It's true that as a small and intimate community grows, it will deteriorate. Once upon a time there was this optimistic idea that as we add voices to the inter

It's true that as a small and intimate community grows, it will deteriorate. Once upon a time there was this optimistic idea that as we add voices to the internet it becomes exponentially better, like a super brain developing. This has become true in some parts (Wikipedia, open source software, stackoverflow, the like) but it doesn't seem to apply to social networking. On social networks, the larger it gets, the worse it becomes. The large size making it an attractive target for scammers, divisive posts, trolling, dunking, pile-ons, influencer tactics. It ends with the worst of us winning, the unreasonable ones. The size of the social network is a factor, its algorithms (what is amplified), but also the underlying dysfunctional political system. I've come to the conclusion that a large scale social network is near impossible to keep healthy, stable, useful. Or this slowly becoming clear at this point in time. My advise would be to not obsessively search for the next new thing, instead to pause and critically evaluate what you're getting out of it anyway. Make your goal as narrow and tangible as possible. As an example, say you have a particular professional/hobby interest. You follow experts on social networks. Instead you could just subscribe to the endless amount of newsletters that come weekly. Find the good one. Read it once per week and you're up to speed. No need to spend hours per day listening to noise. I cannot recommend this enough, it's so calming. The perhaps more controversial tip is about people "finding community". I respect and understand that in particular situations, people can find like-minded individuals that they would otherwise not find in the real world. Fine, but I'd also argue that this isn't true for many people, and "finding community" strongly aligns with being chronically online. If so, now would be a good moment to ask hard questions about this "community". Do you even know whom they are? Have you ever met any of them? Would they help you if something happens to you? Have they ever shown an active interest in you? Has the community in any shape or form tangibly improved your life? Do they like you unconditionally or drop you like a stone when you say the wrong thing? Perhaps your community is just a bunch of randos that do not care if you live or die, that happen to have the same suspiciously precise opinion, and you're just there to see it validated, for hours on end, day by day, without this making any difference whatsoever to anything at all. My point being, optimize your social network usage. Go to direct sources, exit communities where there is no real personal stake, then walk the dog in the nearby forest. Reclaim your real life. And yes, I'm hypocritical for posting here. I'm just as flawed in wasting time online. But I genuinely believe I should just exit 90% of it for the simple reason that it offers no tangible value, and quite a lot of negative value (lost quality time). What comes after Twitter and Reddit? How about fucking nothing?