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In 2024, using social media felt worse than ever

Between all the ads and the content competing for our attention, social media doesn't feel very social anymore.

Faced with the endless streams of content that’s formulated to trap viewers’ gazes, shoppable ads at every turn, AI and the unrelenting opinions of strangers, it struck me recently that despite my habitual use of these apps, I’m not actually having fun on any of them anymore. Fittingly, Oxford announced at the end of November that its Word of the Year for 2024 is “brain rot,” a term that expresses the supposed consequence of countless hours spent on the internet consuming stupid stuff. The Threads team has apparently been “working to get it under control,” but I still can’t scroll through my For You feed without seeing a dozen posts that are either just regurgitated memes being passed off as original thoughts, or questions to the masses that are crafted with the intention of stirring the pot.

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