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Feb. 18, 2020 – Galen joined Know Your Value co-founder and “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski and Cosmopolitan Editor-in-Chief Jessica Pels to talk about the science behind social media and the way it can impact a young person’s development. “I think we’re just starting to get the information about what’s happening to people’s brains,” Galen told Know Your Value. “We’re seeing more depression. We’re seeing more loneliness. We’re seeing more anxiety. And we’re seeing the need, the urge, sort of the desperation to be on social media to get the likes to the level that it’s affecting moods.”

Both Galen and Pels, whose brand reaches 80 million young people on social media, voiced concerns that kids aren’t being taught how to handle the deluge of information that’s constantly being delivered to their smartphones, including the mood-altering triggers of social media.

“What’s interesting about my readership of young women is, they’re used to absorbing content and information all the time,” Pels said, singling out the push notifications that keep many of her young readers informed of breaking news. “Whether or not they’re equipped to handle it, I don’t know that I’m equipped to handle it.”

@NBCNews