You log onto Instagram and within five seconds of scrolling, your algorithm has your self-esteem in a death grip. It serves you: 1) a blissed-out engagement announcement from a former high school classmate, 2) a carousel of glamorous vacation pics from a coworker, 3) a random influencer looking flawless on a rooftop... and now, you immediately feel like garbage. These people have NOTHING to do with your life, and yet social media has forced them into your brain space. What's worse? Their beauty, wealth, and success seem to be directly depleting yours. What causes us to irrationally compare-despair on platforms like Instagram and TikTok? What makes those illusory personas feel so materially "threatening" to us, even though we know that social media "isn't real" and no one's life is perfect? Is there an evolutionary explanation? How have our comparison habits changed or gotten worse since the early days of social media? And how can we feel better? Joining host Amanda Montell (@amanda_montell) are two special guests, here to help soothe our thought spirals surrounding social media comparison: Jemma Sbeg (@jemmasbeg), host of The Psychology of Your 20s podcast, and Britt Frank (@britt_frank), neuropsychotherapist and author of The Science of Stuck.
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- Sources:
Zero-Sum Bias: Perceived Competition Despite Unlimited Resources
Win–Win Denial: The Psychological Underpinnings of Zero-Sum Thinking
Gendered Influence of Downward Social Comparisons on Current and Possible Selves
Gender Differences in Social Comparison Processes and Self-Concept Among Students
Shine Theory: Why Powerful Women Make the Greatest Friends
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