I read a book by Steven Bartlett this week that I couldn't put it down. If you're not familiar with Steven, he's a British-Nigerian entrepreneur and podcaster (one of my fav podcasts). In the book he dismantles the most popular takes about happiness, and talks about why we're chasing the wrong things and asking the wrong questions.
While the book has nothing to do with social media, there was one chapter (Stop Keeping up w/ the Kardashians) dedicated to it that resonated with me--especially as someone with a public platform who is constantly worried about using it irresponsibly.
Steven shares a fictitious example of a young girl consuming influencer content, like that of Kylie Jenner, and how she's unaware that her bouts of depression and insecurity are coming from her social media consumption. She'll say she loves watching Kylie Jenner because it's fun without realizing the destructive mental cost of that “entertainment.” Following Kylie Jenner and 100's of seemingly fake perfect influencers like her, Steven argues, is an act of mental self harm. He goes on to share the sobering statistic that over ⅓ of those seeking plastic surgery come with screenshots of pictures of filtered influencers they want to look like. He goes on to talk about the popular app Facetune and filters, and how destructive they've become. A direct quote below.
"Our timelines have become our libraries, and they're now one of the greatest influences over how we think and how we feel. Unfollow fake, negative, and uninspiring influencers and follow real, honest, and positive ones. Upgrade your library….Despite how entertaining it might be to observe someone's manufactured superiority in the short term, an unavoidable consequence of doing so in the long term is an increased chance of misery. Compare and despair syndrome and an inferiority complex so crippling it might tempt you to create and project onto others the same false flawlessness that caused you to feel so inadequate in the first place.
And not just online, block these people in real life….ignore the hustle porn gurus that sell you their get rich schemes on the same basis that Kylie sells hundreds of millions of dollars of cosmetics, i.e. that you are naturally inadequate. Make your content smaller, healthier, and more real. I mean this when I say it, it might just save your life."
On this note, sharing one of my most popular blog posts on this topic HERE. 
