Instagram has become the must-use app for teens and preteens, with 76 percent of teens using it regularly (according to a survey by Piper Jaffray). It also has become a prime tool for its users to measure their popularity and feed their own anxieties, monitoring likes, analyzing comments and posting during peak viewing times.

“That’s not what the app creators intended, of course, but it does make psychological sense,” writes Time‘s Rachel Simmons. “As they become preteens, research shows that girls’ confidence takes a nosedive. Instagram, then, is a new way for girls to chase the feeling of being liked that eludes so many of them. Instagram becomes a popularity meter, and teens learn to manipulate the levers of success.” (Time)

Paul Asay has written for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for PluggedIn and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He recently collaborated with Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, on his book The Good Dad. He lives in Colorado Springs with wife, Wendy, and his two children. Check out his entertainment blog or follow him on Twitter.