If you’ve ever opened your phone for “just a minute” and suddenly realized an hour has passed, you already understand the emotional gravity of social media. I’ve done it. Veida has done it. Most of us have done it. And that’s the problem — this little screen has become a portal into every emotion we never asked for: envy, comparison, self-doubt, anxiety, loneliness, and even fear.
In this segment of Party’s Over, Va and I sat down to talk honestly about the increasingly toxic culture of social media and why so many of us struggle to disconnec
Social media may have started as entertainment, but it has evolved into a highly persuasive editing booth. Behind every curated photo is a narrative of aspiration — luxury travel, perfect relationships, flawless skin, endless parties, spotless kitchens, yachts, handbags, success, and happiness.
Except here’s the truth: so much of it is staged, rented, filtered, gifted, or artificially amplified. People can create the illusion of a private jet with a set, rent designer clothing for a few dollars, borrow handbags, Photoshop their faces, or script their lives to feel more expensive than reality.
And yet… when we see it, even if part of us knows it’s artificial, our nervous system still reacts. The brain compares without permission.
Before you know it, you’re measuring your day against someone else’s imaginary highlight reel.
Social media can produce:
And that’s for adults with fully-formed brains. Imagine what this looks like for teenagers and children who have no emotional filters yet.
Vita and I talked about a major difference between traditional television and YouTube: network TV used to be curated. Kids' shows were vetted by gatekeepers.
YouTube Kids is not the same thing.
It is open-ended content created by anyone, anywhere, without consistent editorial review. A child can spend hours absorbing behavioral messages, emotional cues, role modeling, or commercial influences that a parent has no idea are happening.
What’s appropriate for one five-year-old may be entirely inappropriate for another. And parents who use it as a digital babysitter often don’t understand how quickly emotional imprinting occurs.
Our advice: monitor or restrict children's access, and don’t assume “Kids” mode guarantees safety or emotional fit.
We also discussed how some people fall into a pattern of doom-scrolling during moments of uncertainty: pandemics, financial stress, elections, crises, or even celebrity drama. One comment leads to another, one link leads to another, until your nervous system is overloaded and your breathing changes — and none of that happened in the physical world.
Your body responds as though you’re living the events personally, even if you’re safe at home.
That is the part no one talks about enough.
If you ever find yourself comparing, obsessing, spiraling, resenting, doom-scrolling, or feeling emotionally agitated after being online…step away.
You don’t need to delete every platform, but you can:
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Tell me: have you ever taken a break from social media? Did it help?
Your peace matters more than performance, more than perfection, more than any platform ever could.