Social Media is obviously popular. People are obviously addicted to it. We know in some amorphous and general way that it is bad for us. Nevertheless, we keep using it like the addicts we are. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc… they are built to addict us. Before briefly the first five arguments with my thoughts on each, it is important to remember one causal principle that drives the entire discussion: Social Media’s business model is to addict you.

Because the services are “free” they have to pay for it with your attention and ads. Ads are only as good as their ability to target the right people at precisely the right time. That is where surveillance capitalism enters the mix. To make advertising appealing to corporations, social media must know everything about you. Nay, more about you than you know about yourself so that they can fine tune ads for maximum conversion. Privacy be damned, you are the product!

This one was obvious to me. Addiction is by definition the loss of one’s freedom. When the first thing we do is pick up our phone and the last thing we do is doom scroll our favorite social network, we are addicted. This makes us less free to pursue the things that fill us with joy, passion, and purpose. There is only so much time in a day and unfortunately hours of it are wasted for each of us.

In an age of individuality when everyone competes at being unique, we are all strangely the same. Heads in cell phones and straight addicted to news porn, real porn, social media, fake rage, fake beauty, and fake lives that only exist through filters. This is a bitter pill to swallow, something we know is true but struggle to muster the courage to do anything about. I’m dumping my accounts because of this chapter.

I’ve been an asshole on social media before; I’m ashamed of the fact but it is a fact nevertheless. I’ve also become more anxious and angry in general because of news and social media. To get my attention to look at something it de facto needs to be hyperbolic and extreme. This is what I call news porn. It is gross and it makes us jerks in a million subtle ways.

Okay, this one is obvious and needs little explanation other than bots overrunning the internet. If you want to read more have a look at this great article: Maybe You Missed It, but the Internet ‘Died’ Five Years Ago

This one was obvious to me as well but important to state. There is so much noise that the only way to be heard is to say outrageous things. The more outrageous things you say the more you become meaningless in all you say. Saying things with nuance, subtly, and thoughtfullness just does not drive engagement. The blessing is that the choice is more clear than ever: choose decisively to speak the truth without care for likes and the opinion of others or become a schill that chases the approval of the masses.

Cheers!