A look into how illegitimate Astrology apps and creators have contributed to a storm of mental health issues amongst their consumers.
I have been debating covering this for a while as it always felt like an exclusive issue to me. However, after the recent scrutiny of Co-Star in the Astrology community and a couple of others touching on similar issues, I thought I'd make the whole thing less exclusive by sharing my opinion on how Co-Star and other illegitimate astrology accounts is contributing to the low self esteem of Gen Z.
Co-Star is an astrology social networking app, founded in 2017 in New York. Users are able to enter their date, time and place of birth and receive their astrological birth chart and daily horoscopes in return. Sounds intriguing, right? It wasn't until 2019 that Co-Star truly took off. With its minimalistic design and celestial hype on TikTok, it gained attraction from the latest Gen Z astrology-crazed subculture. It was the ideal hipster-looking app which was accessible, conversational and did all the astrology work for you - no wonder we loved it. However when astrologers caught onto the application, slowly the app began to receive criticism. It was exposed that Co-Star weren't using real astrology to motivate their daily horoscope notifications, but using Artificial Intelligence to formulate, sometimes quite belittling and anxiety-inducing, messages for its consumers.
An anonymous TikTok user stated in the comments of an Astrology TikTok-creator's video: 'I thought I was the only one getting rude notifications [from Co-Star]..."No one loves you, but ask yourself, maybe you deserve it?" '
They weren't the only ones addressing the negative notifications received from the app either. Some spoke of how Co-Star had sent them messages regarding death, isolation and rejection, meanwhile others said they had to delete the app due to it triggering their Anxiety disorders. It is questionable how an organisation with little astrological knowledge supporting it could feel righteous enough to send such heavy messages to its consumers. Many have also spoken about their birth charts being incorrect and, therefore, their chart readings and meanings have been completely inaccurate. So again, false information is being passed onto its users in broad daylight but due to its target market being seen as lacking astrological understanding, they have managed to remain somewhat popular.
However, it is not sufficient to just see this as false information. These notifications can evidently trigger worry, paranoia, insecurity and more. Speaking from personal experience, when using this app in the midst of suffering with Anxiety, it could sometimes trigger my panic attacks and anxious episodes as I would feel so concerned that something bad happening. I received notifications telling me to not leave the house - something which already triggered my Anxiety - or they told me to look out for bad situations on that particular day. For a while I didn't want to delete the app because I was interested in my chart and didn't want to feel like I was missing out - trapped in consumerism - but eventually I did. Some time after this, others began speaking out on their horrendous experiences using the app too and I realised how harmful illegitimate astrology really was.
With the rise of interest in spirituality and astrology, Instagram has seen a spike in Astrology meme accounts too. Astrology memes usually are built on stereotypical qualities of different zodiac signs, speaking of how they behave in every day life or in response to certain scenarios. Hilariously relatable, they are often shared and followed amongst Instagram users. Although it is uplifting to see such a rise in admiration for astrology, it is notable how negative accounts have harmed the community or those joining it. Like Co-Star, and with little monitoring on Instagram, anybody has access to creating astrology pages which, again, can lead to harmful messages and stereotypes being formed and shared, making consumers with less astrological knowledge victims to false information once again.
Of course, the zodiac is intertwined with stories and qualities of the signs which are extremely valuable when understanding your signs and placements, but when these are taken with little comprehension, harmful stereotypical content is produced. For example, as a Leo sun sign, I have been bombarded with memes and content calling me self-absorbed, narcissistic, and obsessive to name a few. Although darkly humorous at times, when not produced sensitively, it has impacted my self esteem and self criticism massively. I loved following astrology pages previously, but suddenly it became an obsession with reading negative views on my sign and assuming it must be true. It is notable to say how we are a generation of users with information so accessible that it can sometimes be extremely difficult to challenge the legitimacy of the content we are faced with. Why would we question the page which calls us self-absorbed or says we need to be anxious today when we already have an established internal voice to support it? Why would we question an app or page with a high following account, for those are what creates establishment these days?
Although Astrology accounts and applications are giving generations insight at their fingertips, I think it is hugely important to address and monitor the sharing of it. Belief systems, practice and values are created from this content. For many beginning their astrological journey, this is the first interaction they may have with it. They should not be faced with frightening messages from Artificial Intelligence and wrong biased information which have damaging potential. As a generation of social media users, we are arguably the largest victims of self criticism and comparison, and this is just another platform for individuals to gain self-esteem killing information which Astrology is not about.
Some legitimate Astrology apps to try are: The Pattern, Time Passages, Sanctuary + Astro Future. Please unfollow, mute and delete any pages/apps which aren't lifting you up, and try new uplifting ones. And one more final reminder: You are more than what your astrology apps and pages are telling you, you are a whole amazing person with amazing qualities and faults in balance alongside each other.
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