Dr. Vivek Murthy

And I think this is important to underscore because what we have seen in the last 15 to 20 years, particularly with the advent of social media, is that there has been a shift from a focus on quality of relationships to quantity.

of connections, right?

We've replaced friends with followers and confidants with contacts.

The truth is, though, that when you have a crisis at three o'clock in the morning, a random follower or contact on social media is not the one who's showing up for you.

It's a friend who knows you, who cares about you, who loves you.

And that's why we all have a need for that in our life.

I think this concept of social health

is an incredibly important one for us to think about in our own lives.

And for those of us who have others we care about to think about it in their lives, and for those of us who are in healthcare to think about it in the lives of our patients.

Like I was never really taught about how to assess social health when I went through medical training.

But what I do know is that simply by opening up a conversation with a patient and saying, how do you feel about your friendships?

Do you have people you can lean on?

Or do you have times where you feel lonely in your life?

Can you tell me about that?

This can be incredibly liberating for many patients, for many individuals who carry the weight of loneliness, often with a sense of shame.

And that's a heavy burden to bear.

I think social media began with the promise of creating connection and community.

And somewhere along the way, it went off the rails.

And I think that was driven by a business model that at its heart was about advertising.

It's about third-party ad revenue, which meant that engagement became a critical driver of revenue.