Social media has completely lost its identity, and I’m so exhausted by it

Does anyone else feel like social media has changed so much since the pandemic? I feel like the pandemic didn't just change our lives offline. It changed how we live online, too. Short form videos and apps like TikTok became huge.

Now it feels like every platform is trying to copy TikTok. Instagram and Facebook have Reels, YouTube has Shorts, Snapchat has Spotlight, and even other apps like Twitch are pushing short videos everywhere. It's like every company saw what worked during that time and decided that every app needed to work the same way.

I miss when different platforms had their own purpose. You went to YouTube to watch longer videos, tutorials, documentaries, or someone's vlog, and storytelling. Instagram was more about photo sharing and keeping up with friends, family and a place for small businesses to grow. Other platforms had their own style, too. Now, no matter which app I open, I feel like I'm looking at the same endless feed of short clips.

We lost the actual social part of social media. These apps aren't really social networks anymore. They feel more like algorithmic machines designed to keep you hooked. You barely see posts from people you actually know because your feed is filled with people chasing clout, platforms cramming ads everywhere and charging subscriptions just to remove them, and endless recommendations forced on you by an algorithm.

I miss when feeds were chronological and you could actually catch up on what your friends posted, reach the bottom, close the app, and go on with your day. Now there is no end its a big loop.

YouTube is probably the biggest example for me. I miss when it felt like a place to sit down and watch a proper video. Now there's so much focus on Shorts, views, and keeping people watching for as long as possible. Even already established creators like MrBeast post clips from their old content to recycle views instead of focusing on future content. They are just spamming 5 to 10 short clips a day to chase algorithmic reach and stay relevant. Small, aspiring creators are told to do the exact same thing for growing and becoming big; they are not told to post vlogs or stories explaining themselves and make meaningful content and organically grow. It’s just post clips, get views, and hope for exposure; even tutorials are now shrunk to 30 seconds from 30 minutes because that's what gets attention. It feels like generating quantity matters more than the quality of the content.

A lot of us got used to having time to watch something everyday. Whenever we're bored, we open an app and start scrolling. There's always another video, another trend, another thing to react to. It can make it harder to enjoy slower things or sit with our own thoughts without reaching for our phones.

I'm not saying short videos are always bad, or that everything was perfect before TikTok. But I don't want every platform to be built around the same kind of content. I don't want to open YouTube for a tutorial and end up with a 30 second sped up tutorial that doesn’t explain anything but forces me to endlessly start scrolling Shorts. I don't want every app to feel like it's fighting for my attention in exactly the same way. We need this to stop before it gets worse and ruins what made these platforms enjoyable.

It is taking a serious toll on our mental health, too. The constant stream of short clips and endless scrolling is destroying our attention spans, making it almost impossible to focus on a single task, read a book, or watch a full video without feeling restless. On top of that, being fed non-stop highlight reels and viral trends fuels constant anxiety, self-doubt, and intense FOMO. Instead of relaxing, you just end up feeling drained, overstimulated, and like you're always missing out on something.

I wish these platforms would remember what made people use them in the first place. Let YouTube be YouTube. Let Instagram be Instagram. Give people more control over their feeds, and let us turn off features we don't want instead of forcing them into every corner of an app.

I genuinely miss when the internet felt more varied and less focused on keeping us hooked all day. The pandemic changed more than our offline routines. It changed how we spend our free time online, and I wonder if we'll ever get back some of that balance.

If you agree with this, please share this post with your friends and family so maybe these corporations will actually look into changing how they design these apps.

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评论

TradeCurrent6453•about 7 hours ago•2

It's the same everywhere now, just a factory churning out identical 30 second clips. I used to sit and watch a 20 minute build log on YouTube while I had my tea, now I catch myself thumbing past anything over a minute without even thinking about it

The worst part is how it's trained us to be impatient with everything offline too, I've noticed it in myself when I'm working on the bike

Scat_Autotune•about 6 hours ago•2

I'm not sure it helps, but you're not alone. What we're all experiencing is a maliciously and meticulously refined addictive product. I was a smoker for give or take 10 years, and cigarettes have nothing on the pure instinctive pull of social media.

I can't wait until I find a new job that doesn't require me to manage the company's social accounts. I'll be off all of that shit. There won't be any fixing social media without serious government intervention (not holding my breath) or mass consumer exodus (they'll likely just replace users with bots). Best thing to do is just delete that shit and encourage friends and family to do the same.

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ChannelSocial•about 1 hour ago•1

I think one of the biggest problems is that every platform is trying to keep people engaged for as long as possible instead of making the experience better for them. There's nothing wrong with short videos themselves, but when every platform starts feeling the same, you lose the reason you used each one in the first place. I feel like having more control over what shows up in your feed would make a big difference.

Godforce101•about 2 hours ago•1

Would you be willing to try something else and share some feedback?

sumizeit•about 1 hour ago•1

yeah this is pretty much the whole business model now, keep you scrolling as long as possible because that's what sells ads, not whether you actually connect with anyone. honestly if you miss the old feel, following people directly through RSS or just bookmarking their channel/profile and checking manually works better than trusting any algorithm to surface what you care about. feels like extra work but at least you control it.

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