As a psychologist who works with a lot of adolescents and young adults, it came as no surprise to me that this month’s Pew Research Center study indicates that nearly half (48% to be specific) of U.S. teens feel that social media harms people their age. What did come as a surprise is that just 14% of those same teens feel that social media harms them. Huh? Obviously, the numbers do not add up. It is as if our teenagers are saying, “Yeah, social media is bad for a lot of people, but I am exempt from that.” I decided to delve into potential reasons for the discrepancy, and I would argue that it is not just our teenagers who believe potential stressors impact others more than ourselves. Here are some reasons as to why.

One explanation for the discrepancy is what is known as the better-than-average-effect or BTAE. This is an exception to traditional

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