Shari B. Kaplan, LCSWIntegrative Mental Health

How Social Media Can Disrupt Belonging #mentalhealthawareness

24 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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In this segment, licensed clinical social worker Shari B. Kaplan warns that social media is creating new mental‑health challenges for young people. She argues that exposure to curated, "fake" lives fuels confusion, fear, and a pervasive sense of unsafety and powerlessness. Kaplan also highlights a broader societal shift: individuals are less connected to their local communities and lack a realistic sense of interdependence, which she deems dangerous for collective well‑being.

Chapters

But I think that we're creating more problems with social media. So kids who might not have had problems are, you know, seeing people's fake lives. So I think it's a very confusing time, but I think people are provoking fear and I think it's causing a lot of feelings of unsafety and powerlessness. And so I think it probably is more global and it's not just being reported that way because We're not staying connected in our individual communities and we're, we're not seeing a realistic sense of interdependence. And I think that's dangerous.