Queer Eye star Karamo Brown is known for bringing viewers to tears as he guides the participants through self-acceptance.
But Brown isn’t a fan of trying to have deep conversations on social media.
He wished he’d been able to share his views with Instagram before it started hiding likes on posts, he told Digital Trends Live. It’s not the likes that are the problem, Brown believes, it’s the negative comments.
“Those narratives get stuck in your subconscious, and you start to believe them,” he said. “There is no such thing as a healthy conversation on social media.”
Platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook do have one positive attribute, which is the ability to raise awareness for issues like racism and the #MeToo movement, Brown said.
“I think bringing things to people’s attention is probably the only benefit of social media,” he said.
Instead, Brown is trying to bring an empathetic ear on a more one-on-one way, like through his Luminary podcast, Karamo.
“Through audio, it’s just me and that person, so when I get quiet, they really just start to open up and they start to divulge what they’re going through,” Brown said. Instead of trying to come up with a response or solution, he said he gives people space to share.
It’s ideally suited to podcasting, where it can feel like an intimate conversation, even if others are listening in.
You can watch Brown and the rest of the Fab Five on Netflix’s Queer Eye reboot and listen to his podcast on Luminary.
