I watch my followers dwindle on X while growing on BlueSky. The cycle of social media migration continues, leaving me wondering – do I really want to start over again? Was it ever that good to begin with?
The internet feels broken. More and more people agree on this, even if we disagree on how to fix it. The growing number of ads on Facebook, the political takeover on X, and, for me most of all, the addictive features that keep us glued to our screens.
The problem runs deeper than any single platform. It’s embedded in the very business model that governs social media. We get Facebook and Snapchat for “free,” but the model sustains itself on targeted advertising. To survive, it needs to use our data and keep us online for as long as possible.
I hear proposals to build new and better social networks that will enrich people, not large tech companies. I listen to hopes of doing so by returning to a decentralized internet – the utopia that started it all – but which Big Tech dismantled.
As I listen to all these proposals, I wonder: should we want to fix this?
We worry about kids’ screen time, while we ourselves spend hours scrolling. We worry about their social skills while our own real-world connections wither. We’ve seen how these platforms hollow out authentic communication, replacing depth with likes and genuine connection with performative posts.
Why not see this moment of crisis differently?
Instead of building another attention-devouring social hub, why not let go of this ideal and create something more modest? A simple space for information exchange, visited intentionally rather than compulsively. A tool that serves us rather than consumes us.
So far, our relationship with social media has mirrored that famous Eagles lyric: “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”
Perhaps the answer isn’t fixing social networks and their business model. Perhaps it’s leaving this prototype altogether.
Changing social networks’ function will change our relationship to them. It could also give us the option to leave.