Social Media and Vanity

Vanity is like pornography, sugar, or drugs—and this is precisely what social media stimulates. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok turn users into modern-day Narcissuses, endlessly delighting in their own reflection.

Social media appeals to our most base, animalistic instincts. It offers a dopamine rush indistinguishable from that of a narcotic. Yet unlike genuine praise, which must be earned through real effort, social media systematizes this rush—making it instantly accessible, often through the presentation of a carefully curated, artificial self. Filters, angles, and captions become the new mask.

Just as one uses drugs to escape life's pain without true transformation, social media becomes an escape from insecurity and self-doubt. In this inescapable cycle, users repeatedly present and consume a false image—mirrored back to them, just as Narcissus was entranced by his reflection in the pool.

Why not, instead, strive to become someone worthy of real admiration—praise that is earned, not engineered?

(Ironically, substack isn’t very different at all)