Anti-bullying charity “Ditch the Label” conducted a research whereby it suggested that social media is making youngsters more anxious.
According to the study, 40% said they felt bad if nobody liked their selfies and 35% said their confidence was directly linked to the number of followers they had.
Instagram was highlighted as having become the platform most used for mean comments.
7% of young social network users said they had been bullied on the Facebook-owned photo app.
That compared to a figure of 6% for Facebook itself, 5% for Snapchat and 2% for Twitter and YouTube.
One expert said children were growing up in "a culture of antagonism".
Instagram said it encouraged users to report bullying content.
"We know that comments posted by other people can have a big impact and that's why we have recently invested heavily in new technology to help make Instagram a safe and supportive place," said policy chief Michelle Napchan.
"Using machine learning technology, offensive comments on Instagram are now automatically blocked from appearing on people's accounts. We also give people the choice to turn off comments altogether, or make their own lists of banned words or emojis."
The survey, of more than 10,000 young people aged 12 to 20, suggested that cyber-bullying is widespread, with nearly 70% of youngsters admitting to being abusive towards another person online and 17% claiming to have been bullied online.
One in three said they lived in fear of cyber-bullying, with appearance cited as the most likely topic for abuse.
Nearly half (47%) said they wouldn't discuss bad things in their lives on social media and many offered only an edited version of their lives.