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It’s no secret that millennials often feel worse about themselves when seeing their friends’ Instagram posts — but Gen Z gets that feeling from a surprisingly different source.
They face what has been dubbed “LinkedIn envy.”
Logging onto the platform, you’ll often find post after post of people “excited to announce” their new position, sometimes even their “dream job.”
And at a time when unemployed people are finding it harder to find new work, LinkedIn has become the “unrivaled behemoth of digital inadequacy,” journalist Lotte Brundle wrote for The UK Times.
Brundle shared that she read a post on LinkedIn from someone she hadn’t seen since she graduated while she “was unemployed after my MA, while sitting in my pants, my hand three-quarters of the way down a Pringles tube,” adding that she felt that “life could not get any worse.”
When discussing how social media affects mental health, LinkedIn is often left out of the conversation, but the younger generation is finding that it impacts them more than Instagram.
“When it comes to comparison spirals, Instagram gets all the glory. But LinkedIn is actually the ideal place to lose your mind,” according to a 2019 Slate tech column. “LinkedIn’s status in our lives as a source of envy is surprising because LinkedIn is easily the fuddy-duddiest of the social networks. It’s the one that doesn’t even bother with the pretense of fun or entertainment.”
Brundle also likened the platform to a dating site where people compare themselves to others, adding that she has used the platform to “see what exes and past nemeses are up to” — and some of her friends have even been “chatted up” on it.
The comparison isn’t so far-fetched. A survey from March 2024 found that a large number of people got dates through LinkedIn — and some even preferred it to dating sites.
With 260 million users in America, there are plenty of people on the site who can evoke a range of emotions.
It’s gotten to the point where people are deleting the app from their phones because it’s painful to look at.
One person took to Reddit to ask if they were alone in feeling that way.
“I deleted my account because every time I go on it I feel absolutely terrible about myself,” the confessional said. “It might just be me and comparing myself too much to others but does anyone else find people on there to be completely cringe and egotistical lol?! I don’t even have a bad job but I think LinkedIn has just become an egocentric breeding zone like every other social media platform.”
Many people in the comments agreed, joking that the “better question” would be if anyone doesn’t feel that way.
“I’m unemployed and have to use LinkedIn out of necessity and it feels like torture,” one shared.
“There was a time last year when I didn’t go on LinkedIn for 2 months, out of an extreme feeling of nausea every time I saw LinkedIn-ish content,” another wrote.
Another user dubbed LinkedIn “the overachievers’ Facebook.”
Physician Susan Biali Haas wrote in Psychology Today that people should use their envy as a “tool to gain personal clarity and increase goodwill toward others.”
She wrote that she noticed she does this herself while on social media, where she is “connected to colleagues who are doing things that I long to do and experience.
“Sometimes my reactions are so intense that I’ll mute someone’s feed,” Haas admitted, adding that if it hits a sore point, she’ll even “criticize them in my mind … to make myself feel better.”
Haas advised people to curate social feeds to minimize triggering content as a “proactive way of protecting your mental health.”
However, she also said that people should look at those they feel envious of and instead use it as a motivator.
“Those whom we envy can be pointers toward what we long to — and even need to — accomplish with our lives,” she wrote. “They represent what’s possible.”
