Soul Snacks 📱

3.5 minute read

Dear Snackers,

I am on social media a fucking lot. Mostly I am on there because it is my job, but I get sucked into unnecessary scrolling all of the time, too. If I go on Instagram to post something and see an interesting or funny post, I may get derailed for another 10 or 15 minutes, multiple times a day – the algorithm wins again. 

I have somewhat of a niche perspective on social media because it is what I do, and as a function of that, I am connected to other people who are making a living on social media, or who’s presence on social media is crucial to their jobs. For those reasons, I would consider myself reasonably “up” on what is happening on social media most of the time. I’m familiar with trending audios, trending videos and trending topics. Sometimes I bring up certain topics with friends and family that I often feel are constantly being shoved in my face and I’m surprised to find out that those who are not on social media haven’t even seen much about certain topics . A prime example of this is perimenopause—where I am flooded with all the latest information surrounding perimenopause—hormone therapy, supplements and fitness or nutritional suggestions for perimenopausal women, etc.—some women I know in real life haven’t concerned themselves with it, and it dawns on me that hot topics on social media are not always as amplified in real life as they seem. Some of what I’ve learned on social media has been really helpful for me, for instance, after a few years of experiencing heavy emotional swings (more anxiety and irritability) for at least a week and a half leading up to getting my period, I started using HRT, which has greatly changed the way I feel, for the better. Had I not learned so much about HRT through the onslaught of perimenopause content being served to me, I might still be considering leaving my family or moving to a farm for a couple of weeks out of every month. 

In other areas, however, such as our political landscape, I see almost all negative outcomes stemming from social media. In general, most content sources on social media have a goal of retaining high engagement, and often, the way to do that is to post inflammatory content. People are incensed by politics these days and have made it a large part of their identities, and somehow we’ve managed to turn things that should be totally non-political, like health, into something totally political. The echo chambers get louder and louder and the trolling and keyboard-warriors become more and more vicious, meanwhile someone’s engagement rate and click rate is blowing up. The loudest voices on social media seem to care less about change, and more about leaning harder into their own beliefs, but you can’t change the direction of the car without turning the wheel. I don’t expect people not to have strong opinions about politics, it’s a rightfully heated topic in many cases, but political content on social media always seems more toxic and extreme than when you talk politics with someone who doesn’t spend a lot of time on social media, or consuming biased media.

Social media has a unique way of blowing things out of proportion—for instance, I was listening to Elise Loehnen’s podcast yesterday where she interviewed Dan Savage, a journalist, author and podcaster in sex advice, and a leading advocate in the LGBTQ community. The podcast itself was about monogamy, but during part of their conversation they discussed the confusion surrounding the topic of pronouns and non-binary people. Dan, who I found to take a level-headed stance on the topics discussed, said that, a lot of the voices in the non-binary space on social media are the loudest and most sensitive, but he explained that almost all of his non-binary friends are understanding and not offended when well-meaning people make mistakes about pronouns and gender. The loudest voices on social media often exacerbate intolerance on both sides. 

Speaking of intolerance, it turns out the human body is not equipped to handle a shipping container’s worth of protein, daily. I have heard from more than one person online that they have developed kidney stones from the overconsumption of protein, and the lack of balancing other macronutrients, like carbs. One of the people who told me this happens to be an incredibly well-educated women’s health specialist, which just goes to show, the more you hear about a certain topic, the more extreme your behaviors might become surrounding that topic even when, deep down, you freaking know better. We are so heavily influenced sometimes, that it can be hard to see past the noise.

I’ll say this: I love social media. I love sending funny videos back and forth with friends and family. I have meaningfully connected with people from my past that I would never have been able to contact without social media, and I have found, within my Instagram page, an incredible community of thoughtful, funny and smart people who have been wonderfully supportive. Nothing in life can be all good, however, and there is certainly an abundance of darkness on social media. My hope is, at the very least, to teach my kids, who are the up-and-coming generation of social media users, to get wise enough to understand that there are two-sides to every coin and to take everything you see, read and hear on social media, or in the regular media, with a grain of salt. Someone is always benefitting from extreme thoughts and behaviors, and it’s usually not us. Your beliefs don’t have to fit into a box, the ability to keep an open mind is a sign of intelligence, and virtue is sometimes just ignorance in disguise. Also, fuck the Elf on the Shelf.

-Caitlin