Basil Jarrett | Social media: The other Ozempic

OZEMPIC. IT’S all the rage right now. Not just in Miami and New York, but right here in ho-hum Jamaica. Once a quiet little diabetes drug, Ozempic has become the go-to miracle shot for weight loss, appetite control, and apparently, red-carpet and Instagram readiness. Everyone from your favourite social media influencer to that aunty who suddenly “just lose the weight naturally so” seems to be on it.

For the blissfully unaware, Ozempic works by mimicking a hormone that tells your brain you’re full. No cravings. No snacking. No desire for that extra plate of rice and peas. You simply stop wanting food, and voilà!, the pounds melt away faster than a Devon House ice cream cone on a hot Sunday afternoon.

But,, while nodding along cynically as a colleague from the gym who I suspect has been on the stuff, gushed about the “new programme that her trainer has her on”, I glanced down at my phone to see a social media notification about some breaking news.

I quietly clicked the notification while still pretending that I believed the fictitious gym programme story. But, it was a trap. Another social media headline, a few words summarising the story and an invitation to click the link in the bio.

And that’s when it hit me. Ozempic might be cutting waistlines, but we are experiencing something eerily similar in how we consume news. Social media, in its own way, is doing to our minds what Ozempic is doing to our stomachs, convincing us we’re full when we haven’t actually digested anything?

Because let’s face it, we are no longer hungry for news. We’re satisfied with the scent.

THE APPETITE FOR HEADLINES

In the same way Ozempic tricks your body into feeling full after half an orange and three almonds, social media tricks your brain into feeling informed after reading a headline and a spicy comment.

No need for details, context, or nuance. Just give me the Too Long, Didn’t Read (the TL; DR), the meme version, or better yet, the angry tweet and 3000 comments. That’s our new news diet. Quick hits. Instant outrage. Zero fibre. Yummy!

Remember when reading the newspaper was a full meal? The front page was your appetizer, page two, the entrée, and the opinion section your side dish. The comics were your intellectual dessert, topped off with the sports page to clean your palate.

These days, we scroll through Instagram carousels masquerading as journalism, get our facts from TikTokers with ring lights, and call it “keeping up with the news”. But like any crash diet, it’s leaving us mentally malnourished.

FAKE FULLNESS, REAL CONSEQUENCES

Here’s the problem: we think we’re informed. We feel like we know what’s going on. But that sensation of fullness is fake. Just like Ozempic doesn’t actually fill your belly, social media doesn’t fill your mind, it just shuts off the hunger.

Because most people today no longer bother to read the full article. They see the headline, maybe even a caption under a news site’s Instagram post, and decide they were “in the know”. Worse, their entire opinion was formed based on that bite-sized blurb. So no, none of that matters when the headline has already filled you up.

WHEN OUTRAGE BECOMES THE ENTRÉE

Social media doesn’t encourage curiosity; it rewards indignation. It’s a firehose of snacks, serving up headlines that align with your worldview, reinforce your biases, and trigger your emotions, without ever asking you to chew on a counterpoint. We don’t read to learn anymore. We scroll to agree or swipe right to really agree. And here’s the kicker: the more we consume news this way, the more our ability to consume real news atrophies.

Just like someone who’s been on Ozempic for months might struggle to eat a full meal, we struggle to read a full article, understand a complex issue, or follow an argument that spans more than three paragraphs. It’s not that we’re stupid. It’s just that we’re stuffed, with fluff.

There’s a kind of cruel irony at play here. We’re in the most information-rich era in human history. More access. More data. More content. Yet, we’re hungrier than ever for meaning. And the algorithms know it. They’re the personal trainers of your attention span, telling you that three headlines, two tweets, and a meme is all that you need to know. You’re now “informed” enough to argue, protest, cancel, and quote statistics you didn’t even bother to verify. We’ve created a society where everybody has an opinion, but no one has a source.

FINAL THOUGHT: GET OFF THE SHOT, START THE MEAL

Now don’t get me wrong. Ozempic has its place. For some, it’s a medical miracle. But you still need whole foods and macro nutrients. And social media? Same thing. It has its place. It’s great for awareness, quick updates, and viral clips. But it’s not the meal.

It can’t replace reading. It can’t replace reflection. And it certainly can’t replace responsible journalism.

So my challenge is this: next time you see a headline, ask yourself, am I full, or just fooled? Am I satisfied, or simply sedated?

Because if we keep treating information like a quick snack instead of a full meal, we’ll keep growing leaner in knowledge, hungrier for sense, and dangerously full of empty calories.

Major Basil Jarrett is the director of communications at the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency and a crisis communications consultant. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Threads @IamBasilJarrett and linkedin.com/in/basiljarrett. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm. com