Interesting points, but I don't think it goes deep enough. The rhythms of social media contribute to people's emotions, but they are also a function of people's

Interesting points, but I don't think it goes deep enough. The rhythms of social media contribute to people's emotions, but they are also a function of people's emotions. There's a ton of parallel evolution in social media because it's seeking the intersection of capitalism's incentives and what people respond to. I think it also ignores that social media creates opportunity for both emotional stunting and emotional growth. One of the reasons I'm still on Twitter is that it allows me to get perspectives on the world that I would never normally encounter. People all across society, people with very different experiences. Personally, I've grown a lot in the broadness of my empathy through years of frequent encounters with people just talking openly about their lives. To make that work, though, I need to avoid spiraling down into many of social media's traps, like doomscrolling or pointless argument. Which in turn requires stronger emotional regulation than I had before. So used correctly, I feel like social media is an opportunity to practice the sort of intellectual and emotional skills that lead to good self-regulation.