I think the real rot of social media is the filter bubble it creates (along with social media merging with news, ala google censorship). I remember my early da

I think the real rot of social media is the filter bubble it creates (along with social media merging with news, ala google censorship). I remember my early days on BBS's and IRC, when if you were an idiot you got called out for it. It was a generally more hostile atmosphere with less patience for idiocy, which at first doesn't seem like a positive, but by creating rules like the one HN foisted with little user input on us of arbitrary enforcement of "don't be unecessarily negative", I feel we actually create a worse space by coddling users. The same applies for users self-coddling via filter-bubbles they put on themselves, or filter-bubbles imposed on them by whatever company. (for example, reddit censorship and manipulation has been getting out of hand for years, and it's obvious they have been angling towards IPO, which will be their death I hope.) This is why I still like irc and usenet to this day. The secondary rot of social media is the surveillance dystopia it has created and is enabling.