Blaming “technology” is and has always been a fool’s errand. Technology is inherently neutral. It’s just something humans do, always have done and always will do. Some dude figured out that shaving a stick into a sharp point makes a primitive spear. Some other dude figured out that you can scrape certain things against each other and produce sparks easily that can start fires on demand. Some would argue that families, tribes, villages, etc. sitting around a camp fire speaking, sharing stories, etc. was absolutely essential to humanity’s social development. I wonder if other humans at the time thought “oh no! This fucking fire thing! It’s gonna make all of us gather and sit around it!” Whoever it was that discovered how to make fires with flint and such (probably multiple people(s) independently, but whatever) changed social interactions forever. We can look at that now from our current position and say “well, that was good though.” Sure. And who says social media can’t also be good? Maybe we just have to adapt to it the way humans have always adapted to increasing technology. It’s silly to ignore something which has always happened (dramatic changes in social interactions due to increased technology) just because we’re in the middle of it and staying the same or going back feels preferable. I don’t even disagree… I grew up before the internet was in every home and was an adult practically before I had a cell phone and smartphones didn’t even exist. I know my memories of back then feel good to think about, but that doesn’t really matter to the here and now. And it doesn’t mean we can’t adapt and harness emerging technologies.

Whether you intend to or not, you offer no solutions. You just saying “technology,” by which I have to assume you mean streams online, games, discord, lemmy, reddit, etc. (social media very broadly), is the reason implies, logically anyway, that less technology would keep things the same. Ok. But it exists. And it’s not just gonna go away anytime soon. Are you proposing we restrict the way companies can develop apps and such? Ok, I agree. Are you proposing we do something like nationalize Twitter (and deport Elon) so that a government agency can directly regulate and enforce rules on there as far as blatant lies and shit that Elon allows? I’d agree. Just saying technology is bad broadly or even in the case of media or social media is at best a diagnosis but no solutions beyond the implied one of “thing is bad. Ban thing” (the logical conclusion if someone doesn’t offer their own solution).

Technology certainly can, in a given moment, be bad for certain people or everyone. We can’t just complain about progressing technology though or demand “to go back” or whatever because that doesn’t solve anything, even if it’s a valid feeling to have.

Further, I’d argue that the reason you didn’t include solutions (beyond not feeling like it which is always possible, so this entire post is more of a rhetorical effort) is because we approach everything from a fundamentally individualistic standpoint. “Can I fix this problem of Facebook? No. Fucking technology sucks!” That’s a logical conclusion to reach using that viewpoint. So the viewpoint must change.

[Insert digression to Marx’s Capital Vol I and Luddites. If you know then you know and if you don’t then go read the chapter. It’s interesting and relevant].

The problems are experienced individually but must be solved socially. That’s my pithy little summary.

I don’t think the issue is technology at all. If everyone had enough resources, they would choose in person interactions over online. However, it is more accessible to people to pay 30 bucks a month on internet service that it is to buy a $10k car and having to pay $10 every time they want to go anywhere, plus insurance, registration, etc. Also, having to pay for the activities and having to pay for meals and travel expenses, etc. Interacting online is just more attainable for everyone.