Social Media: A Blessing, a Curse, or Both? How to Navigate the Noise
Social media can inspire or overwhelm — the balance lies in how we use it.
I’ve never been much for social media. For most of my adult life, I had only Facebook and LinkedIn. I posted on Facebook maybe once a year, mainly keeping it because I liked seeing local activities or tips from other moms. LinkedIn felt practical, a place to share career milestones.
That changed in 2023–2024. I opened Instagram as I started decorating our new home. Seeing real-life snapshots of furniture and décor helped me decide what might fit in mine. From there, I discovered vacation ideas, outfits, and creative inspiration, things that genuinely bring me joy.
But even as I started using these platforms, I’d tell my husband, “Social media is scary.”
The Blessing
I love capturing our family trips, trimming them into 60–90 second reels, and reliving those memories. Social media can be a digital scrapbook, a way to savor milestones and share adventures with friends and family. It connects us to people we might never meet otherwise and exposes us to ideas we wouldn’t stumble upon in our daily routine.
The Curse
The problem is how easy it is to forget that most of what we see online is a highlight reel. Behind polished vacation photos, thriving businesses, and perfect homes are ordinary struggles we rarely see.
If we don’t keep that perspective, scrolling turns toxic. We compare ourselves to curated illusions, feel like we’re falling behind, or get sucked into endless “inspiration” posts that are really just marketing hooks.
Another thing I’ve noticed is how social media cheapens deep concepts. Take karma. Scroll long enough and you’ll see people gleefully comment “karma!” under videos of someone getting hurt or shamed. But is that really what karma means?
Karma isn’t supposed to be a spectator sport. At its core, it’s about cause and effect, how your actions shape the energy you put into the world. Yet online, it’s often twisted into a way to justify or celebrate someone else’s pain: a public figure stumbles, a neighbor errs, and people rush to cheer their downfall. Do we really want harm to be entertainment?
When we turn “karma” into shorthand for I’m glad they’re suffering, we miss its real lesson and we risk hardening our own hearts. Growth isn’t about waiting for others to fall; it’s about living with integrity, whether anyone notices or not.
Social media also tugs at us in quieter ways. Algorithms feed us endless reels and hot takes, keeping us scrolling long past the moment we meant to stop. Before we know it, hours disappear, leaving us anxious or angry at strangers we’ll never meet. That’s not the life I want to build.
Finding Your Balance
Here’s what I’m learning:
Be intentional. Log on with a purpose—share your story, check in with friends, get ideas—not just to fill a quiet moment.
Protect your peace. Unfollow accounts that leave you feeling jealous, angry, or drained.
Value real life first. Put healthy energy into your family and the people who matter most. Show your children, through how you speak, act, and focus your attention, the values you want them to carry into the world.
Be smart. Social media is 90% smoke and mirrors. You are not going to make $20k a month selling postcards or become a viral influencer overnight, maybe 0.01% of people pull that off. Find strength and value in working hard every day, not in chasing likes or believing every zodiac meme or “get rich quick” post. Use social media with a grain of salt, and don’t let blind scrolling or shallow advice steer your life.
Pause before posting. Think about your own privacy and your family’s. Not every moment belongs online.