….what social media is doing beneath the surface.
I don’t think we talk enough about how emotionally noisy social media can be.
You go online for a few minutes and somehow leave carrying emotions that weren’t even yours to begin with.
Do you ever open an app and immediately feel heavy? Not because anything happened to you personally, but because of everything you’ve absorbed without even realizing it?
There was a point where every time Instagram suggested a Threads post for me to check out, it was an obituary announcement. Every single time. It got so frequent that I genuinely started wondering if Threads was created for announcing deaths.
At first, it seemed harmless. Something I could easily scroll past.
But eventually, I noticed the ripple effect.
Sometimes I’d give in to the temptation of opening the post and reading through the comments. My heart would break for the grieving family and friends. And while empathy is beautiful, constantly consuming sorrow leaves residue. It left me with this lingering sense of gloom and doom. A heaviness I couldn’t explain.
It was shaping something in me unconsciously, and I didn’t like it.
So I reported the suggestions as troubling, and thankfully, they stopped appearing.
That experience further strengthened my conviction that our minds are far more absorbent than we think.
My dear generation, it is time to shut out the noise.
We are living in an extremely loud era. Everyone has something to say, but not everything deserves access to your mind. Not everything is valuable. And honestly, a lot of what trends online is junk. Entertaining perhaps, but still unhealthy for the soul.
Your mind is sponge-like. It is soaking things in constantly.
And as you behold, you become.
Even when you insist it’s “not that deep.”
Think about it.
You’re casually scrolling one evening and a random sound bites at your attention. Later that day, you catch yourself humming it unconsciously.
You see a joke targeted at mocking people, and eventually you begin laughing too because, after all, “it’s just content.”
You repeatedly consume opinions, ideologies, outrage, gossip, and cynicism. Slowly, subtly, you start aligning with values that were never originally yours.
Not intentionally or immediately. But gradually.
That’s how conditioning works.
The same way affirmations work through repetition. The same way habits are formed. Repeated exposure eventually shapes belief, behavior, and perspective.
The dangerous part is that most times, you don’t even notice it happening.
You think you’re not becoming what you’re beholding until people begin pointing out changes in you, or you catch yourself sounding unfamiliar to yourself.
That thin line between right and wrong starts becoming blurry, and you never really know the exact moment you crossed it.
So, How Do We Handle This?
♤ Pull the plug sometimes
Take a social media fast.
Not because social media is inherently evil, but because constant consumption leaves little room for stillness. Focus on real life again. Go outside. Have uninterrupted conversations. Sit with your thoughts without needing background noise every second.
There will always be another gist. Another trending topic. Another scandal. Another discourse.
The internet never runs out of noise.
♤ Use the mute button unapologetically
One feature I deeply appreciate on platforms like Instagram, X, and Facebook is the mute feature.
The moment I notice that certain conversations, trends, topics, or posts are disturbing my peace or shaping my thinking negatively, I mute them. Certain names. Certain keywords. Certain pages.
And honestly, it helps more than people admit.
Because there’s a way constant exposure to conversations about cheating, divorce, gender wars, trolling, outrage, and chaos slowly pulls you in emotionally. Before you know it, you’ve picked a side, become emotionally invested, and started living in a cycle of online agitation.
It’s a rabbit hole.
Protect your mind early.
And if muting doesn’t work, block freely.
You do not owe toxicity access to you.
♤ Avoid comment sections sometimes
That place is an actual ghetto most days.
One thing I consciously try to do is form my opinion before entering the comments. I read the caption first. I watch the video first. I process my own thoughts first.
Because many times, while the video is still playing, people rush straight to the comments. And before they know it, the comments have already interpreted the content for them.
You may think your reaction is your own, but often, it has been heavily influenced by the loudest opinions in the room.
Some comment sections are fueled by hate, mockery, cruelty, and mob mentality. Sometimes people enter comments specifically looking for others to “drag” someone so they can join in too.
That is not a healthy way to live.
♤ Curate your online environment intentionally
Your feed is not just entertainment. It is an environment.
And environments shape people.
Follow people who inspire depth, wisdom, creativity, kindness, growth, and truth. If an account constantly leaves you anxious, angry, insecure, cynical, or emotionally drained, ask yourself why you keep giving it access to your mind.
Not every room deserves your presence, even digital ones.
♤ Learn to sit with silence again
Many people are overstimulated and don’t even realize it.
There is always something playing. Something scrolling. Something buzzing. Something trending.
Silence now feels uncomfortable for many people because we’ve trained ourselves to constantly consume.
But silence is where clarity grows.
You need moments where your thoughts are actually yours again.
♤ Be careful what you normalize
Repeated exposure has a way of making unhealthy things feel ordinary.
Things that once shocked people are now casually laughed at because constant exposure slowly weakens conviction.
Guard your heart intentionally.
Not fearfully. Not self-righteously. Just wisely.
Because whether we admit it or not, what we consume consistently eventually consumes us too.
And truly, as you behold, you become.
Ok Bye!
