TESH: Which Social Media App is Bad for Your Mental Health?

Pop Quiz: Which social media site is most likely to bum you out? Thinking Facebook? Surprisingly, the experts at Tech Insider say it’s Instagram! Because you’re constantly being bombarded with images of other people’s filtered, cropped, and perfect-looking lives. And social media depression is a real thing. It’s that feeling of, “Why is everybody else’s life so great and mine isn’t?” But there’s an easy way to enjoy Instagram without letting it bum you out: stop following people you don’t know in real life. Researchers at Pace University conducted a survey, and found that Instagram users who follow a higher ratio of strangers-to-friends are more likely to find themselves experiencing symptoms of depression. However, those who follow a higher ratio of friends-to-strangers associated Instagram with “positive social comparison.” So if Instagram is becoming an insta-bummer, try only looking at the feeds of people you actually know in real life. Share this breath of fresh social media air these days and listen for more intelligence from The John Tesh Radio Show!