I have been off Facebook for years. I was forced to rejoin because our head of marketing departed and I had to take over our company page. OH MY F*** GOD. I cou

I have been off Facebook for years. I was forced to rejoin because our head of marketing departed and I had to take over our company page. OH MY F*** GOD. I could not believe the mess of user engagement triggers and dark patterns that confronted me. (I'm an ops guy, a dev and a successful entrepreneur, currently a high growth CEO) I was literally nauseated. I've actually postponed the job just to avoid the damn thing. As someone who left for a long time and looked at it with a fresh set of non-desensitized eyes, I can tell you with absolute certainty that FB is bad for your mental health. I think the trouble with social is that it's really hard to tell people what they don't want to hear. Anyone who lived through the 80s knows how pissed a smoker would get when you'd tell them they're killing themselves. You felt like an asshole. Same with Facebook, Insta, Twitter, etc. Tell someone who's into it (most of us) they're self harming, and it doesn't exactly improve your relationship with them. But I think the ship has sailed. These are companies making north of 100 Billion per year (in FB's case) with massive lobbying cannons, who are now entrenched and ingrained in our culture and day to day life. It may sound overly dramatic, but I think the truth is that, this sucks for the species boys and girls. [Sorry, had to add the boys and girls. Little Starship Troopers hat tip]