PRISÕES VIRTUAIS: ANSIEDADE E SOLIDÃO NA SOCIEDADE CONECTADA

The digital age has transformed human interaction, offering global connectivity while fostering phenomena such as anxiety and loneliness, which arise from uncontrolled social media use. The concept of "virtual prisons" describes how digital platforms, despite connecting people, often isolate users in bubbles of superficiality and empty interaction. The relentless search for online validation, materialized in likes, comments, and shares, leads to emotional dependency and the weakening of face-to-face relationships. Constant exposure to idealized lives and unrealistic standards, widely disseminated on these platforms, reinforces feelings of inadequacy, loneliness, and personal dissatisfaction. These factors are exacerbated by algorithms that limit opinion diversity and reinforce information bubbles, deepening disconnection from reality and intensifying social fragmentation. Simultaneously, excessive time spent on social media compromises users' mental and physical health, reducing productivity, sleep quality, and genuine interactions. Thus, the connected society, while enabling instant communication, also creates emotional prisons that hinder the construction of deep and authentic relationships. Understanding the psychological and social impacts of these tools has become essential to promoting a healthier and more balanced digital coexistence, reducing the harmful effects of virtual dependency.