Social media is no joke, it really feels addictive for young people
By Real Ray C on
I just read about the trial where Meta, TikTok, and YouTube are being sued over claims that their platforms intentionally hook kids and teens and honestly, it didn’t surprise me.
Social media today isn’t passive. It’s built around endless scrolling, autoplay, notifications, and algorithms that constantly learn what keeps you engaged. For young people especially, that can turn into hours disappearing without them even realizing it. It’s not just “using an app” it’s being pulled back over and over.
What stood out to me is how this goes beyond screen time. The concern is mental health: anxiety, depression, sleep issues, and that constant pressure to compare yourself to others. When your brain is still developing, resisting that kind of design is really hard.
Social media can be amazing, it connects people and builds communities but the engagement-at-all-costs model feels like a problem. If platforms are optimized to keep youth hooked, we shouldn’t be shocked when addiction-like behaviors show up.