Maluma, mental health, and social media / Multimedia Editor's Analysis

His name is Juan Luis Londoño and his stage name is Maluma . He's a young man from Paisa who has reached the top of the mountain. He has it all: fame, money, a powerful entertainment industry with several businesses, and worldwide recognition.

I'm not a big fan of his music, which doesn't bother me either, but I was deeply struck by his messages, in his recent concerts in Bogotá and Medellín, about mental health and social media.

(Read also: Networks and mental health: adjustments needed )

I found it curious that one of the biggest names in Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok— platforms on which he has built a fundamental and structural part of his empire as a global celebrity—speaks out so strongly against those very apps.

And not because of the contrast or irony, but because there is a profound and powerful value in someone who has flaunted their fame and luxuries on social media talking about how they have affected their mental health.

Maluma, with 64 million followers on Instagram, spoke openly about depression, about the meaninglessness that his life once became amidst seas of money, fashion, jewelry, cars, planes, and excessive luxuries, propelled by a digital ecosystem that, he understood, created an empty world.

Furthermore, he said that this very thing was hurting his followers, to say, in front of thousands and thousands of them in packed stadiums, that "everything that appears on social media is crap... it's false, because those who live fully, those who live in peace, don't live on social media."

While he acknowledged that "when used properly," they are powerful in helping an entrepreneur move forward with a business, he also warned that "a comment, a like, doesn't define you or make you a better person ." He emphasized to his followers: "We are missing out on the beauty of life by being immersed in social media." And he's right. There are dozens of academic and psychological studies that have measured the negative impact that irresponsible use of networks like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook has on young people's mental health, and how their cognitive abilities diminish due to the levels of attention required, increasing anxiety and depression.

Maluma is right. Social media is designed to make money off its users, to keep them captive for as long as possible, trapped with psychoanalytic techniques that know how to increase the "prize" trap in their brains, with its endless, endless content on their mobile screens.

(Read also: Banning children from social media: a first step )

Hopefully, Maluma's millions of followers, who are more familiar on social media today, have learned that message as they do with his songs.