Something You Should Know

Why We Care What Other People Think & How Social Media is Shaping Language

23 snips
Aug 4, 2025
Meg Josephson, a psychotherapist and author, shares insights on the exhausting nature of people-pleasing and how it relates to our need for approval. She explains the psychological roots of these behaviors and introduces strategies for self-acceptance. Adam Aleksic, a linguist and author, explores how social media reshapes language, including the emergence of new terms influenced by algorithms and censorship. Together, they discuss the interplay between societal expectations and language evolution in our digital age.
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INSIGHT

People-Pleasing as Survival Response

  • People pleasers often operate from a survival-based fawn response to perceived threats in social situations.
  • This causes them to overextend themselves trying to appease or impress others to feel safe.
INSIGHT

The Spotlight Effect on Anxiety

  • We tend to overestimate how much others think about us, known as the spotlight effect.
  • This exaggeration fuels anxiety and self-blame in people pleasers unnecessarily.
ADVICE

Avoid Mind Reading Others' Feelings

  • Trust others to communicate their feelings directly instead of mind reading or overanalyzing.
  • Allow people to express themselves and avoid over-interpreting ambiguous messages.
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