Name: Modern Social Media Fked Us Up
Uploaded: 2025-07-25T18:51:31.000Z
Duration: 13 min 4 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Hey, Psych2Goers, we asked our followers, what do you believe is the primary factor contributing to unhappiness in our world today?

We wanna take a good look at why this is and maybe figure out what to do about it.

We all seem to have a bit of a love-hate relationship with social media because while it feels like it's draining us of our time and robbing us of our self-esteem, we just can't seem to stop using it.

So buckle up because today we're taking a deep dive into how social media has messed us up and what we can do to take our power back.

Social media can attack your self-esteem on every front.

Sometimes it'll use your passion against you.

Well, this person is more creative than you and this person posts a new artwork every single day.

Social media can make you feel insignificant.

The sheer volume of things to see is overwhelming.

It might make you feel like you're constantly having to reassess your life.

The way social media affects our self-esteem has more to do with us and how we use social media than social media on its own.

There are multiple studies inspecting this exact phenomenon.

We typically tend to make upward comparisons, which is what makes us feel worse about ourselves.

How many times have you found out a celebrity is younger than you and felt that little sting that makes you worry you're completely off track?

How many times have you seen a terrible home renovation video, seething knowing you will never own a home?

That's an example of an upward comparison.

If you already have low self-esteem or are susceptible to things affecting your mood and self-esteem, social media is likely to make you feel worse.

Again, the way you use social media matters.

Social media can make you feel like you aren't a good artist, for example, or it can introduce you to incredible resources for improving and helpful communities of artists.

The same goes for fitness, career pursuits, family goals, or anything you might be passionate about.

You can use social media as a tool for personal growth.

If you only use Instagram to send memes to your friends, it probably doesn't have a huge effect on your self-esteem or your emotions.

Social media is really just a mirror prodding at the darker aspects of yourself.

If you are a self-conscious or jealous person, social media can use that against you.

We are in a position where we see all the best moments in the lives of our friends and peers.

Your reaction to this has everything to do with your relationship with your friends and rather little to do with social media.

Social media can become linked to our emotions, which explains why when we're extremely upset, we might want to delete our social media.

It means more to us than just deleting an app.

It's choosing to no longer participate in society.

You may have heard that social media is addictive.

That statement isn't just boomer propaganda.

Social media really does have addictive properties.

The notifications, the sounds, the layouts of social media apps are specifically designed to keep you on the app.

Have you noticed that when you try to leave TikTok, it shows you one more video before you can actually leave?

An article by psychologist and researcher, Dr. Christian Montag, revealed that the exact features designed to keep you on an app are the same features that make the app addictive.

Unfortunately for us, their methods for keeping your attention are a little too effective.

We don't even realize how much time we spend on our phones, yet the hours seem to vanish without us feeling it.

According to a study published in Behavioral Sciences, participants in the study were unable to accurately estimate the amount of time they spent on their phones.

There are points in the form of likes and progress in the form of that number of followers or views going up.

Shopping apps have also been gamified in their use of login rewards and coupon rewards for spending certain amounts.

We want that dopamine rush of our likes, comments, and followers blowing up and for our notifications to make our phones buzz in jubilation for a successful Instagram post.

If you suspect social media is eating your hours, try setting boundaries for yourself.

Assign certain hours for social media or try to keep your phone in another room when you need to be productive.

These addictive tactics serve a greater purpose than keeping us on the platform.

The way these platforms truly benefit is by showing us ads.

Social media is quickly becoming a funnel for consumerism.

We're being advertised to in ways we don't even realize.

Covert ads and sponsored content flood our feeds, nestled amongst the actual blatant ads.

The importance of brands and advertising can't be understated.

Sometimes, simply seeing someone with a product is more effective than a full advertisement.

A study published by the Association for Information Systems found that envy was the biggest driver behind product purchasing motivation on social media.

This is why products like Stanley Cubs and iPhones trend.

But industrial revolutions aren't built on advertising.

If your algorithms suspect you may be a slightly materialistic person, they will foster that and make sure that almost everything you see has something you might wanna buy.

Our emotional connections to media and brands make our nostalgia for these things extremely exploitable.

We're susceptible to tactics like retrobating, which can make us feel a range of negative emotions like anger or sadness over the supposed death of our childhoods.

These tactics throw us into a negative mindset, wishing they would make things the way they used to.

Algorithms can continuously feed you negative vibes.

Until you find yourself going down some very toxic rabbit holes.

It is a bizarre slippery slope that takes you from these new Star Wars movies aren't as good as the old ones to these new Star Wars movies are terrible because the world has drastically changed for the worse.

Your nostalgia was used against you to make you feel worse about the way things are.

This path was brought to you by algorithms, which realized that anger and hate will keep you on for longer.

An echo chamber is an environment where a person only encounters information or opinions that reflect and reinforce their own.

Computer science researchers, Matteo Cinelli and colleagues confirmed the existence of echo chambers on social media sites like Twitter, AKA X and Facebook, which are created through the algorithm and designed on the type of content you interact with.

Psychologists suggest that this is a dangerous situation for us to be in.

In an article conducted by researcher Dag Wallbeck and colleagues, they found that angry people are more likely to engage in online debates with people who have opposing views and people with similar views.

Angry reactions tend to limit you in many ways, such as seeking information and thinking with clarity.

This is why anxious people are less likely to engage in debates, but more likely to search for more information.

Both actions inform and affect the algorithm and contribute to forming echo chambers.

Echo chambers can apply to you no matter what you believe.

If you're interacting with things that make you want to defend what you believe, criticize what you don't like, or praise the things you do like, the algorithms for all of your favorite social media sites will show you more of it.

Psychologically, this means social media has a direct hand in influencing and enforcing your bias.

It also keeps you in a state of anger and fear.

This is the dark side of one of the best things about social media, community.

There are so many great ways to reach people and communicate with people online that can make you feel a sense of belonging.

So once again, we have to consider how we use social media.

Are we using it to argue with one another or to reach people and participate in healthy, friendly communities?

The instant gratification provided by the internet extends to how we contact our friends, family, and loved ones.

Being able to contact anyone at any time has done wonders for communication, but damaged our sense of privacy.

Knowing that your boss can text you and expect a reply after work hours is not good for us.

In romance, social media has become a part of the courting process.

We've all experienced or at least heard of the dreaded talking stage.

This is an example of social media becoming intertwined with the romantic process.

For some of us, our attachment styles and the ways we were raised affect our ability to use these new methods to our advantage.

If we struggle to reach out or initiate conversations, it can make the digital world incredibly quiet and lonely for us.