The effects of Instagram on young minds.

Michelline Nawatises
Selma Niilenge



In the olden days young children did not have access to the internet reason being the internet only being accessible on smartphones or updated devices and not many of them had that. The world has changed and most of the internet and all its features now belong to the young people.

Instagram is an application whereby anyone can share their pictures on and also be able to connect to different kinds of people all over the world. It is also a competitive site aswell whereby one wants to have more followers than the other. While worrying about all this, when do young people mostly school going learners find the time to prepare for school? Instagram can be a very addictive application, it never gets old thus affects the learners in a very indefensible way.

Academically they drop reason being them paying more attention to this application. Learners tend to know more about what is happening and trending on instagram meanwhile their educational knowledge is being lessened. The time that they should be spending with family by interacting is abducted by more time on Instagram. ( They focus more on being an active user other than completing chores at home or fulfilling their responsibilities) When using devices with bright light for Instagram or anything else for a long period of time , it damages the yellow spot mainly known as the fovea centralis which is responsible for the sharp vision of the eye.

It makes you feel dizzy and can also make you obtain a headache, continuing to be using devices this much can easily divert to a constant migrane which is bad and can cause blindness because it is a cause of something that happened in the eye. The intense usage of Instagram can also change who you are, you might have been an extrvert that talked to everyone and liked to socialize but now that you are focused more on what is happening on Instagram you become an introvert that doesn’t socialize anymore at school or anywhere, just waiting to log onto the application.

The SSS Times spoke with grade 12 learner Yasseria Aoses about her experience with the social media application.

She explains that the experience is bittersweet. “Instagram has quite a few advantages, but it has affected me in a bad way.”

The app has affected her productivity. “When I mostly concentrate on Instagram, I give less time to my school work, I procrastinate a lot since I am busy on Instagram.”

She explains that perceived negativity drives her creativity. “It is really not stressful when you I lose a follower because that basically shows that I have to top up my game by uploading beautiful pictures and make a better theme to attract more followers.”

Aoses explains that the commonly discussed problems with social media are not a bother to her. “For the past 5 years that I have been on Instagram, I have never been cyber bullied. For those that would really be interested in Instagram, open an account and post what makes you happy, Instagram isn’t about followers, likes or how many comments you get, it is about sharing your secret world with other international people.”

Grade 11 learner, Ndapanda Ulamba, does not experience the same problems as Aoses. “It really does not affect my school life at all because I know how to handle myself when I have got technology around me. Yes as a teenager you want to know what is popping and also who is in a relationship. I limit myself from social media, I am not on Instagram every day I give more attention to my school work. It can pull your whole attention away and also cause trouble by wanting to attend parties or events just because of a specific person that is attending.”

Aoses and Ulamba can however agree that safety is not much of a concern to them. “I certainly feel very safe on that site reason being you can turn your account from public to private also if offensive things are posted you can report it as inappropriate or underage,” says Ulamba.

Like her grade 12 counterpart, Ulamba does not sweat pressures. “Loosing a follower is really nothing. Yes you do want to up your game as in 100k followers or more but for my side no, followers don’t mean a thing to my life.”

Ulamba advises a strict timetable and restricting phone time.

All these undesirable challenges can therefore be avoided by limiting the time learners spend on Instagram.