The purpose of the thesis is to add my part to the growing list of researches about long term effects of the pandemic on different aspects of young people's lives. Instagram is one of the fastest growing social networks, and its influence on youth's mental health, behavior, habits, and opinions is significant. In order to study it, we must first understand, how young people use Instagram in their everyday life. My project was to research, if and how, did the pandemic influence this everyday use. A qualitative research has been done to discover the potential effect the pandemic had on the amount of time spent on Instagram, content young people searched for, and the opinion they have about Instagram. The results indicate that even though they spent more time on Instagram during the pandemic, it did not influence the time they spend online after it. The influence on the purpose they use Instagram for, was more apparent. While maintaining social relationships was the most important aspect of Instagram use, following famous people and influencers seemed to be the least relevant one. Updates that prioritize
sponsored posts and ads were not well accepted. While young people still use Instagram most, we cannot deny its decreasing, and TikTok's increasing popularity.
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