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Social media isn't "social" anymore.

toni's profile picture

Posted by toni

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Modern social media's main issue is that they have completed separated social media from being a “social” experience. Social media used to be a way to talk to people you know and make friends. Now it's about making content. If you thought someone's profile looked interesting, you used to send them a friend request and wait to see if they'd accept. Now you just follow people. 

People amass millions of followers and spend so much time making Instagram and TikTok posts with the only goal of getting likes and views. Instead of social media being a few friends talking to each other, it's a “creator” and an “audience”. There's so much separation, and modern social media is (in general) just people trying to become famous or get attention.

Don't even get me started on the fact that people can make money from posting on social media. No app or website that claims to be a social platform should be paying the people that post on there. 

Everything on the internet nowadays seems to be about making money or getting famous. I don't want that, I just want to use social media the way it was meant to be used, to talk to people, make friends, and BE SOCIAL.


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⦻MellohD⦻'s profile picture

Reply by ⦻MellohD⦻

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I completely agree I grew up where social media was always content creator and audience.  Logically i always knew that it was "social" media but it was such a jarring concept to me to have an account that you just post stuff for you and your friends and not something to get likes or comments.  Hearing the concept of facebook was so cool and what it is now is just a frankenstein of tik tok instagram etc i want the social media the one where i post that im going some place and my friends see and engage in a conversation about it.  I also feel like growing up with an audience and creator kind of social media messed up how i view sharing things.  If im not posting to gain some sort of audience i feel like i shouldn't post anything at all, if i dont get a certain ammount of likes or kudos on an art post i feel like i failed at something.  Using spaceHey and just being more relaxed about how i post things has helped but i feel like ill always be a little hardwired to be searching for attention from an audience instead of connections.


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⦻MellohD⦻'s profile picture

Reply by ⦻MellohD⦻

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I completely agree I grew up where social media was always content creator and audience.  Logically i always knew that it was "social" media but it was such a jarring concept to me to have an account that you just post stuff for you and your friends and not something to get likes or comments.  Hearing the concept of facebook was so cool and what it is now is just a frankenstein of tik tok instagram etc i want the social media the one where i post that im going some place and my friends see and engage in a conversation about it.  I also feel like growing up with an audience and creator kind of social media messed up how i view sharing things.  If im not posting to gain some sort of audience i feel like i shouldn't post anything at all, if i dont get a certain ammount of likes or kudos on an art post i feel like i failed at something.  Using spaceHey and just being more relaxed about how i post things has helped but i feel like ill always be a little hardwired to be searching for attention from an audience instead of connections.


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𝔰𝔲𝔠𝔠𝔲𝔰𝔩𝔳𝔱𝔱𝔦𝔢's profile picture

Reply by 𝔰𝔲𝔠𝔠𝔲𝔰𝔩𝔳𝔱𝔱𝔦𝔢

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I HAVE BEEN COMPLAINING ABOUT THIS FOR SO LONG!!

i've made other forum posts about this too but so many people are still feeding into propaganda that social media IS social.

tiktok instagram and twitter are all mobile apps created and owned by rich ceos that were scientifically engineered to exploit you through your emotions. when you engage with the app they make money so they make it as addictive ass possible by making it accessible on your phone 24/7 and prioritizing posts that exploit your emotions.

so many people don't understand when they are only on the "consumer" side of social media.


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