Like this or facebook and whatnot. If your talking facebook and the consumer stuff I never got it. I use it minimally since they all went way away from their purpose. Just connecting with folks youve known in meatspace.

We need scientific, critical thinking.

We always did.

But now it is a matter of survival.

It doesn’t matter how much you feel it in your bones or how much faith you have. Those things don’t mean shit and should impress nobody.

What matters is the evidence

I don’t think its just “social media” by itself, but more like the overall advancement in technology.

I mean, its boredom that drives people to go outside. Now we have the internet and can just watch anything at anytime. Don’t even need to wait for a specific time for it to air.

Going outside drains energy, its so easy to just stay indoors and binge watch any tv show you like, browse forums, play video games.

If you tried this before the internet, you’d be bored so quickly and be forced to go outside, but noe there’s infinite entertainment.

Also, smartphones made the “self-isolation bubble” also became a thing in public. Why talk to random strangers? Just stare at your phone like everyone does.

Kids in school doesn’t even talk to each other anymore. You get made fun of if you don’t have a smartphone (you still get made fun of if its Android, but its not as bad as not having a phone at all)

I’m not anti-tech or anything, I like technology, but I just think its people misusing it. Like maybe stop staring in your phone during school lunch and talk to people. But you’re a weirdo now if you dare to initiate converasation with others.

So it’s a feedbackloop, because nobody talks anymore, I also feel more inclined to just browse the internet instead of making my self stand out.

It has ruined communication. First texting abbreviations, then emojis as replacements for words, now it’s just like a post. Most platforms have removed the ability to dislike, because people dislike things in real life.

Reducing in-person interactions and connections. Some person right now thinks they have 300 friends because all of their Facebook “chums” added them because they were in the same class or grade in high school. But most are doing it because they themselves feel the need to have as many friends as possible, so it looks good on their page.

The concept of following people on Twitter or Instagram is laughable. All these followers, but none of these people are leaders. The irony writes itself

It impacts them extremely negatively.

I think it varies per platform. LinkedIn fosters a disgusting ass-kissing “work comes first” culture. Facebook turned people into one-upping d-bags with highly curated feeds to showcase their constant “winning at life” bullshit. X/Twitter was a left bubble then a right bubble. Reddit is enshittified beyond recognition. It all sucks, just in different ways.

But perhaps the common factors are a sense of isolation and a disconnection from reality.

I feel like all social networks no longer represent or are recognizable from the original point of social networks which was communication. Now they’re algorithm based engagement avenues for ads and market research and data gathering.

I’m 95% sure it’s why the US political system is so bias and the vibe on my latest post was lit, and I couldn’t help but flex about my rizz honestly, no cap.

I don’t really think social media actually makes people more social in real life and federated platforms are pretty much the same.

Also here’s a few interesting related things I’ve seen:

• The Internet is Worse Than Ever – Now What? | Kurzgesagt
• Lemmy is making me depressed

I also remember reading once that many tech execs don’t let their kids use social media or phones.

Like anything, you can have too much of a good thing. It has a lot of benefits, but it has absolutely become a cancer on society, or rather, supercharged the cancers that already existed in society.