“...I look through my Instagram feed and have the feeling that most people are more successful, happier, and live more interesting lives than me. I feel like an empty place, I’m experiencing apathy” - this is a collective example of the experiences that I encounter in my work. Instagram*, especially with high throughput on the part of the user (loyalty to content, suggestibility, intensity of consumption), can significantly influence the perception of one’s “I”, needs and even values. Of course, social networks provide many opportunities. But lately I’ve been thinking about the “side effects” - this is the growth of anxiety, the splitting of the self into the real and the presented, dependence on encouragement and on constant information stimulation. Instagram* is like a game where you are not really you, passing through filters, selectively showing only what you want to show. Everything is always better and brighter in the feed. Everyone is successful, in demand, talented... I think the problem of anxiety appears when the “game” imperceptibly becomes a reality with which they are compared, guided by and through which they get hurt. As Y. Pirumova writes in her book “Fragile People”: “Social networks inspire us to believe that we are more gifted, more capable than we are, and this inflates our ambitions. They suggest that success can be achieved more easily than is actually possible. A distorted reality is being created in which success and eternal celebration are easy and simple, a norm accessible to everyone.” As a result, it is a source of eternal dissatisfaction with oneself, shame, and depression against the backdrop of the surrounding “success.” Who is cooler, who has more, who is further... Constant comparison “feeds” anxiety and takes a lot of energy. Today there is even a separate type of depression. Narcissistic depression is a painful experience about the insufficiency of one’s achievements, insufficient material wealth, and inconsistency with the chosen ideal. N. McWilliams, an American psychoanalyst, is more relevant than ever: “The modern information flow is simply a goldmine for a person to build an ideal and make sure that you are insignificant. A person sees an ideal image that has nothing to do with reality, and runs towards it, unattainable, wasting all his life energy on this pursuit.” So what to do with all this? 1. To begin with, realize that intense content from social networks to some extent violates psychological boundaries, literally “oozes” into consciousness, manipulating feelings and needs. And the more spectacular and bright the product, the more powerful its influence, the more marketing will exploit your psyche. 2. Restoring boundaries means stopping randomly scrolling, consciously limiting the time you spend on social media. networks. Develop criticality. Make an “audit” of subscriptions. Remember that Instagram* is just a flat slice, but not a reflection of reality. 3. If your hand still constantly reaches for the phone, admit that there is an addiction, “withdrawal” cannot be avoided, but you can slowly “get off” through discipline. Ask yourself: “Why am I picking up the phone right now? What exactly do I want to get there? 4. It is absolutely natural to encounter feelings of envy on social networks. Envy is a marker of our needs. First, allow yourself to want what you envy. If it is not possible to have this now, think about what psychological need is behind the object of envy and how/where to “feed” it differently. 5. Remember about time, its limitations and irreversibility, and the more you immerse yourself in social media. network, the less you are in your real life, in real relationships with loved ones. 6. Look for people in your environment who are “out of the race”, despite their shortcomings, doing something that is imperfect, does not meet the conventional criteria of social success, but does it for the soul, and live their lives happily, here and now.* Instagram belongs to Meta company, which is recognized as an extremist organization in Russia.