Happy & Healthy

Insta knows whether you are depressed or not

Gucci sneakers with silver studs that make you drool a little, a sunset to sigh over so pink or a snap of the fabulous food from that one star chef. And then I look up and the dirty dishes are still in the kitchen. Those sneakers need to start racking up miles before they end up in my closet. The sky is a grim anthracite gray. Everything is a bit dirtier, duller, and messier in real life than on Insta. Duh, because cleaning and makeup artists have to get to work when we throw a little scene into the digital world. But there you go, because you can't fool a Harvard professor with that stylish Instagram feed. They can read from your photos exactly whether you're heading towards a depression or are already in the midst of one.

At my most passionately moody, I get a bit angry at the beauty of a toppled nail polish bottle, with such a lovely puddle. Or that she stands in the photo like a Doutzen copy with her lips slightly apart. I understand that your little creation looks a bit colorless after those artworks on Insta. And that everything there is spot on to the centimeter while it looks at your home as if a mob has stormed your house. If you stare long enough at those staged pictures, you won't feel any better on those not-so-great days. But that it can be the other way around, I don't know.

But how then? Be warned, with this Instagram obsession, there's a chance you might be one of the unfortunate ones.

Scientists from Harvard worked on an algorithm that can detect depressions based on your photos on Instagram. And in seventy percent of the cases, they were spot on with their judgment. This involves color analysis, metadata, and facial analysis. They unleash this on all those carefully curated posts of yours, and voilà. The researchers even knew before the official diagnosis whether someone was suffering from depression.

But how then? Be warned, with this Instagram obsession, there's a chance you might be one of the unfortunate ones. Depressed Instagram users love darkness (sounds logical) and then blue and gray are favorites. And the filters Inkwell (gray) and Crema (sad yellow) are the risk factors that indicate the Insta danger zone. A big help, because this way the professors demonstrate depressions at an early stage.
A little worried about your Insta use and what signal it sends out to the world? If the color (oh, thank God) bursts from the screen, then there's nothing wrong. And if you paint a little Valencia over it, then you're one of the happiest acorns on Instagram.

Written by Adeline Mans