I will admit, I jumped head-first into the world of social media just as quickly as anybody else. Granted, that was in 2003 when I created a profile on Friendster. Remember Friendster? If you were born before 1972 or after 1982, I doubt it. It was Facebook before there was Facebook. But unlike Facebook, which went on to make its founder the sixth richest person in the world (as of late 2025), Friendster sold for only $27 million.
Aside from the fortuitous inequities of entrepreneurship, where being lucky is preferable to being best, there is the tragic memory of what social media once promised:
- The ability to stay connected — in a more intimate way than we were used to — with friends and family around the globe.
- The change to connect with strangers who shared our interests.
- The formation of a global online community that went far beyond the information-sharing already taking place online.
Alas, just as Google has devolved from “don’t be evil” to consistently violating users’ privacy, being racist, monopolizing entire industries, and killing the digital publishing industry, Facebook — er, “Meta” — has gone from providing a possibly helpful online community to pioneering the commoditization our personalities to serve hyper-targeted ads, weaponizing our own dopamine systems to keep us addicted to endless scrolls of contrived voyeuristic content that leaves us feeling worse about ourselves than ever, and sowing division and conspiracy theories that have brought this country close to civil war.
Of course, other social media companies are no less culpable. TikTok’s mind-reading algorithm hijacks our brains better than anything while X and similar apps amplify the world’s most toxic voices, 140 characters at a time.
As a therapist-in-training, it’s not just social media’s polarizing effects, consumerist brainwashing, or degradation of our intellects with vapid content; it’s the devastating impact it has on mental health.
Rates of depression and anxiety in the United States had been mostly stable throughout the 2000s. According to some studies, they jumped nearly 50 percent between 2010 and 2019. The suicide rate among adolescents aged 10 to 19 rose 48 percent. And for girls aged 10 to 14, it climbed a whopping 131 percent. The Atlantic puts it bluntly: “The environment in which kids grow up today is hostile to human development”.
Due to a confluence of incomplete brain development and developmentally increased self-consciousness, social media disproportionately harms teens. But adults aren’t immune. Studies indicate a significant positive correlation between depression and social media use in adults. I don’t think it requires a Ph.D. to understand why.
For one, both social media likes and rapidly cycling through a personalized stream of short videos flood our brains with dopamine every few seconds. Neurologically, it’s hardly different a lab rat hitting a button every 5 seconds to get a hit water laced with cocaine. Just as scary, the content that gets traction on social media depicts extremes of the human experience we are far less likely to encounter in real life. We’re not supposed to see the intimate details of strangers’ multi-million-dollar lifestyles, supermodel-beautiful women’s skincare routines, or horrific violence occurring 10,000 miles away. It’s impossible to avoid comparing ourselves to others we have nothing in common with or feel frightened by events occurring in other countries. All the while, consuming this toxic content drives us further and further from the here-and-now and our opportunity to connect with other people, the natural world, and ourselves.
If there’s one small thing you can do for your mental health, it’s delete social media. It’s not always possible, I know. The same apps have become so intertwined in how we function many of us reply upon them for business or to stay connected with family, friends, and community groups. And while I’m obviously in favor of limiting teens’ access to and time on social media, I also recognize that avoiding social media completely can lead to social isolation.
There’s no winning here. Using social media takes a toll on the human spirit. Avoiding it completely can leave us disconnected. Welcome to the future.