Anyone remember the excitement that came with discovering the ins and outs of a new social media platform? After Myspace, there was Facebook, which probably took the duration of high school to completely take over. Then Twitter with it’s odd little eccentricities — you could text updates from your phone (this was pre-smart phone era), and only 140 characters at a time! Instagram took me awhile to get used to, but eventually, I began to enjoy the act of sharing pictures of pretty things with my friends. …

Ya’ll, I’m terrified. Like, all the time. This age we’re living in is filled with horrifying possibilities and inevitable doom at every corner. I see it in the skies sporadically shadowed by plumes of forest fire smoke, I see it in the garbage floating in every body of water I know, and most of all, I see it while scrolling through the timelines of my many social media accounts; an activity I indulge in way too often. It’s toxic.

I’ve denied it forever but I think it’s time to admit to myself that social media has significantly affected my mental…