Dysphoria and the Internet: How Social Media Warps Your Sense of Self

Dr. Z discusses how exposure to a lot of external noise out there continues to create a lot of self-doubt and a lot of confusion. As a result, a lot of times you actually get lost in a loop of constant confirmation bias or at least a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It is undeniable that we are all exposed to a lot of noise out there. What she means by noise is that today, anybody who has access to any kind of social platform or any kind of access to the internet feels like they should have been just handed the microphone. As a result, everybody has an opinion about everything. In this case, she feels like everybody has an opinion about gender dysphoria and gender identity.

Now, of course, everybody has a right to have an opinion—let's start with that. But we also know that not everybody's opinion is valid or should even be made public (that's a better way to say it). Not every opinion has to be taken as the truth. You have to be able to distinguish, and you have to be able to know how to break down that noise. You have to be able to always situate the information you're getting within your own context. That's super, super, super important.

Watch this video as Dr. Z addresses the four categories of noise, why you get stuck in confirmation bias loops, and what to do when information creates more confusion than clarity.