Happy Friday!

Today is Chronic Disease Awareness Day - created to raise awareness about long-term illnesses—like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer that account for 7 out of 10 U.S. deaths. The initiative encourages preventive health measures, better access to care, and holistic support for patients and caregivers living with lifelong conditions.

Observances for the day primarily focus on advocacy and community support and provides a platform to lobby policymakers for better healthcare access and expanded funding for vital public health programs.

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More than 1 in 5 Americans — roughly 47 million people — have made real health decisions based on social media, even though nearly 78% of those same users believe what they're seeing is false or misleading, and the stakes are especially high for the millions managing serious conditions like cancer, heart disease, and mental illness.

A CNN wellness expert warns that social media can't distinguish between a board-certified physician and an influencer with zero medical training — and algorithms actively reward emotional, controversial content over accurate science, creating dangerous echo chambers over time. Her golden rule: always ask who is behind the health content you're consuming, be deeply skeptical of anything promising quick fixes, and verify with your doctor before starting, stopping, or spending money on anything.

Read More: The Pitfalls Of Using Social Media And AI For Health Decisions, According To A Doctor (CNN)

Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott just made the largest donation in the history of youth mental health nonprofit Active Minds — an unrestricted $20 million gift to expand youth-led mental health programs, high school advocacy academies, and college mental health institutes, all at a moment when roughly 1 in 5 American teens have seriously considered suicide and severe anxiety among young people has surged 86% since the mid-1990s.

What makes Scott's giving especially powerful is that it comes with no strings attached — she trusts organizations to spend the money where it's needed most, a refreshing contrast to how philanthropy often works.

Read More: Billionaire MacKenzie Scott Just Donated $20 Million To Support America’s Youth Mental Health, As A Fifth of Teens Struggle With Suicidal Thoughts (Fortune)

According to European Commission president, "The question is not whether young people should have access to social media, the question is whether social media should have access to young people." In an official charge sheet released today, EU regulators found that Facebook and Instagram's addictive features — infinite scroll, autoplay, hyper-personalized feeds — "shift the brain into autopilot mode, contributing to unhealthy habits and compulsive use," while Meta knowingly disregarded data showing how long children were spending on these platforms late at night.

If confirmed, Meta could face fines of up to 6% of its total global revenue — and with at least 10 EU countries already drafting social media bans for minors, the pressure for sweeping change is only building.

Read More: EU Accuses Meta Of Failing To Tackle Mental Health Risks Of ‘Addictive Design’ (The Guardian)

Entomophobia (en·tuh·muh·fow·bee·uh) is the extreme, irrational, and persistent fear of insects. Unlike typical squeamishness, it triggers debilitating physical and psychological symptoms, including panic attacks and formication (feeling bugs crawling on the skin).

People may fear insects generally or have hyper-specific phobias, which include melissophobia (fear of bees), katsaridaphobia (fear of cockroaches), myrmecophobia (fear of ants), or lepidopterophobia (fear of moths and butterflies).

The condition often stems from a traumatic event—such as a severe allergic reaction to a bee sting—or may stem from environmental conditioning during childhood. Genetic predisposition to anxiety also plays a role in who develops the phobia

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