And then there’s social media. The hashtag #manipulation has 2.6 million posts on Instagram; when I typed ‘narcissist’ into the search bar on Twitter, it had been tweeted 300 times in the last hour. On TikTok, #gaslighting has a staggering 2.3 billion views, while #toxicpeople has 488 million. Often, this collective habit of labeling every behavior and personality type on social media is positive and, for me, leads to helpful sense-checking. I’ve sometimes wondered whether I’m on the receiving end of subtly problematic behavior and have asked a friend for their thoughts so they can validate what, deep down, I know to be true. Having them sense-check my suspicions has given me the quiet courage to take the first step in addressing the issue, and I largely have social media to thank for this.
