A study from the U.S. has found if someone you know is frequently posting Insta-snaps in darker colours, it might be a sign they’re experiencing depression.
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One important thing to note is that the researchers were able to detect these “depressive signals” as they called them in posts made even before the date of first diagnosis.
The type of filter an individual uses on their Instagram images can give an indication of their mood, according to a new study.
They were also more likely to post photos with faces but, on average, the images contained fewer faces than those posted by healthy individuals who preferred tints that lighten such as “Valencia”.
Danforth identified that filter as Inkwell, which makes photos darker; devoid of color.
Instagrammer Casi Madsen was taking pictures of a latte Wednesday at her employer, Speeder & Earl’s, a coffee hotspot on Pine Street in Burlington. Hue refers to the place on a 360-degree color wheel, brightness from black to white, and saturation to what photographers call “colorfulness” or the intensity of a color.
So you’re probably wondering, what’s the point of all this?
With the findings said to “suggest new avenues for early screening and detection of mental illness”, it’s definitely something to be aware of when you’re scrolling through your friends’ photos.
But users like Madsen may actually be sharing more than they realized.
Your choice of Instagram filter – or #nofilter – could reveal more about you than you realise, scientists have warned. “I just think it’s nice that you can see everybody’s character that they portray, and you can see how their year is changing, like through the colors of the seasons their photos were taken in”.
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In other words, pictures that were bluer, grayer and darker.
