You wake up, grab your phone, and within 30 seconds you've seen someone get rich from an exotic openclaw use case, someone else moved to SF and raised $5m with a vibe-coded to-do list app, and someone who started after you just launched a $1M MRR Web3 marketing agency.

The explosion of AI adoption inundated my feed with so many cool apps and use cases that I've got to admit I felt exhausted trying to keep up with everything.

Then I stumbled upon the term of "inadequacy" and it just clicked.

I realized I am among the 60% of people who feel their achievements are insufficient when looking at others online.

Turns out there is a lot of self-doubt and a constant feeling that everyone else is winning, except for oneself in social media.

The good part is that it's not your fault.

It’s time we discuss this and recognize just how absurd it is.

The successful marketing entrepreneur announcing their big hits never posts about the three years of struggle meals and client rejections. That influencer photo with the perfect life surely took like 11 attempts.

That's the type of content we see all day, and they might be oblivious to its impact on others and the cost of capturing attention.

Data firm ElectroIQ reports that nearly 60% of social media users confirm that platforms damage their self-esteem.

There's extensive research confirming that social media has affected people's mental health in so many negative and darker ways than just feeling stuck professionally.

There's so much research and cool facts here if you want to take a deeper look on this matter:

https://electroiq.com/stats/social-media-mental-health-statistics/

I was a social media manager for years, and I know exactly how platforms work. Good news never performs, it's the triggering content that does.

That's why I'm partially ok with countries like Spain banning or restricting social media for teens under 16. If I had kids, I would be very overprotective about what they see online while they're still young.

I know the algorithms are designed to show you triggering content to keep you engaged and glued to your screen. Sometimes the content you find is entertaining and useful, but other times it is not great.

So if kids aren't careful, platforms will feed them an endless stream of harmful comparisons, unrealistic standards, and just toxic, gross content. Even Mark Zuckerberg didn't let his own daughters use Facebook.

They all know.

People come to social media to relax, escape, or maybe learn something cool. They're not looking to feel worse about themselves.

As someone who has built content strategies for years, I know we have a choice about what we put out there. Yes, triggering content performs better, but triggering doesn't have to mean nasty or harmful.

We are the creative ones in our companies, and we have the privilege of connecting with people and making them feel things.

The best content I've ever created made people feel entertained or learned something, most of the time it just made them laugh, and that's enough.

Going back to the feeling of inadequacy, start by unfollowing anyone who makes you feel inadequate. Train that algorithm.

Next time your feed makes you feel like you're getting stuck professionally or down in any way, just mute a few words:

Social media can be very useful when used intentionally.

You wake up, grab your phone, and within 30 seconds you've seen someone get rich from an exotic openclaw use case, someone else moved to SF and raised $5m with a vibe-coded to-do list app, and someone who started after you just launched a $1M MRR Web3 marketing agency.

The explosion of AI adoption inundated my feed with so many cool apps and use cases that I've got to admit I felt exhausted trying to keep up with everything.

Then I stumbled upon the term of "inadequacy" and it just clicked.

I realized I am among the 60% of people who feel their achievements are insufficient when looking at others online.

Turns out there is a lot of self-doubt and a constant feeling that everyone else is winning, except for oneself in social media.

The good part is that it's not your fault.

It’s time we discuss this and recognize just how absurd it is.

The successful marketing entrepreneur announcing their big hits never posts about the three years of struggle meals and client rejections. That influencer photo with the perfect life surely took like 11 attempts.

That's the type of content we see all day, and they might be oblivious to its impact on others and the cost of capturing attention.

Data firm ElectroIQ reports that nearly 60% of social media users confirm that platforms damage their self-esteem.

There's extensive research confirming that social media has affected people's mental health in so many negative and darker ways than just feeling stuck professionally.

There's so much research and cool facts here if you want to take a deeper look on this matter:

https://electroiq.com/stats/social-media-mental-health-statistics/

I was a social media manager for years, and I know exactly how platforms work. Good news never performs, it's the triggering content that does.

That's why I'm partially ok with countries like Spain banning or restricting social media for teens under 16. If I had kids, I would be very overprotective about what they see online while they're still young.

I know the algorithms are designed to show you triggering content to keep you engaged and glued to your screen. Sometimes the content you find is entertaining and useful, but other times it is not great.

So if kids aren't careful, platforms will feed them an endless stream of harmful comparisons, unrealistic standards, and just toxic, gross content. Even Mark Zuckerberg didn't let his own daughters use Facebook.

They all know.

People come to social media to relax, escape, or maybe learn something cool. They're not looking to feel worse about themselves.

As someone who has built content strategies for years, I know we have a choice about what we put out there. Yes, triggering content performs better, but triggering doesn't have to mean nasty or harmful.

We are the creative ones in our companies, and we have the privilege of connecting with people and making them feel things.

The best content I've ever created made people feel entertained or learned something, most of the time it just made them laugh, and that's enough.

Going back to the feeling of inadequacy, start by unfollowing anyone who makes you feel inadequate. Train that algorithm.

Next time your feed makes you feel like you're getting stuck professionally or down in any way, just mute a few words:

Social media can be very useful when used intentionally.