Comment by pembrook

> my experiences don’t look like the Instagram shots, my body doesn’t look like theirs, etc

Zero difference from the reality TV/tabloid era. "Influencer" is just a rebranding of "celebrity," and instead of seeing their Hollywood Hills mansion and chiseled bodies on MTV cribs and in Abercrombie ads you see them on your phone.

Here's a few quick pulls, the best stuff is the meta-analysis studies but don't have time to dig them all out:

[1] Effects of reducing social media use are small and inconsistent: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266656032...

[2] Belief in "Social media addiction" is wholly explained by media framing and not an actual addiction: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-27053-2

[3] No causal link between time spent on social media and mental health harm: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jan/14/social-media-t...

[4] The Flawed Evidence Behind Jonathan Haidt's Panic Farming: https://reason.com/2023/03/29/the-statistically-flawed-evide...