Instagram is an app that rapidly gained popularity since it was launched on October 6, 2010, and has continued to grow ever since.    

This social media app allows users to share photos and videos from their lives, add captions, edit with filters, tweak settings, engage with others and explore the internet. According to Vox.com, Instagram users average 53 minutes online every day. Instagram can be a very addictive app, but still, there are many different things you don’t know about this interesting social media platform.

The communication feature of Instagram is a great way to open up and make new friends with people you want to know. For example, seventh-grader Dalilah Epley states that, “You can communicate with friends.” This is a positive aspect of Instagram because you can make new friends and interact with old ones. However, communicating on Instagram is not always a safe form of chatting, since there are strangers as well, which is why privacy settings are so important.  

Using this app is not always beneficial, despite how amusing it can be. Instagram is also an easy way to get cyber bullied. You may get cyber bullied when posting a picture or video, posting on your story, or writing comments. When you do something on a social media platform such as Instagram, you have to realize you are posting it to the world and your followers.

If you don’t want strangers following you, trying to communicate with you, or saying mean things about you, then you should switch your account to private mode. Private mode can allow you to make sure random people are not following you, so when they try to follow you they have to request a follow and you have the option to accept it or decline it.

Seventh-grader Jordan Gurrero states, “There are so many people trying to talk to me and I don’t even know them.’’ Clearly, there are dangers to using Instagram and it is not always the best use of your free time. Instagram, like so many other apps, has it’s share of positive and negative qualities, but it will continue to attract generations of young kids as long as it is active.