Research: Adolescents use social media to post about self-injury
As the debate over social media’s oversized influence on children rages, new research from the University of Georgia suggests another online hazard is growing: self-injury posts on Instagram.
Researchers found that posts with hashtags related to self-injury rose from between 58,000 to 68,000 at the start of 2018 to more than 110,000 in December. It’s become such a problem that some social media platforms have policies and will take down content glorifying self-injury. But, in many cases, those posts have to be reported first.
“I jumped on Instagram yesterday and wanted to see how fast I could get to a graphic image with blood, obvious self-harm or a weapon involved,” said Amanda Giordano, lead author of the study and an associate professor in the Department of Counseling and Human Development Services. “It took me about a minute and a half.”