Social media's been coasting on unearned legitimacy since at least 2012 or so. Remember the countless thinkpieces about the wisdom of crowds? Conceivably, soci

Social media's been coasting on unearned legitimacy since at least 2012 or so. Remember the countless thinkpieces about the wisdom of crowds? Conceivably, social media crowds could somehow solve all sorts of really hard problems because in the mass of people conversing we'd be able to amplify voices who weren't being heard and get harder problems solved. The truth of it is social media is a massively multiplayer video game where the goal is to build a following through posts, replies, and various social metrics. This reframing situates it correctly for me: should I play video games for 4 hours straight everyday? Maybe not if I want to feel balanced as an individual. Should I let randos from a video game tell me I should be putting more time in? Absolutely not: they are still randos, regardless of how many Internet Points they have. Do I want their level of brainrot? No, thus I should I always be mindful of the effects on me. It also makes exceedingly clear that social media should never be confused with whatever your quality work is that needs to get done. It is not a substitute for actually doing things. It offers a pale shadow of communication, friendship, and action. People should want more than the lousy facsimiles that it provides.