What is social media? Social media is an interactive digital technology that people often use to exchange ideas using connection networks. We can do many things with this platform. One of the most popular social media is Instagram. Many young people in the world, especially youth in Malaysia, use this application to share or show their private lifestyle to their friends and strangers or say them as 'followers.'

First of all, we need to know the creator of Instagram and why this application existed in the first place. Kevin Systrom is the person that created Instagram. He made this in the first place because he loves photography. He wants to share his photos with all kinds of people in the world. Many people in the world start to use the same reason as Kevin. However, people begin to use the exact reason for another thing.

Nowadays, people will post their lifestyle even it is not their lifestyle using Instagram. People tend to show their 'fake' lifestyle just for the sake of gaining popularity and followers. People thought the more followers you have in your account, the more popular you will get. One of the actions people did to gain followers is by faking their life by showing a luxurious life through photos they shared on Instagram. Other than that, they will buy followers just to become 'fake famous.' They will pay someone to make their flowers increase little by little with a small amount of money. They were willing to sacrifice their money for the sake of fame.

Those kinds of actions can have much impact on the youth generation. "With social media, physical contrast is a real concern," someone stated. "On media platforms, we take it literally. Selfies with filters and editing applications, on the other hand, have now become the new norm." Low self-esteem, self-doubt, poor body image, and fear of losing out can result from constant comparison to unrealistic standards. Both males and females find it difficult to maintain up with the progress. "Trying to perfect your selfie pose and getting in shape is a huge amount of pressure," Lopacinski agreed. "Teens spend plenty of time having to live up to these false images and false expectations."

Although youths are reluctant to quit social media, there are reasonable ways to do it anyway. Lopacinski and other health professionals advocate for massive alerts that will arise when someone spends far too much time on a social network, as well as digitally altered image alarms.

Teens must take precautions to protect themselves — mainly when they are under pressure or experiencing increased symptoms of anxiety and depression as a product of using social media.

The first suggestion by a health professional is to keep mindful of the social influence of the mass media. "Are my shoulders raised and tight?" is a crucial point to consider. "Could I have a clenched jaw?" "Am I honestly happy and laughing or smiling when accessing the internet?" "How can I understand what I have been thinking?" "Am I bringing myself in this people's place?" "Does this make you feel better?" "Does any of this help?" "Do you think it is a reasonable use of my time?"

Besides, youths can also make a reminder when to use Instagram and any other social media. For those who want to stop using social media daily, this is indeed the best method. We can make a reminder to use them once in a while. This tactic also fits for other social media networks (for instance, "Snapchat Saturday" as well as "Twitter Tuesday").

Other than that, teenagers can also limit the time usage they spend on social media. For example, they can modify their time on Instagram to at least 30 minutes each day. This method is the same as the reminder method, but the difference is that you limit your days of usage for the reminder method. Nevertheless, for this method, you qualify your time on the hours spent on the media.

Last but not least, young teenagers can log in and check only when a notification is sent. This tactic can limit your interaction to close contacts and preventing mindless scrolling. Mindless scrolling can make you waste your time at the same drive you see through many things in the media.

In a nutshell, social media have both advantages and disadvantages, especially Instagram. Those kinds of things depend on the teenagers themselves. Lopacinski also added, "Teens really should know the best way to use social media in a significant way." "We should plan on using social media to communicate with communities and values that they trust in." Follow these suggestions if you or teenagers in your community are struggling with the impact of social media. Communicate to something like the doctor as soon as possible if you need assistance with a psychological problem like anxiety or depression.

Nurul Nadzirah binti Rosli