Anderson Cooper: Instagram depresses me

Anderson Cooper says Instagram leaves him feeling depressed.

The 54-year-old CNN presenter admits there are elements of the photo and video sharing social media platform which he enjoys but often he logs off feeling worse about his own life than when he logged in.

He said: ““I’m on Instagram and I enjoy it. I follow friends and look at art sites and things like that. But I gotta say, it depresses me. I mean, I leave feeling worse than when I got on.”

The presenter was speaking on his show ‘Anderson Cooper 360’, in conversation with Syracuse University’s Associate Professor of Communications Jennifer Grygiel about the effects of social media on teens.

She told Anderson: “What we’re seeing on Instagram is an imminent threat to teenagers. I am seeing self-harm. I’m talking about starvation … teenagers cutting themselves.”

Anderson went on to admit that he sympathises with the teenagers today, after the report claimed that “teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression” and that the findings were “unprompted and consistent across all groups.”

He added: “I feel worse about my own life, I cannot imagine what a teenager feels. I mean, I’m supposedly an adult. What some kid feels looking at other people’s lives and how their lives seem much more exciting than their own.”

The interview came about after finds of a report released by a whistle-blower at Facebook claimed that almost a third of girls asked had admitted to questioning their body image after using the Instagram platform.

It read: ““32 per cent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse.”