickly spreads important news that people need to see. While it can be useful for

information, a downside is that it can sometimes be false information spreading. The false
 Blain 2

information can be difficult to spot and misleading; however, some people are quick to call out

the false information.

Instagram and Twitter can be used to reconnect with relatives and old friends. In a poll

that was done, thirty-one percent of teenagers said that social media has helped them stay in

touch with their long distant relatives, their friends, and to make new connections, which had a

positive effect on them (“Is Social Media Your Friend?”). This is important for keeping up and

connecting with long distance relatives and having long distance relationships. It also is

important when meeting new people from all over the world and forming new connections with

people.

People on these apps commonly connect with people for emotional support. Having a

support system through an app is a huge help for some. According to figure 1, Twitter and

Instagram have had a positive effect on people’s emotional support (figure 1). It is important that

people have an outlet and use these apps for the support that they need.

These platforms also help people communicate the health problems that they are

experiencing. As shown in figure 1, Twitter and Instagram both have a positive effect for people

who need health advice. People using Twitter and Instagram will seek out people with the same

symptoms that they are experiencing. Others will follow people with similar health conditions

that they have (Kloth). This informs people and helps them communicate with people who are

going through the same things they are. Most of the health side of these social platforms provide

links to medical websites so people know it’s reliable.

Figure 1:

Figure 1 shows a survey done in Britain by the Royal Society for Public Health. The

survey was for fourteen to twenty-four year olds in 2017. It illustrates each main social media

platform and how negative or positive it measures in categories such as body image, depression,

anxiety, and access to health advice (“How Heavy Use of Social Media is Linked to Mental

Illness”). This chart shows a lot of the effects that Twitter and Instagram have both positively

and negatively in someone's life and how positive and negative each specific effect is.

Because most people choose to communicate through the apps, they miss the nonverbal

cues that are essential to most forms of communication, “‘As a species, we are very highly

attuned to reading social cues. … There is no question kids are missing out on very critical social

skills’ Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adair” (Ehmke). Communicating mainly online damages people’s

social skills and is harmful to them in the real world. Reading nonverbal cues while
 Blain 4

communicating face to face is important. It is essential to pick up cues like body language, eye

contact, and gestures. Not being able to pick up on nonverbal cues while communicating online

can cause miscommunication and create problems.

Another thing that is affected from these apps is self image. On Instagram, most people

will edit their photos before posting them. People will photoshop and edit their photos to appear

thinner and having sharper features, this attracts followers and raises their reputation (Campos).

This is problematic, especially for younger girls who view these pictures as expectations and a

“beauty standard.” When this “standard” is not met is when the problem arises, “scrolling

through an app and seeing edited and airbrushed bodies can definitely lower self-esteem and lead

to body dysmorphia” (Campos). Seeing these edited pictures of normal people is dangerous,

especially when most of them are fake. Heavily editing photos creates a false expectation that

many people want to look like.

Heavily editing photos is a problem among celebrities on social media. These celebrities

have millions of followers looking up to them. All these people consider these celebrities role

models and want to look like them and be like them. This sets unrealistic expectations especially

for people who don’t know better. A main example of this is the Kardashian family. Influencers

such as the Kardashians use apps such as photoshop. They have millions of followers and people

who view them as role models and view them as having an ideal body because of the positivity

that these influencers get. These people see these photoshopped pictures and view them as

society’s ideal body type (Campos). This leads to eating disorders and self confidence issues.

This is a huge problem that arises with any social media platform. On Instagram, people want to

meet the social expectations that have been created. To illustrate this, “according to a study done

by Mercy Multiplied, 90 percent of those with eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and
 Blain 5

25… 72 percent of teens use Instagram daily” (Campos). Seeing these celebrities in fully edited

photos creates unrealistic expectations for people. Besides eating disorders, this can also lead to

depression and anxiety.

Going along with the self image, these platforms can affect many people’s mental health.

A UK survey done by the Royal Society for Public Health questioned fourteen to twenty-four

year olds on how these platforms impacted their health, the results showed that social media

platforms such as Twitter and Instagram led to things such as depression, anxiety, poor body

images, and even loneliness (Ehmke). As shown in figure 1, Instagram has had an extreme

negative effect on the people who took the survey. Society has created almost a “guideline” for

these platforms. People only post the side of them they want others to see so others see these

posts and believe that is actually how they live and how they are. What they don’t see is the

negative and realistic side of these people. When people only see half of the picture and compare

themselves to these non realistic pictures, it can cause them to feel bad about themselves.

Instagram has a negative effect on people and their fear of missing out on important things

(figure 1).

With these platforms, everyone wants to be better than each other and get the most

“likes”. This causes a social comparison where everyone is comparing themselves to others and

judging people because of it. Everyone sees these perfect lives and want to be like that, when

they see how great everything seems they feel pressured to be like that (Ehmke). This causes

people to try and be better than someone and get upset when they feel like they have not

achieved some made up standard. Everyone posts what makes them look good and like they are

living their best lives.

The urge to compare oneself to another is common and problematic. In some cases,

people will buy likes and even fake followers to make them look more popular (“Is Social Media

Your Friend?”). They do this to try to fit in and make themselves look better by having the same

number of likes or more likes than everyone else. Buying likes is also done to try and boost self

confidence. When someone buys likes, they are putting their money towards trying to look better

and fit in with society’s standards.

Another way that these platforms cause mental health issues is with cyberbullying.

People hide behind a screen and type hurtful messages that lower the self esteem of others.

Hiding behind a screen makes it easier to post hurtful messages. Hateful comments are common

on these social media websites, especially with Instagram. An astounding 42 percent of people

between the ages of 12-20 who have been bullied on the internet reported it had been on

Instagram (Roose). This is due to the fact that it is easier for people to say these hurtful

comments behind a screen. Most cyberbullies will post these mean comments to make

themselves feel better.

These comments are hurtful to the targeted person, “‘what social media is teaching them

to do is disagree in ways that are more extreme and jeopardize the relationships’ Dr. Donna

Wick” (Ehmke). This causes some to get more bold with what they are saying even if it can

cause permanent damage. However, once it’s out there and posted, there is no way to take it

back, it is going to be on the internet forever, even if the post is deleted. They are even getting

more bold with the hurtful comments, this can cause serious mental health issues such as

depression when the hurtful comments are targeted at one person.

Despite negatively affecting mental health, twitter and Instagram can also positively

affect mental health. People can reach out to others if they need the help. Seven out of ten
 Blain 7

teenagers say that during rough times, they have had emotional support given to them on social

media (“Is Social Media Your Friend?). This expresses the positive side of social media dealing

with mental health. People can help others out through positivity. On Instagram and Twitter, one

can even meet other people that help them emotionally. People in need will reach out to others

and get help and people will reach out to others if they notice someone needs help.

Another way that Instagram and Twitter affect people's lives is through time

management. People will spend hours scrolling through these websites and not getting anything

constructive done. Developing these bad habits can become dangerous. On average, teens spend

around 3 hours on social media everyday (“Social Media and Young People’s Health”). In figure

1, one can even see that Twitter and Instagram have had a negative effect on people’s sleep. This

is an unhealthy habit that develops and worsens sometimes to the point where social media is

chosen over school work, sleep, and other important things. Time management is an important

skill in someone’s life and social media has a negative effect on that. Especially when these

habits develop at a younger age.

Platforms such as Twitter and Instargam are important to small businesses. These apps

provide a way for people to get information on their company out there and reach out to

customers to further their businesses. It is important for these businesses, who can’t afford the

big advertisements, to have somewhere to self promote. People who aren’t considered big

celebrities can become influencers with thousands or even millions of followers that engage with

them on a daily basis. This provides an affordable and easier way for brands that want to reach

out to more people (Jackson). These influencers can be anyone so these companies reach out to

more people and more groups of people. This is great for small businesses who are making the

most of the social media marketing side.

Some of these small businesses will try new things to get their brands and items out in the

open. It is common for these businesses to host contests on Instagram. These contests are

designed for companies to engage with potential consumers and promote their products

(Jackson). Companies will sometimes give away free products that help them reach out to more

people, especially when more people participate and it spreads around (Jackson). People who

like these products will recommend these products and the companies will grow. Even through

the contests, people will post these businesses to try and win whatever is being given away. This

is a good thing for many small businesses to do.

A final way that social media affects people’s lives is through education. Most people

wouldn’t expect Twitter and Instagram to be used for educational purposes however, these

platforms can commonly be used for education in certain situations. A common use of Twitter

for education is in the medical and healthcare field. “Social media platforms such as Twitter have

been used in the educational curriculum of medical training programs” (Pizzuti et al.). This

shows that even big fields such as the medical fields use social media sites such as Twitter for

educational purposes.

Social media can also be used for getting the educational information that one needs at a

faster rate. A survey was done and showed that 81% of first year nursing students said Twitter

was beneficial to their awareness of issues in the nursing field ( Pizzuti et al. ). As shown in

figure 2, one can get highlights from a work conference on Twitter. These apps provide a way

for students to contact each other about the things that they learn in class or in the professional

field. Some professionals will also use these apps for large conferences and highlights of the

conferences (Pizzuti et al. ). These show that Twitter is also helpful for more educational
 Blain 9

purposes in the medical and healthcare field. As one can tell, there are a lot more educational

purposes to social media than people are aware of.

Figure 2:

Figure 2 is the results of a survey that was done on social media for educational purposes.

The results show healthcare workers' purposes on social media for education. It shows the

percentage of people that use it for each section of educational purposes (Pizzuti et al.). As

shown in figure 2, one can see that most of the percent of people use Twitter for conference

highlights. It is also commonly used for research collaboration (Pizzuti et al.). One can also tell

by looking at figure 2 that there are multiple other educational uses for this social media
 Blain 10

platform. Most people wouldn’t expect a social media platform to be used for education,

however, it is used for education in multiple ways.

In conclusion, most social media apps such as Twitter and Instagram affect more parts of

our lives than people realize. These apps have a greater impact on our lives than people

acknowledge. Most people don’t even think about how they could possibly affect our lives other

than the most obvious reasons. Twitter and Instagram can affect our lives in multiple ways such

as communication, self image, mental health, time management, personal promotion, and

education. These effects are important to notice before one goes on to these main platforms and

lets them take over their life. Knowing these platforms and the effects that they have on people’s

everyday lives is important and is necessary to safely use social media.

Works Cited

Bellis, Mary. “How Was Twitter Developed and Who Invented It?” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 3

July 2019, www.thoughtco.com/twitter-1992538.

Campos, Gabby. “Instagram and Its Effect on Body Image.” Amherst Wire, Wire, Apr. 2016,

amherstwire.com/26484/lifestyle/instagram-and-its-affect-on-body-image/ .

Ehmke, Rachel. “How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers.” Child Mind Institute, Child Mind

Institute , 2 Mar. 2016, childmind.org/article/how-using-social-media-affects-teenagers/ .

Harrison, D. “George .D Harrison.” Instazood Instagram Bot, Publisher Name

InstazoodPublisher Logo, 16 Sept. 2019, instazood.com/blog/the-history-of-instagram/.

“How Heavy Use of Social Media Is Linked to Mental Illness.” The Economist, The Economist

Newspaper, 18 May 2018, www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/05/18/how-heavy-

use-of-social-media-is-linked-to-mental-illness.

"Is Social Media Your Friend? Instagram was launched in 2010 with just a handful of users.

Today, almost a billion people use the platform every month worldwide--but is that a

good thing?" Choices/Current Health, vol. 35, no. 3, Nov. 2019, p. 5. Gale In Context:

Opposing Viewpoints,https://link-gale-

com.sinclair.ohionet.org/apps/doc/A605011552/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=64277a5b. Accessed 28 Mar. 2020.

Jackson, Dominique. “12 Ways to Use Instagram for Small Business.” Sprout Social, Sprout

Social, 13 Feb. 2020, sproutsocial.com/insights/instagram-for-small-business/.

Kloth, Yasmin M., et al. "What Twitter teaches us about patient-provider communication on

pain." PLoS ONE, vol. 14, no. 12, 2019, p. e0226321. Gale In Context: Opposing

Viewpoints, https://link-gale-com.sinclair.ohionet.org/apps/doc/A609782071/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=e2d83ff3. Accessed 20 Mar. 2020.

Pizzuti, Adam, et al. “Healthcare Practitioners' Views of Social Media as an Educational

Resource.” PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, 6 Feb. 2020,

journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0228372.

Roose, Kevin. "To Curb Online Bullying, Instagram Has to Spot It." New York Times, 10 May

2019, p. B1(L). Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link-gale-

com.sinclair.ohionet.org/apps/doc/A584947674/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=80abbba3. Accessed 28 Mar. 2020.

Rosenstiel, Tom, et al. “Twitter and News: How People Use Twitter to Get News.” American

Press Institute, American Press Institute , 2 Sept. 2015,

www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/reports/survey-research/how-people-use-

twitter-news/.

"Social Media and Young People's Health: Are Alarmist Narratives Wrong?" The Chronicle of

Higher Education, vol. 66, no. 17, 17 Jan. 2020, p. A19. Gale In Context: Opposing

Viewpoints,https://link-gale-com.sinclair.ohionet.org/apps/doc/A613341109/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=134f6b38. Accessed 28 Mar. 2020.