I think that it's going to turn out that social media is like coffee: It's fine, even healthy, for some people, and harmful to others.
And I would think that's fine, except that I fall into the latter group, and social media has come to consume so much of the online world that it means that I can't avoid it without excluding myself from large swathes of public life.
I don't volunteer at my kids' school because coordination is done through Facebook. I don't stay in touch with people I meet at events because Facebook has thoroughly supplanted other modes of casual communication. I don't hear about events at some of my local community spaces because they only advertise them on Facebook. Etc.
So it's not entirely like coffee. It's like what it would be like if coffee were healthy for some, unhealthy for others, and quasi-mandatory for all.
Sounds more like alcohol. If you have a couple drinks a week, it's no problem. If you can't stop yourself from binge drinking, you have to stop completely. Sobriety means that you miss out on social activities based around drinking.
I couldn't agree more but with a few additional points.
As some have pointed out below, It is more like a new drug that essentially has billions of people prescribed and now addicted to. Its creators (Zuckerberg, Dorsey and Spegiel) have invented the Like, Follow, Heart tools to give us the equivalent of a dopamine hit to manipulate us to stay and continue to get more of them. It then becomes a livelihood to do extreme things just for more attention and followers which dangerously merges social media into the real world and makes it difficult to distinguish on what is real or fake, which is very unhealthy for the mind.
Imagine if FB was a drugs-manufacturer and they are selling drugs called "The Facebook" or "Instagram", etc to you. To use it, just "Post/Like/Follow". Advertisers are also the drug dealers. When we are talking about billions of prescribed users and 100m daily active users, that sounds as if Zuckerberg has become one of the most successful drug kin-pins in history.
If this analogy doesn't sound terrifying, then perhaps its time for some social media therapy then.
Speaking as someone who can't drink caffeine without a painful pins and needles sensation (thanks levofloxacin!), I'd say the analogy works quite well.
Off topic but can you expound? I was "floxxed" with joint pain etc long ago...but have never heard of the caffeine related effects. Is it all caffeine? ie chocolate/pills too?
Coffee is really the only caffeinated thing I consume. I learned after my (relatively mild by some stories I've read) floxxing that caffeine + flox drugs are a bad combo, and I was very much a coffee person, so of course I combined them. My skin has been more sensitive in general ever sense, and attempts to drink regular coffee usually lead to that pins and needles sensation.
On the upside, I've discovered a great decaf: Slow Motion from Counter Culture. So hard to find high quality decaf, and I'm glad I was recommended this one. I actually drink more coffee now than before because I've been able to switch to decaf.
And I would think that's fine, except that I fall into the latter group, and social media has come to consume so much of the online world that it means that I can't avoid it without excluding myself from large swathes of public life.
I don't volunteer at my kids' school because coordination is done through Facebook. I don't stay in touch with people I meet at events because Facebook has thoroughly supplanted other modes of casual communication. I don't hear about events at some of my local community spaces because they only advertise them on Facebook. Etc.
So it's not entirely like coffee. It's like what it would be like if coffee were healthy for some, unhealthy for others, and quasi-mandatory for all.