Why Social Media is Poison to Society

It’s easy to get lost in the highlight reels of others, feeling like you’re falling behind even when you’re doing objectively well. Looking up at everyone else’s curated lives often leads to a false sense of inadequacy. Social media bludgeons society with that feeling.

Back in the 90s, keeping up with the Joneses meant your actual neighbors. That was already enough pressure. Now we've handed people devices pipes in the entire world's highlight reel 24/7 and told them "good luck!" And it's WAY worse for teens.

The data isn't subtle. Teens who spend more than 3 hours a day on social media face double the risk of depression and anxiety — and the average teen is already at 3.5 hours a day. According to JAMA, teens spending more than 5 hours online daily are 64% more likely to have attempted suicide than those at one hour or less.

A 2025 study found that 40% of depressed and suicidal youth reported problematic social media use defined as feeling genuinely upset when they couldn't log on. And 34% of teen girls say social media makes them feel worse about their own lives. (Pew Research)

This is a public health crisis. @mikethelummox
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