Owned by parent company Meta (what was once known as Facebook), Instagram is an app that has arguably garnered the most negative attention for its mental health effects in recent years. There can’t be a conversation about the connection between social apps and mental health without Instagram. So if social media isn’t going away AND we know that it has the potential to cause harm, maybe understanding how and why Instagram and TikTok can affect our mental health can help us counteract the negatives, and cultivate the positives instead. We’re all partially “woke” to the fact that we’re becoming absorbed and some argue that social apps are a necessary evil with some benefits, just like paying taxes or college pre-requisite courses. Phones are a gateway to social interactions these days, and Instagram and TikTok are two heavyweights with considerable mental health impacts. When that little black rectangle remains silent and dormant, it can feel like no one cares about us, much less remembers that we exist. Many of us (if not all) have heard that distant “ding” that resonates off the kitchen counter and experienced the sudden surge of curiosity - only to discover it’s a spam message, or worse, a post from our ex showing off their new partner.
You’ve read it a thousand times: Social media apps can wreak havoc on our mental health. Mental health professionals have found widespread appeal on TikTok, and mental health subjects have become destigmatized, thanks to the platform’s emphasis on quick, emotionally impactful content.Standing in sharp contrast to Instagram, though, TikTok has been a contemporary example of responsible stewardship, as far as social media platforms are concerned.TikTok may increase one’s risk of developing an actual tic and may lower attention spans in users who spend more than 90 minutes a day on the app.Long-term use of Instagram is also associated with an elevated risk of developing an eating disorder, as well as depression.When 85% of our mental processes rely on our sense of sight, Instagram’s carefully cultivated news feeds and filtered photos can negatively impact a user’s self-esteem, body image, and partner satisfaction.Instagram and TikTok are two of the most popular apps for Gen Z and Millenials - but what are the negative effects and do they outweigh the positives?.
Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. Our findings highlight the potential for older adults to be put at the vanguard of a movement aimed at challenging socially constructed notions of old age.Īging narratives Content analysis Self-portrayals of aging Social construction of old age Social media. This is the first known study exploring how older adults consciously engage in discourses of aging through their participation on TikTok.
Three themes emerged: Nearly 3 in 4 videos featured older adults "Defying Age Stereotypes" (71% Theme 1), 18% featured them "Making Light of Age-Related Vulnerabilities" (Theme 2), and 11% involved older adults "Calling out Ageism" (Theme 3). Both inductive and deductive approaches guided the qualitative analysis. Videos that did not feature older adults engaging in discourses on aging were excluded, resulting in 348 videos for content analysis. We compiled the most viewed videos of users aged 60 and older with at least 100,000 followers, generating 1,382 videos with over 3.5 billion views. We fill this gap by exploring how older adults use TikTok to engage in discourses on old age. Despite their immense sway over audiences, as well as their potential to reconfigure socially constructed notions of aging, these older TikTok personalities have been given scant attention in gerontological literature. Although reputed for being the virtual playground of teenagers, TikTok has since made its way to older adults, some of whom have become content creators with millions of followers.
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