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1 hour ago (edited) Report 👍 1

I think more people feel this way but you won't really hear about it unless it becomes a topic people can monetise, and even when people do talk about it, it's never through third spaces anymore since those are being removed and instead conversations are happening through 'Reels' or TikTok, or whatever platform which is popular which quite literally IS becoming the nu-third space so to speak, only, they're a mere shallow mirage of what used to be and do not foster the same community, change, or relationships that third spaces once used to and instead we have Influencers masquerading as your 'Internet bestie' basically someone whom you can 'trust' or someone whom you can relate to or even someone whom you want to become but even the becoming is manufactured by the platform and the influencers. People online are not real, social media is not a space that fully exists in reality; I point to A.I for my main example of this, followed by the whole face tuning/photoshop/filter phenomena, and Influencers, or 'Content creators' which is a bullshit rebrand anyways, and since the platform rewards Influencers who conform to lying to people, or who cater to the algorithm, the majority of what you'll see is all of the above. Social Media isn't 'Social' anymore but simply a way for people to make money through ad-revenue, sponsorships/brand deals, and your attention and investment into the creator/creators videos. It's why they'll spin a random, usually, bullshit, story in which the context usually includes a sad sob story or simply anything that catches your attention since your attention span is the currency the platforms profit from. The idea is to make you feel like you're missing out if you're not constantly on the platform, create insecurity in you where there is none, all at the cost of your mental health. Whatever keeps you on the platform. Almost every hobby on those platforms is commodified. It's time people abandoned or were less reliant on them lest ye fall to the same beast time and time again.