While the internet can be a source of mental health struggles, it also offers numerous resources for solutions. Kat Lazo, a creator with over 24 thousand Instagram followers, recently shared her strategies for unplugging when social media becomes overwhelming. Despite her large following, Lazo confessed to feeling lonely online, echoing findings from a 2017 study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine linking high social media usage to increased social isolation. To combat this, Lazo focused on her creative projects for personal fulfillment rather than external validation. She advocates for both influencers and users to hold social media platforms accountable for their impact and push for regulations to make these spaces genuinely social.
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00:00 While the internet can often be a cause for mental health struggles, it can also provide
00:04 just as many resources to help find solutions. Take it from creator Kat Lazo herself,
00:09 who's sharing her tips and tricks for how to unplug when social media gets to be too much.
00:14 Kat Lazo, creator, producer, and host, boasts over 24,000 followers on Instagram,
00:20 but recently revealed that despite having such a large audience, she still feels lonely online.
00:25 Opening up in an article she wrote for Refinery29, Lazo shared,
00:29 "We're all on social media, but that doesn't mean there's much that's really
00:33 social about these platforms anymore." And Lazo isn't alone. A 2017 study featured in
00:38 the American Journal of Preventative Medicine found that higher social media usage is linked
00:43 to greater feelings of social isolation. Kind of ironic, isn't it? But social media doesn't
00:48 have to remain all doom and gloom. Lazo shared how she got out of her not-so-social-media funk
00:53 by focusing more on her creative projects, not for the likes, but simply for the joy of it.
00:59 And while Lazo seems to have found what works for her, there is a bit more we can all do.
01:03 Both influencers and everyday users can advocate for platforms to be held accountable for the harm
01:08 they cause. Don't worry, social media isn't going anywhere — we all love our dog videos — but we
01:13 can push for better regulations to make it truly social once again.