Likes, Lies, and Laced Edits: How Social Media is Normalizing Youth Substance Use—and What We Can Do About It
Your teen scrolls through TikTok. A girl their age is dancing with a vape in hand. Another video shows an older teen laughing in a car with the caption: “High, happy, and unbothered.” The likes are in the thousands.
This is what substance use looks like in today’s algorithm-fed world: funny, filtered, and dangerously fake.
We’re no longer just fighting access or peer pressure—we’re fighting attention economies and illusion factories that make risky behavior look like glamor, wellness, or even mental health care.
This is the new battleground for prevention. And it’s time we call it what it is: likes, lies, and laced edits.
The Digital Drug: Why Social Media Feeds Risky Behavior
Social platforms don’t just reflect culture—they shape it. For teens still forming their identities and boundaries, that’s a recipe for influence.
Here’s how it works:
Popularity Algorithm: Content showing vaping tricks, partying, or “story times” about getting high often performs well because it’s sensational or funny, so it gets prioritized.
Social Validation Loops: Teens are wired for feedback. When risky behavior gets likes and shares, it reinforces the behavior as cool or normal.
Unrealistic Editing: Filters and perfectly timed cuts hide the real costs—crashes, comedowns, addiction, ER visits, fractured families.
“Wellness” Reframing: Weed and psychedelics are sometimes pitched as self-care or trauma therapy, confusing genuine mental health support with self-prescribed use.
A teenager scrolling through all of this gets the message loud and clear: This is normal. Everyone’s doing it. It’s not that dangerous.
And that? That’s the lie.
What Teens Are Seeing—and Believing
Let’s break down some popular trends and their hidden dangers:
“Wake and Bake” routines on TikTok and Instagram show cannabis use as a harmless morning ritual, often by influencers with huge followings.
Edible “challenge” videos show users joking about delayed reactions but rarely mention overdoses or ER visits.
Aesthetic vape tricks and gear reviews make nicotine devices look like collectibles, not addictive delivery systems.
“Hot girl mental health” posts casually mention using weed, wine, or pills as a coping strategy.
“Story time while high” videos draw millions of views, turning potentially harmful behavior into entertainment.
These are not just isolated clips. They're digital narratives, slowly shaping a generation’s risk radar.
The Cost of Confusion: What the Data Says
Social media isn’t just amplifying substance use—it’s shifting what’s seen as acceptable, expected, or even aspirational.
A recent study in JAMA Pediatrics found that over 70% of youth-targeted vaping content on TikTok presented it positively, often using humor, aesthetics, or trending audio.
Research from Common Sense Media shows that 45% of teens feel “overwhelmed” by substance-related content, but don’t know how to talk about it.
Kids 10 years old or younger are encountering pro-vaping or drug-glorifying content without any counterbalance.
The Surgeon General has declared social media a major contributor to youth mental health challenges, many of which are linked to increased substance use.
This is a behavioral health crisis wrapped in entertainment clothing—and our silence is part of the problem.
What Adults Can Do: Tools for Disrupting the Narrative
You don’t need to be tech-savvy to make an impact—you need to be tuned in, curious, and courageous.
1. Talk Early and Often About Online Influence
Open the conversation:
“What are the trends about vaping or weed on your feed right now?”
“Have you seen posts that make getting high or drinking seem funny or normal?”
“How does it make you feel when you see that?”
Normalize critical thinking, not censorship.
2. Name the Strategies Behind the Screen
Teach teens to spot:
Editing tricks
Hashtags that dodge age filters
Influencer sponsorships
“Storytelling” that masks serious harm
Once they understand how they’re being played for clicks, it’s easier to disengage emotionally.
3. Offer Authentic Alternatives
Promote youth content creators who focus on wellness, honesty, art, or humor without glorifying risky behavior.
Help teens create or follow real-life content that speaks to their identity, not just escapism.
4. Partner With Schools and Coaches
Don’t let prevention live only in health class. Media literacy should be:
Part of school assemblies
Embedded in digital citizenship programs
Modeled by mentors, tutors, and community leaders
Invite guest speakers who can talk about social media and addiction, for a message that resonates.
From Filtered to Free
Teens don’t need perfect parents. They need informed ones who are willing to step into their world and stay present, even when it’s messy or confusing.
In an online world full of likes, lies, and laced edits, the most powerful prevention tool is still human connection—and the truth spoken out loud.
Let’s be that voice.
For more information, help, and resources, please visit www.steeredstraight.org or call (856) 691-6676
Our mission is to steer youth straight toward making sound, rational decisions through a learning experience that provides a message of reality to help them make positive, informed choices.
