Quick answer
Being afraid of people traps you. The verse names the alternative and describes it as elevation rather than escape.
Read both lines
חֶרְדַּת אָדָם is the trembling or dread of a man, and calling it a snare says something specific: fear of people does not merely make you uncomfortable, it restricts where you can go and what you can say. Anyone who has shaped a decision around what someone would think knows the mechanism.
The second line's image is better than "safe" suggests. The NKJV footnotes יְשֻׂגָּב as secure, lit. set on high, so the picture is being lifted out of reach rather than hidden. Isaiah asks the same question directly: "Who are you that you should be afraid of a man who will die, and of the son of a man who will be made like grass?" (51:12). Height, in both, is a matter of perspective as much as protection.
Related: Isaiah 51:12 · Proverbs 18:10 · Proverbs 3:5–6 · Proverbs 28:26
New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. Full copyright information. Scripture provided by API.Bible.
Go Deeper
If this verse has been used to put weight on you that it was never carrying, ask about it directly.