People are leaving big platforms for smaller online circles. It's the start of a new, healthier era of social media.
I've become a social-media ghost over the past few years. I haven't posted on Instagram since December, I've gone from tweeting several times a day to a couple of times a week, and I haven't signed into Facebook or Snapchat in ages. Looking at many of my profiles, you'd think they were abandoned. And I'm not alone: People are spending less and less time on social media.
For more than a decade, social media has brought people together on a handful of platforms, most notably Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. But in an effort to feed the rapacious desire for growth, these platforms have transformed from places for people to connect to entertainment channels. As the big players have deteriorated into a chaotic mash of shouting and sponsored content, alienated users are decamping for a hodgepodge of platforms.
Like many young people, I've taken refuge in close-knit private circles such as group chats. In these smaller spaces, populated with friends and family, I don't feel the crippling pressure to overshare and harvest my every thought for possible work opportunities. These havens are free from the round-the-clock avalanche of meticulously curated content, ads, and brand campaigns. Instead of the stilted experience of hanging out in a shopping mall, group chats feel more like an intimate dinner at a friend's house.
-------------------------------- “It's hard to win an argument with a smart person. It's damn near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person." -- Bill Murray
Posts: 13890 | Location: The outer burrows | Registered: 27 April 2005
