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? When 85% of our mental processes rely on our sense of sight, Instagram’s carefully cultivated news feeds and filtered photos can negatively…
Humans have evolved the ability to evaluate faces in a matter of milliseconds, which compounds the pressure of posting the best headshots to professional networking sites and the cutest pictures to your dating profile. People can make judgments about your attractiveness and personality based on elements like facial symmetry, the…
Even though we might be far away from global tragedies as they unfold, our minds tend to fixate on negative events. While doing so can help us learn to avoid danger, news fatigue can occur when we spend too much time absorbing negative content. Burnout has been a popular topic…
Humans haven’t yet adapted to facing their own reflection all the time, whether they’re looking into mirrors, taking selfies, or talking to their coworkers on Zoom. People now ask cosmetic surgeons to make their faces look more like their Instagram filters. Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a serious mental health…
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…
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…
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,…
When we think about kids and social media, our minds sometimes go to Facebook almost instantly. I’ve talked to a lot of parents in recent years who consider Facebook to be the face of social media, so their strategy for regulating it for their kids usually hinges on whether or…