Why Do We Love Instagram So Much?

SOURCE: business insider

The economic principle I’m exploring is “Institutions are the ¨rules of the game¨ that influence choices.”  
My research question to help me study the economic principle is “How does the social media site Instagram influence users to buy specific products?” 

The article published in Business Insider titled “The Psychology of Why Instagram is so Addictive” demonstrates this economic principle by showing that the way Instagram is structured makes people stay on the app for longer.

First, the author, Drake Baer, talks about the culture of taking pictures, and why people feel the need to capture every moment that they think is “instagram worthy”. Baer states that “capturing images has been habit-forming for over a century”, and it stems from the anxiety that “if we don’t capture this moment it will disappear forever”. I have felt this myself, especially when on vacation or when I go to a special event or celebrate a birthday. I feel like if I don’t capture the moment, I will have nothing to remember and look back on in the future. When it comes to Instagram, I feel like I have to post something, whether it be on my story or an actual post, just so people know what i’m doing and so that I will stay in that “relevant media” circle. As Baer says, the “fear of missing out” drives people to post on Instagram, and scroll through their feed to see what others are doing as well.

Second, Baer states that the “immediate reward” of posting a picture and getting likes on it induces the endorphin “dopamine” in the brain that makes us feel happy and pleased. In turn, it makes users want to keep checking their post to see how many people liked it after an hour, or two hours, etc. This keeps the cycle of Instagram running; post, get likes, scroll, post, get likes, scroll, and it keeps on going. From personal experience, I check my Instagram the most often right after I post a picture because I continue to refresh the page to check how many likes I have gotten. It is honestly unhealthy when you think about it; it promotes the idea that we need validation in order to be happy with ourselves and our lifestyle.

Additionally, I would like to add my own theory to what keeps people on Instagram for longer, which is the explore page. The explore page on Instagram is filled with content from different comedians, makeup artists, fashion bloggers, travelers, etc. Each page is tailored to what the Instagram user likes, and it puts videos that would keep the user hooked. I know me and my friends can stay on the Instagram explore page for hours watching minute long comedy clips that we find entertaining. I think this was 100% invented so that people would stay on Instagram for the most amount of time they can. 

In my next blog post I will research the question: How does the social media site Snapchat hook users into using their app?