this is a short summary of several posts flying around plus my own two cents
pre-facebook internet was valuing privacy, with users keeping their personal data secret (legal names, address, face/appearance, etc)
pre-facebook internet was used in big part as a tool by people with passion, nerds, anyone who couldn't find meaningful connections in their surroundings and decided to try connect with the entire world and search there instead; it required effort and opened new possibilities, but the number of internet users wasn't very big; it might have been a novelty pastime to some, but most people didn't need internet in any way
facebook normalized the usage of personal data in online spaces, especially social media
social media are attractive to an average person (the mechanisms are a topic for an entire separate post), thanks to social media the number of people interested in being online keeps growing and right now most people in the world are internet users
most popular contemporary online spaces are designed to be easy to use and engaging, and become a part of everyday life for many; these spaces are attractive to an average person who doesn't want to put effort into browsing the internet. as a result, such online spaces are filled with all kinds of people - as opposed to early internet where people generally gathered in spaces dedicated to like-minded people, and the effort required to connect meant it wasn't easy to accidentally find yourself in an unfamiliar place, or in other words, people chose who they interacted with
there exists internet outside of social media
most people cannot afford using both social media and the rest of the internet interchangeably; finding something on social media is intuitive, fast, and filled with distractions; browsing the “classic” internet requires effort, focus and thinking, and someone who's used social media for hours might not be able to focus enough to put this effort. do you get the irony? it's easier to use the “classic” internet if you don't use social media. it's a trap
unfortunately social media are a must for many, especially professionals; in turn this makes social media a must for those who want information from those professionals
fifteen years ago there was a saying “if it's not on google, it doesn't exist”; right now online users could say “if it's not on my social media, it might as well not exist”
it's a tough landscape to navigate in but it is very much possible to spend time online outside of social media, where the presence of annoying hobbylos people is significantly reduced
many people forget that social media are not everything there is to the internet; especially since social media do their best to appear like they can offer everything; destroy this myth in your head, ask yourself what you want from the internet, then go seek it out
Tl;dr social media is for average people, the rest of the internet is for people with passion
dailybridgerton
germansingergirl
prguitarman
tangentwithtanner
gummygunk
pixelskylines
baratheonpilled
kianamaiart
amandla
