U.S. & UK teens negative feelings originating Instagram 2019

An online survey conducted in 2019 asked teens in the United States and the United Kingdom about negative things they had felt in the last month that had had started as a result of using Instagram. Overall, 51 percent of U.S. teens and 39 percent of U.K. teens stated that wanting to create the perfect image had started on the social media platform. Over 40 percent of all teens that participated stated that the platform resulted in them not feeling attractive and feeling that they did not have enough money. In addition, seven to nine percent of teens reported that use of the platform evoked feelings of wanting to self-harm.

Negative feelings that originated after browsing Instagram according to teens in the United States and United Kingdom in 2019

Characteristic	United States	United Kingdom
How to create the perfect image	39%	51%
Not attractive	41%	43%
Don't have enough money	42%	42%
Don't have enough friends	32%	33%
Not good enough	24%	29%
Friends aren't really their friends	24%	25%
Have to be happy	17%	27%
Alone or lonely	21%	18%
Down, sad or depressed	10%	13%
Can't be honest about their	13%	8%
Wanted to kill themselves	6%	13%
Wanted to hurt themselves	9%	7%

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Release date

October 2019

More information

Region

United Kingdom, United States

Survey time period

2019

Number of respondents

2,503 respondents

Age group

13-17 years

Method of interview

Online survey

Supplementary notes

Original question: In the past month, have you felt or experienced any of the following? Please select all that apply.
❏ Feeling down, sad, or depressed
❏ Feeling alone or lonely
❏ Feeling like you wanted to hurt yourself
❏ Feeling like you wanted to kill yourself
❏ Feeling like you’re not good enough
❏ Feeling like you’re not attractive
❏ Feeling like you have to create the perfect image
❏ Feeling like you have to be happy
❏ Feeling uncomfortable being honest about your emotions or feelings
❏ Feeling like you don’t have enough money to buy the things you think will make you fit in
❏ Feeling like you don’t have enough friends
❏ Feeling like your friends aren’t really your friends
❏ None of these

Of the things you've felt in the past month, did any of them start on Instagram? Please select all that apply.
The source did not provide an exact date of survey.

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