Have we reached the tipping point?

ABC 209: On social media's utility (or lack thereof)

Social media isn’t what it used to be. I don’t mean that in a snooty Coachella was better last year kind of way. More so, social media has completed its “years-long transformation from a neighborhood populated with friends to a glossy condo development of brands.”

This observation isn’t new. But there was something about the last few weeks—big tech’s takeover of American politics, LA fire dispatches coexisting with TikTok dances, Mark Zuckerberg’s descent into toxic masculinity—that makes me wonder if we’ve reached a tipping point.

Do the negative impacts of being on social media finally outweigh the positives? And if so, why do I find it so hard to leave?

Like the best social commentary, this week’s piece by

Anne Helen Petersen

puts those questions into context. It’s the best thing I’ve read on the “get off your phone” discourse in years.

Here’s the piece: The Social Media Sea Change

Warmly,
Simo 

P.S. The song of the week is my favorite track off the new Mac Miller album which was posthumously published last week. The full songs of the week playlist is here.