Sustainable Media Substack The Sustainable Media

They packed the room, standing room only. A sold-out crowd gathered at the feature session at SXSW, drawn by a voice that refuses to be ignored. Emma Lembke took the stage not just as an activist, not just as a senior at Washington University in St. Louis, but as the conscience of a generation suffocating under the weight of an exploitative digital world.

Her message was clear: “Social media isn’t broken. It’s working exactly as designed: to capture, to addict, to manipulate, and to profit off the psychological vulnerabilities of its users. And for Gen Z, that design has resulted in a mental health catastrophe.”

Lembke didn’t just speak about her own experience. She spoke for others: “The millions who have felt their self-worth measured in likes and comments. The millions who have been preyed upon by algorithms pushing eating disorders, self-harm content, and toxic beauty standards. The millions who have felt their attention spans shredded, their relationships eroded, their sense of self hijacked by the infinite scroll.”Big Tech’s Dirty Secrets Are No Longer Secrets