Thrilled to Announce: How to Make Yourself Feel Terrible on LinkedIn

A recent Times article by Lotte Brundle (Feb 18, 2025) captured something many of us might recognise: LinkedIn envy.

She described sitting at home, unemployed, halfway through a tube of Pringles, while a university acquaintance announced they had landed a new job as Gary Barlow’s official photographer for the Take That reunion tour.

Some of us have may have had a similar moment. A quick check of LinkedIn turns into an existential crisis. Other people’s career wins appear one after another, while our own progress suddenly feels slow and uncertain.

LinkedIn is full of professional success stories, but it rarely tells the whole truth. Promotions, job offers, and awards get shared. Setbacks, rejections, and career doubts don’t. It’s easy to forget that even the most accomplished people have moments of uncertainty.

So why does LinkedIn make so many of us feel like we’re falling behind? And how can we stop it? As a Clinical Psychologist, I’ve researched and applied ideas about social media and well-being to my practice.

Why LinkedIn Fuels Professional Anxiety

Psychologists have explored social comparison theory, which is the way we measure ourselves against others. Sometimes it’s motivating, but when we only see the highlights of someone else’s career, it can feel toxic.

Research suggests that upward comparisons in which we compare ourselves to people we believe to be more successful is associated with lower self-esteem and greater dissatisfaction (Vogel et al., 2014). LinkedIn magnifies this by showcasing achievements in a way that makes progress feel like a constant, linear trajectory.

Likewise, LinkedIn rewards impression management, a concept from Erving Goffman (1959) that describes how we curate the way we present ourselves. People don’t just post job updates; they craft them. Everyone can seem “thrilled to share” something, even when they have doubts behind the scenes.

This becomes even trickier if your self-worth is tied to career success. Research on contingent self-esteem suggests that people who rely on external achievements for validation experience greater stress and emotional instability (Schöne et al., 2015). If you’re already questioning your progress, someone else’s promotion can feel like proof that you’re falling behind.

And then there’s the doomscrolling effect. If LinkedIn is the first thing you check in the morning or the last thing you see before bed, it might be doing more harm than good. Studies show that frequent social media checking reinforces negative thought patterns and increases stress (Orben & Przybylski, 2019).

How to Stop Making Yourself Miserable on LinkedIn

This doesn’t mean quitting LinkedIn. It can be a useful tool, but only if we engage with it intentionally.

1. Recognise LinkedIn is curated

   Just as Instagram doesn’t show bad angles, LinkedIn doesn’t show bad days. That person sharing their exciting new role might have spent months second-guessing themselves before accepting it.

   
   

2. Reframe comparison as insight

   Instead of thinking “Why am I not there yet?”, ask “What can I learn from their journey?” Success is rarely instant, so if someone’s where you want to be, ask what steps did they take to get there?

   
   

3. Set boundaries on when you check LinkedIn

   If scrolling LinkedIn has become a reflex, especially when you’re feeling uncertain, it’s probably not helping. Logging in with a purpose (e.g. for networking, researching, or checking messages) can stop it from being a source of stress.

   
   

4. Define success on your own terms

   LinkedIn highlights traditional career markers: promotions, job titles, and big announcements. But real success isn’t always public. It might be about doing work you enjoy, learning something new, or maintaining a work-life balance that actually works for you.

LinkedIn can be a space for connection and growth, but only if we use it in a way that works for us. Consider taking some time out if it leaves you feeling worse every time you check it.

And remember: your career isn’t defined by a handful of updates, it’s built in the moments that never make it onto LinkedIn at all.