Influential

I was a pretty impressionable kid. Seventeen Magazines did enough of a number on me—all that makeup, dating, and dieting advice—that I know I would have been a total wreck if I had grown up with Instagram and TikTok. And even though I’m proud to be full-fledged grown up in many of the right ways, I’m still a girl at heart. If social media is a predator, I am its prey.

Personal algorithms can be like a truth serum, and mine tells a confession of my most shallow self. Thankfully, I know when I’ve had enough. I routinely remove addictive apps from my phone with the most determined of tap-holds until they are out of my vulnerable sight, which is what I did this weekend.

Some observations:

1. Instead of scrolling through recommendations for anti-wrinkle cream, Botox, and eyelid surgery, I spent time with friends and remembered that gravity isn’t a personal failure, but a universal reality.

2. Instead of learning about getting ripped abs at 50 with this daily Pilates routine and GLP-1 therapy, I looked in the mirror at yoga and saw every body type and mine in one room.

3. Instead of stylists tempting me with their curated carts of the latest pick of wide leg pants and the shoes Gwyneth Paltrow wears, I opened my closet and discovered I already have pants and shoes.

4. Instead of replaying songs from viral videos in my head, the soundtrack of the last two days is inspired by playlists of my past and present.

In other words, my senses are sensitive, and I’m better off when I mind what I see and hear.