There is no doubt that social media has played a significant role in shaping the minds and lives of today's generation. Simply Google "effects of social media" and thousands of articles appear on the subject. The results are overwhelmingly negative. What about the positive? Who is writing about the accounts made specifically to spread positivity? I run my own Instagram account to spread positive posts. Positive posts range from quotes, photos, advice, and more that are meant to inspire and make others happy. There are many others like mine. I conducted a survey among 52 accounts like mine and want to share the results.

I found that most accounts are run by one person, but some are shared by two or more people. 48% of the survey participants were between the ages of 14 and 16 years old, and some were as young as 12. The majority of account owners are females, but awareness for males is increasing.

When asked why they started their account, many had the same answers. People want to raise awareness for mental health and they genuinely want to make other people happy by sharing what makes them happy. The helping goes hand-in-hand from owners to followers. Every single respondent replied that their account affects them in a positive way. Some owners have personal struggles of their own. These struggles include depression, anxiety, victim of bullying, self harm, eating disorders, OCD, and many more. Other owners run their account to make other people happy.

These accounts grow by supporting each other. We celebrate others progress in recovery, post each other's original writing, and follow other accounts like ours. These accounts for my community of support where anyone can feel safe to talk, ask advice, or have a friend.

There are so many young people working to make a positive impact in the world. My personal account is @lifequotedinwords. I share posts from a variety of other accounts. I encourage others to seek out these types of account. I want to raise awareness that there are people out there willing to lend a listening ear and they share posts that may help you.