Convenience of what? What goal is achieved most efficiently by using social media?

People use social media to consume news and entertainment and to curate and communicate with people and accounts using an interface that allows them to read and share multiple media types.

My mother used it to communicate with her COPD support group and chat with in-laws in Australia. I use it to follow up on work groups and authors and developers I'm interested in. Most people's usage of social media is banal and mundane, little different than watching television in the 1990s. They use social media because it provides value for them, not because they're addicted to dopamine.

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ulbu 4 hours ago | parent [-]

i think you have a very idealised view of social media. have you been to a classroom recently?

it’s also meaningfully different in structure from tv. tv was 7-10 min of content and a couple of ads in between. and you grew annoyed by the ads. only toddlers were captivated. now most content is designed like ads were. and now they grow annoyed when outside it. and toddlers and older people are captivated.

	▲	krapp 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		No, but most people who use social media aren't schoolchildren. I have a niece and nephew who are school age and they seem to be doing fine. Certainly better than people here insist they must. And I don't think believing social media provides some practical value for people beyond addiction is "very idealized." edit: I remember a very different past than you do. People of all ages watched tv for hours at a time, everyone was captivated. Saturday morning cartoons (all of which were toy commercials) were a mandatory childhood ritual. And the ads when popular were often the memes of their time. Different in structure but not much different in influence.