Most Days: Social Media - Anxiety & Addiction

Social media takes your nervous system for a ride.In this episode I talk about why Instagram is so hard to quit and the moment I realized the algorithm knew exactly what I was vulnerable to. When I was pregnant, my feed filled up with worst-case scenario pregnancy reels. When my son was in the NICU, it fed me NICU content that made an already terrifying season worse. I never agreed to that loop. It just found me.We also get into the creator side of this, because I'm on both ends now. All the advice pushes you toward five-second hooks, constant posting, quick hits. It works for engagement. It also feels gross sometimes, and it's training all of us to accept a shorter attention span as normal.Then I walk through what's actually helped me with screen time. I replaced the app with something else instead of going cold turkey. I move icons around to break the muscle memory. I use blockers that make me wait, and limits I can't instantly override, because I will absolutely override the ones I can.The best part is what happens when you stop feeding the feed. Magazines. Books. Fiction especially. Audiobooks and long podcasts that let your brain breathe again. We end with an honest take on meditation, why nobody is ever good at it, and why that's not the point.If this one hits, share it with a friend who's burned out. And tell me: what does your algorithm think you're vulnerable to? Mine figured it out before I did.