# The Social Media Spiral | Real Talk ft. Dr. Tesneem Alkiek

**Author:** Dr. Tesneem Alkiek
**Series:** Real Talk Series
**Published:** 2025-12-24
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/n0yxtd3wnSo
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/real-talk-series/the-social-media-spiral-real-talk-ft-dr-tesneem-alkiek
**Topics:** Allah, Faith, Family & Community, Marriage

## Description
Social media is built to be addictive. It harms our mental health and damages our self-worth. We all know this...but it's still so hard to disconnect. Join Dr. Tesneem Alkiek and host Qaanitah Hunter to explore the dangers (and some of the benefits) that social media adds to our lives and learn...

## Chapters
- 0:00 Introduction: The Social Media Dilemma
- 0:44 Personal Experiences with Social Media
- 1:31 The Distortion of Reality
- 3:19 The Addictive Design of Social Media
- 5:13 Social Media's Impact on Self-Perception
- 7:26 Islamic Perspective on Social Media
- 16:44 Practical Steps to Reevaluate Social Media Use

## Transcript
**[0:00]** Alaikum, how much time do you spend on social media every day?

**[0:18]** Like 8? Minutes? Hours! That's a full-time job! I think we need to talk about it. Is social media good or bad?

**[0:40]** It depends on how you use it. I'll tell you how I use it. A lot. And I started thinking about my relationship with social media a few years ago when I went to Europe. I was posting and snapping and sharing Instagrams.

**[0:55]** But at that time, I was probably going through the worst period of my life. And a friend of mine sends me this message and she says, Your life looks perfect. Wow, you're having such a great time in Paris. And I told her myself, she didn't see the part where I was sitting on a bench in the Louvre crying my eyes out.

**[1:17]** And she wouldn't have known because all I was posting was the lovely coffees I was having and the beautiful views. And there was no way to tell that actually I was deeply, deeply depressed at that time. It's crazy, like the distortions that social media can cause.

**[1:33]** If you see us here today, you would think that we're having the world's perfect day. But you didn't catch me snapping at Hani that two minutes before we started this. Or the fact that I overslept this morning. Or that we started at 5 a.m. and had a long day. Social media has this effect to distort reality.

**[1:53]** And the added effect is that it distorts our perception of what is reality. In the sense that it distorts what our expectations are for ourselves and how we look and where we are and what we do. What do you mean by that? So think about even the way you look.

**[2:08]** Because now social media, you're getting on there and now there's a standard that's unrealistic. In fact, it's manufactured. You mean how people look, what people are doing, how they're feeling, everything, right? So I remember in high school, this is sort of not that old.

**[2:23]** When social media started, it had been sort of up and running at this point. And I remember just looking in the mirror once and thinking to myself, like, man, I wish I had this feature, I wish I didn't have this feature. I look like someone else. And it was interesting because a couple of years later, what ended up happening was that

**[2:40]** I traveled to this country where they all essentially do plastic surgery and look exactly the same. I was like, you guys all look the same and no one looks good. And I started to realize, your peculiar features define who you are.

**[2:57]** They're a part of who you are and you lose that when we all look the same. And frankly, they didn't seem like they were any happier, right? But again, social media exacerbates this effect in terms of its distortion. But is it really a social media problem or is it a human problem?

**[3:12]** I mean, I think it's a bit of both, right? But I think that social media, probably 100x is it, if not significantly more, right? Break it down. What is social media actually doing to us? So think about it. Okay, so social media, the way it's designed is like a slot machine. It's literally designed with the same...

**[3:27]** Like what you'd find in a casino. Exactly, what you'd find in a casino. So when you try to scroll down, you get that loop-de-loop that you're sitting and waiting for the new content to pop up. All taken from the gambling scene, right? The desire for the likes, the comments, the notifications.

**[3:44]** You know that really good feeling when it's like, pop, let someone message you. Pop, someone likes something, right? This is not some innocent experience, right? What ends up happening is that your brain starts to release dopamine, the feel-good addictive chemical. And the problem of course is that now, I'm getting my validation, my source of self-worth, of confidence through social media, right?

**[4:11]** But is it the social media platforms or is it just us, how we use it? It's a little bit of both. But we need to recognize that social media, the platform itself was designed, right? This was not like, oh, coincidentally, now it's designed to make you addictive. We have documentaries now revealing the absolute intention to create these pathways in your brain.

**[4:33]** And it's terrifying because the research now done on adolescent girls, right? So especially, we're talking 8 to 15-ish. Because their brains at that age have not yet been developed, this is actually having an effect on their brain development, their perception of their self, their perception of reality.

**[4:51]** This is not like, oh, it's not good for you, probably should get off. It's like, oh, well, this has serious long-term consequences. This is that deep, though. It's that deep. I would argue to the end that it's that deep. But it's not like an all or nothing situation. I think what I want to stress is you need to just be aware so that when you are using social media, you're mindful of it.

**[5:13]** So what are some other side effects? Okay, so we got social media. And then let's mix it up with the beauty industry worth over $400 billion. And so, of course, social media is profiting or the beauty industry is profiting off your presence as well on social media because social media is setting your expectations for, again, this manufactured version of yourself.

**[5:36]** So, you know, you got these are like, again, exacerbating the problems because now you want to look a certain way. And to do so, you can't have pores, right? So it's either a filter or it's going to be makeup or it's going to be buying, changing more, more, more, right?

**[5:51]** I must admit, I also fall for so much that I see on social media, but that's just the world we live in. It is the world we live in, but we have a lot more control over your world than you think. Right. Again, I could talk for hours.

**[6:06]** We know the highlight reel where you see only part of your life and no one else sees the rest. Right. You think about like the compare and despair syndrome. Because now you're getting on social media, you're seeing people who've got these luxurious homes, who are flying first class, who are having what seem to be the perfect lives, which of course are not the perfect lives because the second before the camera hits record, you better believe there was someone screaming.

**[6:30]** There was like someone dropped coffee all over them. Like something happened to ruin everything and you're just miserable. And then it's but like it's one thing for it to have an effect on you. But when like cue the rise of influencers, right?

**[6:46]** When you now see someone online who seems to have like everything you've ever wanted. Well, actually, it's not what you wanted, but now you suddenly want because it's like, well, that person has it and that person has it. And why is my house so dark? And why don't I have that, you know, kitchen set? And why don't I have two kids?

**[7:01]** And, you know, sort of like that suburban lifestyle that we all dream of. And that, again, that just gets about a thousand times worse when you're constantly exposed to these superficial lives. So I get it in a worldly sense, right? So you're going to feel a bit bad.

**[7:16]** You're going to maybe be depressed when you compare yourself to others. But is there a consequence on my deen and my relationship with Allah? Yeah, I mean, I think that there needs to be an Islamic reframing in this conversation, right?

**[7:31]** Because I think like one of the most important principles here is that we need to be thinking about is haya. The Prophet (ﷺ) says that every faith, every religion has like a defining characteristic. And the one that defines us as Muslims is haya, right? So this is important.

**[7:46]** It's like, OK, what is it? Tell me more. Unfortunately, most of the time, it's like, what would you translate haya as? Shame. Shame, right? What is shame to us in the Western world? Shame is something that's negative. Shame is something that's like socially stigmatizing.

**[8:01]** Like, I feel shame. I want to sort of like isolate myself from others. Or less than. Or less than, right? Like, I don't feel like I fit a part of this larger group. It has all of these negative associations. And I think like, I think we need to number one start with the importance of haya in this conversation,

**[8:20]** but redefine it, offer some alternatives in our understanding. Because it's hard to capture, I think, the translation in just one word. And haya for me represents like this moment of quiet. Like, in a world where there's constant visibility, it's this recognition that not everything needs to be shared.

**[8:38]** It's a self- Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean by that? It's like a self-awareness before God and before people, right? And it's almost like this level of like noble restraint that you're going to hold back. You're going to push back in a world that says share, share, do more.

**[8:54]** Like, always make yourself visible. No, no, no. Like, I'm going to hold back because of my awareness, the effects of my actions among people, and the effects of my action, of course, more importantly, to God, right? And that's connected. Like, I think about like the reality that not everything was meant to be shared, right?

**[9:12]** No, I mean, really? Like, because what happens is then, it's not like, oh, you're sharing the bad. Of course, like there's the whole highlight real concept. But like, then there's also no privacy in like both the good that you do, but also just the mundane.

**[9:28]** I think of the example of Abu Bakr (رضي الله عنه), who at the time was a caliph at the time, right? And Umar ibn al-Khattab (رضي الله عنه) notices like every single morning, he just disappears. Like, where in the world are you going? You've got a full plate on, you know, you've got a million things to be doing.

**[9:43]** So Umar one of these days says, like, you know, I'm just going to follow him. Like, I got to see what he's up to. And he goes far out to the outskirts of the city, far, far out. And he's like, where in the world is this? Like, where are we going here? And Abu Bakr enters at the outskirts of the city, this home that he's never seen before.

**[9:59]** Like, he doesn't know who's there and he stays there for a long time. And Umar's waiting and waiting. And like, when is he going to come out? Anyways, after quite some time, he comes out and he doesn't like, just sort of lets Abu Bakr alone. He goes back, doesn't let him see him there. And Umar goes into this house.

**[10:15]** He's like, okay, like, who are you? And he sees an old blind lady. And, you know, he asks her, like, who just came visit? She's like, do you know who that was? She's like, no, like, I don't know who it was. But he comes all the time and cleans up and prepares my food and helps me out.

**[10:32]** Umar at that moment was like, man, you have set quite the precedent, right? You've exhausted all of us after you. Because, like, that experience of just connecting, like of serving others. What's our instinct today?

**[10:48]** Out here. No, but it's not all bad. Because I think about social media in a way that when you share the good that you do, it encourages others to do good. It's not about not ever sharing. I think we just need to be more intentional and selective.

**[11:03]** It's not, again, we're talking about pendulum swinging. We overshare now. It's like every act of good you do, every act of inspiration you do, it has to be online. But what do you want us to do? Live, like, on an island? Because that's the way we connect with people.

**[11:18]** We don't connect in person as much anymore. So we should all be these islands hovering lonely by ourselves and not connecting with other people. Come on. See, well, this is exactly the problem. Because now your idea of connection, our idea as a society of connection is like, of course you do it online.

**[11:33]** But we don't have in-person connections anymore. That's devastating us in terms of loneliness. But try to do that. Like, reimagine the world. It's too late now anyways. It's not too late. It's never too late, right? And I think right now we are knee-deep in, like, the loneliness epidemic. I don't know what country, the UK, what country created a ministry of, like, friendships or relationships or something to, like, combat the loneliness.

**[11:55]** That's how bad things are. So to me, it's not too late. In fact, this is, if anything, this has been the biggest red flag to say we need to make that effort, right? And so, like, again, it's source fact not just to, like, in-person connections.

**[12:12]** It's not just about, like, holding back and stuff like that. But the problem again, right, when you're oversharing, you end up seeking validation from those who are following you. You end up seeking validation from the public. And I think of a hadith that Aisha (رضي الله عنها), may Allah bless her, tells to Muawiyah (رضي الله عنه).

**[12:29]** So Muawiyah, may Allah bless him, is a caliph at the time. And he sends off a messenger to Aisha and he asks her, may Allah bless her, what, you know, give me any advice you have. Like, just advise me. And of all the things, because right now he's a caliph, he's in a position of power, he's in a position of influence.

**[12:45]** What does she tell him? That whoever seeks God's pleasure, at the expense of the people, God will suffice him, right? Meaning, if you do what you, you're in a position of influence, you do what you need to do. You act in a way that's pleasing to God, even when like, it's not social media worthy,

**[13:03]** even when the people are like, what are you doing? Or it's not gaining the likes, it's not getting any of that validation. God will be enough for you, right? And on the flip side, if you go after, if you are willing to displease God and do something, just so you can gain those likes and those followers,

**[13:20]** like that influence, of course in this context we're talking about just the influence of the people, then God will leave you to the people. What happens when you're left to the people? You'll be cancelled. One word and that's it, you're gone, right? And so I think, again, it's more just like this, what is our broader picture?

**[13:36]** What is our broader approach? It's not about like, never share. It's about being intentional. Let's be selective and let's always have that reframing. Why am I doing this? I'm doing it for the sake of God. And even if it causes me to be cancelled or disliked or lose followers,

**[13:52]** I'm going to stick to what I need to stick to. Tell me how that links back to haya, because I think I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) said that if you don't have haya, then you might as well do as you wish. What does that mean? Well, it's important to understand like the larger role that haya plays.

**[14:07]** And it's this idea that we carry a collective vision. Like if I'm Muslim, I believe that truth is from God, that we have universal principles and values and laws that we follow. And if I'm doing that all for the sake of God,

**[14:22]** when I talk about self-awareness before God and before the people, it means that I want to be conscious of doing something that might be displeasing to God. I want to be conscious of doing something that might affect the community overall, right? And so haya is holding back, having that, again, that noble self-restraint

**[14:42]** amongst people because you fear doing something that is wrong to God, right? So like the point is that there's got to be a starting point, right? We all agree on the basics of Islam, right? And so when you start to veer away from it,

**[14:57]** we have this collective responsibility to hold each other accountable. Al-Hasan al-Basri has a famous quote who says, he says that a Muslim is a brother to a Muslim, your sister to your other Muslim.

**[15:12]** You show each other your faults and you forgive each other your shortcomings. Like that's the vision that you have, that you want to be like, number one, we're here together. We're in this together. You're my sister. I'm going to show you your faults because I want you to be the best version of yourself.

**[15:28]** And you forgive them their sins. But you overcome like their shortcomings. You don't hold that against someone, right? And once, you know, when Umar ibn al-Khattab was Amir al-Mu'minin, when he was a caliph, someone tells him, like he was saying, they were like having a conversation and someone tells him like,

**[15:45]** ittaqillah, like fear of God. The man is beside him, he's like, did you just tell Amir al-Mu'minin fear of God? Like what was happening to you? And Umar's like, no, no, no, let him say that, that we want to be there. Like we want to always have people who point out our flaws

**[16:02]** and we always should be people who accept that, right? Because again, it's not about you and me. It's about like, how can we be most pleasing to God? And I think that's just, again, that's just important to remember when we're on social media, not to go around and comment like, sister, brother, like this is haram, right?

**[16:18]** That's not what I'm trying to do here because I don't think that's very effective. But I think it means being mindful about what you post because you don't know how that's being received by other people. Being mindful about what you comment, being mindful how you engage.

**[16:33]** Like it's just, it's like, again, this level, this added level of awareness that you have to constantly sort of remember and do so for that greater good. So to get this self-awareness, what else do you need to do or be? I think something else that's very important is this idea that

**[16:50]** because social media, right, with influencers, you like, you lose sight of the material goods that you have, that sort of what you have in your own life. You lose sight of the beauty that you have. You said compare and despair. Right, compare and despair.

**[17:05]** Like that's exactly the situation to constantly in. Something that's so, so important is really like, and it sounds so basic, but it's life-changing is gratitude, right? Shukr. And this is, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is a shakur. He is one who loves, you know, who is thankful and is,

**[17:20]** loves those who are thankful, who have that gratitude. But you're telling me so like, I must just be grateful and then I'll be fine? No, yes, actually. I think it's life-changing. Come on, all the self-help stuff now comes out just every night, right? Your gratitude journal and it changes your life.

**[17:37]** And gratitude is a shukr. Like since day one, the Prophet (ﷺ), oh God, like always encouraging gratitude because it's life-changing. Like I'll give you an example of context of sort of like physical looks and how it culminates, right?

**[17:52]** First year of undergrad, I get on a longboard in abaya. Bad idea. Don't ever try to longboard in abaya. I shatter my ankle and I had so many surgeries and all this fun stuff, right? And after my first surgery, I had really bad scarring and it was on my ankle.

**[18:12]** So in many cases, like it was visible to other women. I just spent six weeks, by the way, six weeks on crutches. And so those, for the entire six weeks, like the moment you lose your ability to just walk freely, like it's everything, like to get a cup of water,

**[18:31]** to use the restroom. So it was devastating. Everything just becomes a thousand times harder. And the whole time I kept thinking, alhamdulillah, like I have a foot. Alhamdulillah, I have health. Alhamdulillah, I have a leg. Like you don't know it until you lose it, right? Anyways, I have this terrible scar on my ankle. And I just remember, I'll never forget the reaction.

**[18:49]** I can't even remember who they were, by the way. Like I genuinely can't remember because my brain only remembers the reaction. We're sitting outside. We're hanging out with a bunch of women and my ankle's showing. And she sees it and she sees the scar. And one person goes, like, oh, my God.

**[19:04]** She had this like, like at least hide it, right? Do yourself a favor. Hide your reaction. What's that? Gross. I was like, like at that moment, right, had I not just spent six weeks thinking,

**[19:22]** my God, what an incredible blessing that I have a leg on, like part attached to my body. And I've always had a leg. And like I could walk from since the day I was born. And I will be able to walk after this, inshallah. Like if I didn't spend those six weeks thinking, like drowning in gratitude,

**[19:37]** I would have been mortified. And I remember looking at her. And I, like at that moment, I had all the confidence in the world. I was like, are you okay? Like is there something wrong with you? Who reacts like that? Like I have a leg, alhamdulillah. But I wouldn't have been able to get, I would not have been able to have that strength and confidence

**[19:55]** had I not been like deeply immersed in gratitude. It makes a difference. It really, really does. Because like you're looking on social media and you see this gorgeous house. And you look at your house, you're like, one day if only I could have that. Then you lose sight of like, you have a home.

**[20:12]** Like it's, and it sounds so simple and basic to sneak, right? But you know, but like, is that not a little patronizing? Because people like, it's human nature to want nice things. It's human nature to want nice things. But you know what the Prophet (ﷺ) reminds us? Look to those who are below you and not those above you.

**[20:28]** It's this constant reminder, like alhamdulillah, right? Like you just look at Gaza and you think to yourself, like, if they're still saying alhamdulillah, really? Like who are we to say anything else? And by the way, like I get it. It's not something that comes naturally, but this is something you need to practice, right?

**[20:46]** And if a self-help book can tell you and convince people day in and day out that you need to spend five minutes every night practicing gratitude, I think we can push ourselves a little more than that. Okay, so how do I do that? You know, to get into that mode of deep reflection of like really that gratitude,

**[21:02]** you got to be distraction-free. And it's so hard when social media, right, is in our pockets and the second we have a minute to breathe, we're on it. I think we need to really focus on that. You know what's crazy? The CEO of Telegram, you use Telegram in South Africa, I don't know.

**[21:19]** Yeah. It's like sort of like an equivalent of WhatsApp. The CEO of Telegram doesn't have a smartphone. What does that tell you? Like the people behind these technologies know how terrible they are. They themselves don't even use it, right?

**[21:35]** We're raising what Jonathan Haidt, a famous like professor, writes about the anxious generation, right? We are creating through social media this like anxiety. I have to digress for a second because I was on social media for a long time, right?

**[21:50]** You were on social media? I was on social media. Which means you're not on social media. I'm not currently on social media. Oh, come on. And I can make a case for it any day. But no, but look, I'll tell you why. Why did I get off? This was now almost, geez, a decade ago. But I was on social media.

**[22:06]** So for 10 years you've not been on social media? I would say it's almost been, yeah, 10 years if not more. Can we just tell Noor to stop the recording? I'm shocked. Right? And you know what? Like I don't have, because when I was on it, right? The thought of getting off, I was like, oh, but like how do I connect with human beings?

**[22:24]** If not, I'm going to have FOMO. I'm not going to know information. Like all of these things, like those feelings are real. But don't you think it would have helped you in your work even? It helped me in a lot of things. But for me, the cons outweigh the pros because I had a really bad anxiety when I was on social media.

**[22:39]** Like I always felt like there was something missing, right? I always felt like, what do I have to post now? And like always waiting for that reaction. Anyways, the point is that I had really bad anxiety. And it was just like I never had anxiety like that before, right? And I remember I was like, you know what?

**[22:56]** I'm going to finally like do it. I'm going to go cold turkey. I'm going to get off social media. And that first week, it felt like I was like, what is it? Recovery. Like I was like an addict. The shakes? The shakes, right? I was like I need to get back on. A week later, two weeks later, once you start to sort of like get it out of your system,

**[23:13]** I noticed that my anxiety like immediately dropped. And I was like, wow, I feel so much better. Fine, I'm not going to convince you to do that. But the point is, is there are effects. And we need to learn how to be distraction-free even.

**[23:28]** And be aware of how much you use social media. Because most people don't realize they spend a full-time job's worth on their phones, right? Like actually track how much you're using it. Number two, it's like you're setting boundaries, right? So maybe you don't use it like after 7 p.m. you put your phone on airplane mode.

**[23:44]** Or you just you have blockers so you don't check your social media. What do you do from 7 p.m.? What do you do until you sleep? Stare at the wall. It's great practice. You know, maybe it's like the morning. Like the first thing we do is like, instead of saying like, Alhamdulillah alladhi ahyana, like making the du'a of the Prophet,

**[23:59]** thank God that God has awakened us, given us life, right? It's like the first instant grab your phone, right? Maybe your goal is just the first 10 minutes when you wake up. Now we're talking big. First 5 minutes, first 10 minutes. Just don't have that instinct. Don't check your phone before you pray Fajr, right?

**[24:15]** These are small little things, but you'll start to notice the difference. So you said we must evaluate how we're using social media. I'm definitely going to check my use time and start there. And then you spoke about setting boundaries. What else do we have to do?

**[24:30]** Get outdoors. Get outdoors, enjoy nature, cold, hot, rainy, whatever the case is. Because you know what? Like there's something incredible about nature. I mean, just think about how much God talks about, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala talks about nature in the Quran. Like if that's not, why?

**[24:47]** Because when you are around nature, it really is like this opportunity to connect with the world and with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He uses it as an ayah, as a sign of his existence, as a sign of your existence.

**[25:02]** And just as nature, trees die and are brought back to life, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala uses this metaphor. You will die, you will be brought back to life. So much examples in the Quran. Allah invites us to be in nature because it is a space for you to disconnect and reconnect.

**[25:19]** So really taking advantage of that. And that means being bored, right? Not taking your phone with you or obviously take your phone with you. Don't get lost in a forest. But not checking it every five minutes. It really makes a difference. So we must just be bored.

**[25:34]** Is that the solution? You know what? It won't be boredom once you get used to it. It's something like I crave, right? And not just because I'm an introvert, because really it allows me to sort of disconnect, reconnect. And you know, part of that is also,

**[25:49]** and also you're not being bored because the other stuff that I would encourage is in-person connections, right? It's not about like being alone. That's not the solution. It's time. You need time for aloneness, time to be alone. But you also need time to have real in-person connection. Come on, man.

**[26:04]** COVID taught us this. COVID taught us that we are not meant to be totally alone. Like people were miserable. People really suffered. And I think that again, that just reflected our need for that in-person connection. I love that you say that because before this, I thought without social media, we'll all just be lonely.

**[26:21]** Definitely not. So are you willing to re-evaluate your relationship with social media? Let us know in the comments.

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- [Are We Becoming Too Self-Centered? | Real Talk ft. Tesneem Alkiek](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/real-talk-series/are-we-becoming-too-self-centered-real-talk-ft-tesneem-alkiek.md)
- [The Healthy Way to Think About Feminism | Real Talk ft. Tesneem Alkiek](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/real-talk-series/the-healthy-way-to-think-about-feminism-real-talk-ft-tesneem-alkiek.md)
- [Spiritual Burnout is Real | Real Talk ft. Dr. Tesneem Alkiek](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/real-talk-series/spiritual-burnout-is-real-real-talk-ft-dr-tesneem-alkiek.md)
- [The Problem With Hustle Culture | Real Talk ft. Dr. Tesneem Alkiek](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/real-talk-series/the-problem-with-hustle-culture-real-talk-ft-dr-tesneem-alkiek.md)
- [What if it's Not a Gender War? | Real Talk ft. Dr. Tesneem Alkiek](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/real-talk-series/what-if-its-not-a-gender-war-real-talk-ft-dr-tesneem-alkiek.md)
- [Why is Marriage So Complicated? | SERIES PREMIERE | Real Talk ft. Dr. Tesneem Alkiek](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/real-talk-series/why-is-marriage-so-complicated-series-premiere-real-talk-ft-dr-tesneem-alkiek.md)
- [LET’S CHAT | First impressions, Hijab, Highschool Awkwardness | New Series with Dr Tesneem Alkiek](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/real-talk-series/lets-chat-first-impressions-hijab-highschool-awkwardness.md)
- [Trailer | Real Talk with Dr. Tesneem Alkiek and Qaanitah Hunter](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/real-talk-series/trailer-real-talk-with-dr-tesneem-alkiek-and-qaanitah-hunter.md)