I would add that before social media demonstrated many times, how great fortunes can be made scaling up seemingly small conflicts of interest into monsters, even ruthless moguls in the valley tended to operate with the assumption that their empires would be built by creating useful things.

As apposed to attention traps and user farming.

We are generally a lot more cynical about the valley today, than a couple decades ago. And for good reason.

“Serve” has multiple definitions. Its former meaning associated with phrases like “serving people” is now effectively happening in the phrase “serving ads”. Ads are now the god. And the way we used “serve” in “serving ads” is now an appropriate way to interpret “serving people”. People are now the means, the consumed sustenance, instead of the ends. For several global tech giants.

Social media hasn’t just poisoned personal lives, but also the focus of much investment. (In both startups and in corporate growth.)