Social Media and Anxiety: Navigating the Double-Edged Sword

You say social media is the source of anxiety for you, and as strange as this sounds, social media is not a requirement for your existence. That made you anxious. The benefits, especially for my generation, we grew up with it. You could follow and connect with these people. It was really innocent at first. In the past, you heard that there’s eight degrees of separation with social media, there’s gotta at least be one. You learn a lot on social media, whether it’s about anxiety and depression or just how to cook food. I think it’s a wonderful way to stay connected. The problem with these apps, they are made to be addictive. You see the algorithm start to pick up on what makes you anxious, what makes you start scrolling even more. The body image side can be really harmful as well. I don’t know anyone who isn’t impacted by that. Whenever you’re viewed as a number and not as a person with a soul. What I think is really, really damaging is the algorithms that are designed to not only entice you, but to keep you scrolling and ultimately addict you. We have the option to do good, and we have the option to not do good. And I’d like to call on the social media companies to do better. I mean, it’s not going anywhere. It’s only gonna grow bigger and bigger.