Someone made a good point on a recent episode on the NYT's Hard Fork podcast. They were discussing how the social media scare is similar to the moral panic in the 90s and early 2000s over video games. And millions of kids played all those violent games relentlessly and we didn't collapse as a society.

However, one of the hosts pointed out a big difference today that wasn't the case back then. Those of us who played things like Mortal Kombat or GTA rolled our eyes at the supposed dangers. But with social media, lots of young people will openly state that they think it is harmful for their mental health. They will remove it from their devices and swear it off and many end up going back to it. So there is something obviously different now.

A lot of that depression seems to be root-caused to teens comparing themselves to their peers.

In 2018 "obesity prevalence was [...] 21.2% among 12- to 19-year-olds." [1] according to the CDC. That's one out of 5 being obese, not just overweight. And it has more than tripled since the 70's [2]. I have to wonder if it's related. A lot of teenagers are bombarded with images of their peers' perfectly healthy bodies that, quite simply, won't match what they see in the mirror. The solution? Ban mirrors.

[0] https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html

[1] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/obesity_child_15_16/obe...

I suffer from depression and extremely low self esteem.

The problem with social media is that the entire world becomes a source of envy and comparison.

Yes, even with traditional media, I would look up to the few selected celebrities and feel inferior to them.

But now, it gets worse when I see that even the boy next door is better looking than I am, which makes me feel less than average and unworthy of being alive.