> At a cultural level, we didn’t stop smoking just because the habit was unpleasant or uncool or even because it might kill us. We did so slowly and over time,

> At a cultural level, we didn’t stop smoking just because the habit was unpleasant or uncool or even because it might kill us. We did so slowly and over time, by forcing social life to suffocate the practice. That process must now begin in earnest for social media. I think smaller, focused social networks will emerge/survive and will be much better for society. The concept of a “town square” online is a fallacy and really doesn’t help people, it sure helps these companies make money, well some of them. The current climate of public, global social media promotes and fosters content that is controversial and draws in heated oppositional arguing, aka “engagement”. The people that engage in this content think first, likely subconsciously, to poke holes in peoples comments, ridicule, troll, and be controversial because they know it gets comments which might get them whatever “score” that social media network uses. Localized content, from people you know directly, is much more normal - pics of things you do, events you’re going to and old school sharing of your life.