The mental health impact of Instagram and TikTok on young adults by Jason Crosby | Jan 12, 2022 | Media Use, Mental Health Topics You’ve read it a thousand times: Social media apps can wreak havoc on our mental health. 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,…
Do you feel drained by negative news headlines? Learn to cope with news fatigue and cut back on doomscrolling by Jason Crosby | Sep 28, 2021 | Coping Skills, Media Use, Mental Health Topics Your shoulders are hunched and your breathing is shallow, thumb propelling you through a dismal newsfeed with expert strokes. Each headline spells disaster for another city, species, or group of people, and we sink a little deeper into the tarpit known as doomscrolling. It’s a familiar scene: Whatever you name…
Can we blame filters and “Instagram face” for body dysmorphic disorder? by Wistar Murray | Sep 27, 2021 | Disorders, Media Use, Mental Health Topics The other day I was watching an Instagram video of a woman’s nose job. (On Instagram, I’m always watching either cosmetic surgery before-and-afters or slow pans around dollhouse interiors.) The woman was adorable. Then she did this time-lapse thing with bandages on her nose and dark circles under her eyes….
Fifteen percent of parents don’t know what cyberbullying is—do you? by Ian Garland | Feb 3, 2020 | Bullying Awareness & Prevention, Mental Health Topics, Parenting Cyberbullying has become increasingly common in recent years, with 59% of American teens facing some sort of online harassment during 2018. Despite this, around 15% of parents still haven’t heard of cyberbullying, and some of those who have don’t really understand what it entails. With this in mind, we’ll share…
Contrary to Popular Belief, Social Media Can Have Positive Effects on Our Mental Health by Taylor Bennett | Dec 13, 2017 | Media Use, Mental Health Topics, Research Social media has gotten a bad rap lately: it’s been blamed for growing feelings of low self-esteem, loneliness, and bouts of depression. And not without warrant. Not only have users of the platforms reported these negative effects, but studies have shown that social media is, indeed, a likely culprit of…
New Algorithm Can Determine Whether or Not an Instagram User Is Depressed by Taylor Bennett | Aug 23, 2017 | Depression, Media Use, Mental Health Topics Instagram—a beloved social media platform, which allows people to share their favorite memories with their friends, from pictures of their most recent whereabouts to pictures of the immaculate ice cream cone they’re trying right now. This picture-based design certainly sets it apart from other platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter,…