Social Media: Bad

Hey Pukers, we’d just like to start by saying thanks for being here :)

Now if I may begin, I won't be listing the endless studies that show social media use is bad for you. I won't be focusing on how posting is bad for you.

I won't talk about how facebook contributed to a genocide in Myanmar. Won't mention how they handed your private messages over to other tech companies, tracked your menstrual cycle without your consent, or about that silly time that their platform leaked information on over 87 million users and nothing bad happened. I'll also skip over them training their AI on your face and words.

Not going to bring up how Instagram is aware that their platform is bad for teen girls, that time they just felt like showing you some gore, or that whole ai digital blackface thing.

I won't emphasize this quote by their CEO:

People just submitted it. I don't know why. They "trust me." Dumb fucks.

Further, I'll skip over how governments of the world use twitter. How someone purchased the website and now claims ownership of your account and everything you've ever written on it. I don't believe I need to inform you that under the new owner the platform has never been more racist or full of hate. You probably also that he restored the account of a particularly notable school shooting denier.

While we're on the subject of that guy, I'd like to state for the record that this publication's name is not inspired by any of their companies’ products.

No need to bring up that Snapchat knowingly ignored security issues for months at the expense of your private information. I could mention that they ran an ad that made a joke of domestic violence, but I won't. There's that thing about how their filters have given us body dysmorphia but it just doesn't seem relevant. What about the thing about employees spying on users? Eh.

You know I could mention that TikTok has profited as an OnlyFans replacement for minors in Kenya. Oh, and there is this. Oh, what about how they collect your "faceprint" and "voiceprint"? Those probably aren't important for anything. What about that time their employees tracked some journalists? Maybe you'd care about their 63 hour work week destroying the lives of their employees?

Okay, yeah you know what? I'm just going to skip all of that. Social media just fucking sucks. That’s it, that’s the entire issue. It just sucks. Maybe one day we’ll write about it.

Go pet a dog. Dogs are pretty nice.

- The Writers

Written without AI, not even spell check.