Has anyone quit using social media?

Dropped Facebook years ago.
Twitter once or twice a week for news and customer service.
LinkedIn once or twice a month
STW!

Dropping Facebook was freeing.

If anyone on here answers “yes”, they’re a liar 😂

I only use Facebook and Strava also. Personally I've moved through my phase of thinking Facebook is toxic and have joined a lot of Facebook interest groups (mushrooms, fermenting, horticulture etc) and have a core of groups that are well run and full of helpful, positive people with any snipping quickly shut down. Yes I can waste time on there but it's only when I've got time to waste. If I had more exciting or important things to do I'd be doing those. I also love the memories and have family and friends across the globe who occasionally post up pictures so it's nice to see a bit of their worlds.

Also I enjoy photography and find it a useful place to store my photos and share with friends. Could just as easily be Instagram but I had Facebook 1st and don't want both.

If anyone on here answers “yes”, they’re a liar 😂

Pretty much exactly the same words went through my mind when I saw the thread title.

My wife has never used it.

I’ve reduced Twitter use recently - taken app off phone and so on.

This has given me much more time to waste on here do constructive things.

In my pretty curated social media 'portfolio' tbh STW is probably my most toxic location - both in terms of what I read and what I type! I come here less and less and can see a point where I don't at all.

The remainder is very placid - FB is just actual real life friends (with those that post drivel weeded out) and some groups for various interests mostly unfollowed so I can dip in if I need/want to. Most of my friends live hundreds or thousands of miles away - whilst I very rarely post anything it keeps me in touch with what they are up to. And on insta I follow exclusively landscape photographers and go there once in a while for some serenity.

I have a LinkedIn account but can't remember when I last went on.

Never visited Twitter or had a twitter account so can't even flounce off because of Musk. I consume my twitter output in quotes in news articles.

My Strava is on private setting so my activities are not posted and my home page is directly to only me, so the way I use it there is no social media aspect to its function.

To an extent your social media experience is in your own hands. I do find it a bit befuddling when people complain about what they see or the time it wasted. The blame for that lays with you.

The blame for that lays with you.

True, but the same applies to being overweight, unfit, addicted to computer games, alcohol, junk food, gambling etc. Excessive social media use is an addiction for many, deliberately driven by platform algorithms.  Some are prone to it, some can resist it but have other weaknesses.  And a lucky few, often found on STW, have no addictions, weaknesses or character flaws.

STW only regular use. Have twitter buy only so I can actually see stuff folks on here post. I never post or just go on there on its own. Dropped FB years ago. Not on LinkedIn or anything else. Do I miss out? Nope. YMMV

I have mulled with the idea of binning facebook, but despite the dross it helps me keep in touch with friends and family scattered across the globe and has even put me back in touch with army mates I'd lost contact with decades ago.  I'm also in a few hobby type groups which are useful.  I have a rule of not accepting a friend request from anyone I don't know and like in real life, and even then they get culled if they post nonsense.  I did lose a few spouting Covid conspiracy garbage, but I'd still have a beer with them if we met up.

Nope.

Twitter - follow tons of good science and tech. I’ll miss it if it goes south.
Insta - mostly friends and good photographers.
Facebook - using less as seems to just push suggested content rather than friends posts/content
LinkedIn - new job and industry sector so using it quite a bit.

As above, if your feed is toxic, take a step back and look at what you are liking and interacting with.

deliberately driven by platform algorithms.

I get the addiction aspect......but I'm not seeing this algorithm element personally. Is it that my use is so tied down and minimal that there is nothing much for the AI to grab on to....or am I blind to what's appearing to the left/right/top of the stuff Id expect to be there (because I chose for it to be there by liking/friending etc)? Whichever way, I don't find myself going down social media rabbit holes. I listen to Americast (the new version) and they have 5 fake profiles mimicking different types of US personality (a maga, a lefty democrat, a conspiracy theory type etc etc) and often discuss what's coming up in their feeds. I have profound views and the only thing that sneaks into mine are Scottish Green Party posts and I think that's probably because I liked them a while back. None I my friends post or share anything political - My social media feed away from here is devoid of politics. Almost an oasis of nice stuff - I
go to the websites of the traditional media for my daily dose of world misery. What makes mine so vanilla, and others so echo chambery? It can only be because you want it to be (or think you do until you don't).

I post on STW and Bearbones Bikepacking. I only use FB for some interest groups I'm in for meet ups/local news/roads information; I don't post. Also have a small array of YouTubers I follow related to my interests but don't comment.

I used to post lots on FB, have a blog and my own YouTube channel, but no more and took it all down, and quite happy with that. Never got interested in twitter or Instagram.

I use here and facebook.  My facebook is a nice place full of support and fun.

I have a twitter account and linkdin that i never use

 my social media feed away from here is devoid of politics. What makes mine so vanilla, and others so echo chambery?

It doesn't have to be politics that gets people addicted to social media. It might be whatever interests them, sport, celebrity 'news', fashion, reality TV or whatever.  Then some Z list celebrity shares some conspiracist bollox and people who follow them start believing it and their feed fills up with it.

I agree, you can have a fairly bland feed and take control of it to a degree, but you have to be proactive and a bit savvy to do that. Lots of people aren't.  The platform providers don't help them and don't want to.

In my pretty curated social media ‘portfolio’ tbh STW is probably my most toxic location

I'm not surprised coming out with crap like that. I'll bet you don't talk like that in real life.

I have Twitter and Insta and here. You can check on use and I've used Twitter for  about 20mins yesterday and Insta for 18mins. I got rid of FB it was just too pants (insta is going the same way with the amount of adverts shoved into the timeline) and Twitter is just some fun. Was on Strava but it was getting to be a drag, and was effecting the way I was biking, so binned it.

Edit: My wife has also never used any SM.

I’m not surprised coming out with crap like that

In what way is it crap? Do you struggle with words that try to distill a concept/process?

But to take that quote as an example, it's picky arsy twonks that can't help themselves but make snarky comments that's gives internet interactions a whiff of bile. Normally made by people who get ignored in real life, looking for an outlet.

I quit Twitter some years ago, probably after the Brexit nonsense as it got too toxic and I decided making myself angry on purpose wasn't healthy. Back on it now with a more relaxed attitude but the shift to forcing right wing nut jobs content on me is making me think it needs binning again.

Dip in and out of FB but my feed seems to have matured away from everyone arguing to old mates updating on their lives, as it should be. I could delete it and not be bothered though.

Got Insta but rarely look.

Regularly come on here, Retrobike, Tamiyaclub and a Leeds forum but that's about it.

In what way is it crap? Do you struggle with words that try to distill a concept/process?

But to take that quote as an example, it’s picky arsy twonks that can’t help themselves but make snarky comments that’s gives internet interactions a whiff of bile. Normally made by people who get ignored in real life, looking for an outlet.

Well this escalated quickly! Can you not see how your original post and that response could be viewed as confrontation and not that friendly? This place is the only form of social media I use and other than the occasional thread it’s a supportive, friendly and fun place to be. Of course it’s a bit grumpy and socially awkward in places, 95% of posters are middle aged, middle class IT workers 😂

Not quit, but pared down.

Instagram - only via a web browser not app, very infrequently.

Facebook - very rarely look in and only at the in-app notifications from select friends, I never scroll the feed.

LinkedIn - quite a lot of the content is fairly useful/ interesting for my job I find, so probably once a week.

Twitter is far to easy to get bothered by angry twonks, so I don't use.

Here, obvs.

Can you not see how your original post and that response could be viewed as confrontation and not that friendly?

You seem to be under the misapprehension that it was intended in any other way!!😀

As I said this place is probably the most toxic and conformational place I visit on the internet in what I read and what I write. I presume he saw an image of himself in my original post's pushing back that consumers are always the victims but instead are often the architects of what they consume. Whatever....

Instagram more than anything. When I was at college our course tutor (who was also our photography lecturer) drilled into us that we should take loads of photos all the time. At the time this involved carrying around an SLR and spending lots of time in dark rooms (yes, I'm that old)

The fact that I can now carry a decent quality camera around in my pocket is IMHO the greatest asset to life that technology has delivered for me personally. I post on instagram all the time, and follow my mates and others who are both prolific and damn good photographers.

I find it interesting that my teenage daughters also use Instagram loads but consider FB and Twitter as platforms for us old people

I use Twitter and FB more for business than personal stuff as they're still useful for getting my stuff out there.

Linkedin? Isn't that just there for recruitment consultants to spam people

Reduced mine a lot . My FB account was hacked. After that,my use went down a lot , and would be zero bar local glimbing group info. Linkedin is awful, and insta a nice place to look pictures, but not much else.

'I have profound views ' - no ego then 🙂

‘I have profound views ‘ – no ego then

Not in the slightest 😀. I would describe anyone who has a definite political leaning, opinion on the existence of God and climate science and is passionate about if a Jaffa cake is a cake or a biscuit, as having 'profoundly held' views. If you are middle of the road agnostic political flip flopper who can quaff a Jaffa without a care, then maybe not.

Just here and LinkedIn. Dropped FaceBook because it was just full of crap and adverts. Had twitter, but it's a cesspit. People post well meaning things and then the trolls arrive. LinkedIn much better, genuine sense of community. Here is a time killer, but I don't mind that, between reading the articles in the magazine.

Don't you be taking the Jaffa Cake's name in vain. I know your mum.

bar local glimbing group info.

I hope this isn’t a typo and there’s a new niche sport to be discovered!

I hope this isn’t a typo and there’s a new niche sport to be discovered!

Glamorous climbing?

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I've not had the apps on my phone for about 6 months and that has made a massive difference. I follow groups I am interested in on FB but never post anything on my own timeline. Have never posted on Twitter but used to follow journalists I like, never ever read the replies though! I suspect I'll bin twitter in the next few days as most people I follow are posting less and moving away.

Have never used Insta or any other social media other than this forum

Not having the apps on my phone is the biggest step change for me. It prevents scrolling by habit.

Facebook is the lowest common denominator. I use it 'socially' because everyone else does, though that's quietly getting supplanted by things like WhatsApp or Discord for organisational purposes. That said, I'm a member of a number of groups whose content I'd miss.

I've been on Twitter forever, though I'm quietly migrating to Mastodon since Muskrat took over.

LinkedIn seems to be a way of attracting parasites hawking CVs unsolicited at people. I just checked my emails for the most recent update from them:

"Mateen is waiting for your response
Supply Chain Project Coordinator at Baxi Heating"

Wait on, sunshine.

Never bothered with Instagram, I looked at it when it first came out and it seemed to be a way of making photos look shit so I never went back.

And of course, the irony of posting about quitting social media, on social media....

As above, if your feed is toxic, take a step back and look at what you are liking and interacting with.

This 100%.

Edit: My wife has also never used any SM.

You could start slowly, maybe a blindfold or some soft rope.

Can you not see how your original post and that response could be viewed as confrontation and not that friendly?

My carefully curated FB feed with Purity running, on the other hand, is an oasis of friendly, interesting & informative content.

Don’t do anything else bar select WhatsApp groups for organising stuff & bantz.

Just this place and Strava. I binned off my Facebook account about 6months after it came out and never bothered with anything else.

I think I’m probably well below low average on social media use and it’s purely because I just don’t feel like it’s a constructive use of my time and updating feeds just feels like another job to me that I could do without. Im not particularly bothered if people know what I have or haven’t been up to.

I don’t have really strong or militant views on it though. I totally get why people use it and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t missing out on some stuff- it’s cool to see photos of a wedding or stag do afterwards and I have mates living abroad whose lives are now I’m sure much more of a mystery to me than if I was on Facebook or whatever.

Overall though I feel like the time I (rightly or wrongly) get back from mostly not having it is worth it.

Perhaps more controversially, I feel like anyone who thinks that the various algorithms are somehow not affecting then or the output they see are kidding themselves tbh. It’s definitely a two way street in my opinion, however careful you might curate your feeds.

I honestly think in 100 years or whatever people will think we were nuts to have a totally unregulated web, the sane way it seems crazy that people could just drive around without a seatbelt years ago.

You could start slowly, maybe a blindfold or some soft rope.

😆😆😆

I honestly think in 100 years or whatever people will think we were nuts to have a totally unregulated web

Yeah I take your point, not totally unregulated and I meant social media not the web really.

I’m sure you know what I mean though.

Never used fb or twitter.

STW only.
Deleted FB, Twitter, Linkedin and Instagram some time ago.
Use Facetime, Skype (yes) & WhatsApp for family contact only.

Yeah I take your point, not totally unregulated and I meant social media not the web really.

I’m sure you know what I mean though.

SM is great for Karens and moon-howlers. It gives them access to a bigger audience, but it's no different to when they make a fool of themselves in town-centres up and down the country on a daily basis albeit to a much more limited audience.

Don't bother with Twitter as any decent content gets swallowed up by cry-babies and mentalists.
Facebook is a free photo storage site, but the forced content get's tiring.
IG is grand as it's MTB/Dogs/People doing stupid stuff.
I know there's TikTok but can't be bothered.

The biggest problem I see with Facebook and Twitter is that there is no User Manual. That means folk just accept the defaults and then don't know how to interact with them to maximise their enjoyment and minimise the unwanted spam. To an extent, the same could be same about this place 😉

But I also see this same issue with other platforms. Take Zwift as an example. They introduced the Holoreplay feature and explained a little about it - but only if you subscribed to the emails. Going on to the Zwift forum, it was possible to learn a bit more about it. However, most folk didn't bother reading any of the explanations and you end up with a constant stream of folk asking questions about these "odd ghost riders". Maybe it's just a symptom of the rate of change of all of these tech platforms that keeping up with it becomes such a necessity/chore.

I think in 30 years time, our children and grand children will look back at these days of unregulated SM in the same way we regard smoking in pubs and cars that didn't have seat-belts.

Some interesting posts and thoughts, I will read through them all over the weekend.

Can anyone tell me, if I uninstall FB from the mobile, can I still continue to use messenger?

That means folk just accept the defaults and then don’t know how to interact with them to maximise their enjoyment and minimise the unwanted spam.

That... and... the rules/settings/defaults keep being changed to counter people getting wise to using them to their advantage.

Two separate apps innit?

Plus there's always the website.

Two separate apps innit?

Plus there’s always the website.

Sorted, I am assuming you have to have an open/active Facebook account to be able to continue using messenger?

Completed Facebook about 3 years ago. I was spending way too much time looking at other people's lives and comparing it to my own. not healthy. It's the whole going to bed and still scrolling through Facebook for an hour. It's depressing
I deleted my account so no going back. Felt very refreshing.
Then I started upping my Instagram usage, watching videos for an hour or more at a time. So I deleted that a year ago now. Feels good.

Top tip is to make sure you don't have apps that are linked with Facebook for login as that can reactivate your account when you log in.

I do spend a lot of time on here now tho 😫

The only "social media" I participate in is STW or YouTube techno minimal bass stuff if they count?

I ignored Facebook for a year, then out of curiosity had a look. It was like ground hog day, the same people and groups posting the same content day in day out.

Here
Facebook I hardly use it now, good for a few groups and local community stuff as I live in a very small town.
Twitter binned it off 100% I don't really get it to be honest.
Instagram is really my thing now I have a decent following but also follow some really interesting people.
Youtube is one I couldn't do without it really is a rabbit hole but often in a good way.

I can see how social media can have a negative effect on people though especially Instagram

Sorted, I am assuming you have to have an open/active Facebook account to be able to continue using messenger?

Of course.

STW and FB.

Deleted Twitter and still have an IG account with about 3 posts on it. LinkedIn is just used for work once in a blue moon when I need to find someone.

I use FB as a news aggregator and end up reading lots of articles which pop up on it from the FT, New York Times, Economist etc. Find it really interesting. I also post loads of stuff and our adventures were mentioned in a few Xmas cards we've just received, so some people find it interesting. I also really like the Memories feature.

On Facebook but massively culled the number of "friends" I have on there. Just because I went to school with someone 25 years ago or worked with someone 10 years ago doesn't mean I'm interested in what you're having for tea tonight or what your political views might be. Also reduced the number of groups I'm part of as the level of stupid in some of those was getting beyond a joke so now I'm just part of a few local riding groups and some car groups. Groups that are properly policed and as such as really useful given the near complete death of the traditional forum.

Instagram I dabbled with leaving for a few weeks at a time and each time I went back on it, it just pissed me off more and more. The number of adverts mixed in with the number of "my life is ace" type shite from wannabe "influencers" just wasn't what I wanted to see so deleted the lot - app, my account (with years and years of posts and pictures) - gone. Not felt for a second that I'd want to go back.

Forums - STW (the only biking forum I use), Pistonheads and a Leeds United forum are the only ones I use as they're actually pretty useful/funny.

LinkedIn I detest to my core and only ever use it when I want to look for a new job 🙂

YouTube - watch a load of stuff on there but unlike IG, found it dead easy to filter out the shite that it was suggesting I might like.

Don't think I could give it up completely but only use it these days where I personally get value from it.

On Facebook but massively culled the number of “friends” I have on there. Just because I went to school with someone 25 years ago or worked with someone 10 years ago doesn’t mean I’m interested in what you’re having for tea tonight or what your political views might be. Also reduced the number of groups I’m part of

I have a theory that it's possible to take this too far. It's as if Facebook needs to push a certain amount out to you and it'll make that up with crap if you're not engaging with enough friends and groups. FWIW those "friends" I have who I don't engage with never appear in my feed anyway as FB is prioritising accordingly.

Is youtube not counted as social media?

I would group it in with the others, and it is probably the most addictive of the lot. And while it is probably also the most entertaining and informative, it is becoming increasing hard work to keep the crap and poison off my feed.

I still have a facebook account, but never use it, I had a look at twitter and could see virtually no benefits to it at all to fight the algorithm (and it amazes me the mundane crap that people regurgitate from their twitter bubbles onto here as if they think it is insightful or interesting).

The social dilemma is worth watching on netflix.

and this is kind of relevant, and matches my experience of social media, especially youtube where I keep going back with anticipation but am almost always disappointed.

STW only for me. Had FB years ago, but didn't really use it, and got sick of wellbeing messages and randoms asking to be 'friends'.

Had Twitter until recently but sacked it off, as I wasn't really using it and I think Elon Musk is a ****.

dropped FB a good few years ago. And dropped instagram a while back. My life is better without both.

I dont use ****ter or any of the teeniebopper ones (snapchat, tik tok etc).

It obviously depends on the type of person you are, but many hours can be lost looking at nothing.

FB is really useful for the various cycling groups I'm in, you don't have to use it for anything else.

The biggest problem I see with Facebook and Twitter is that there is no User Manual.

do you think anyone would read it if there was...

Does Strava count as social media?

Yes totally.

Ditched the lot (FB, IG, Twitter and LinkedIn)....best thing i ever did.

Don't miss it in the slightest. I have loads more time and am probably a little less stressed for it.

On Facebook but massively culled the number of “friends” I have on there. Just because I went to school with someone 25 years ago or worked with someone 10 years ago doesn’t mean I’m interested in what you’re having for tea tonight or what your political views might be.

Same, and I think this is pretty key.

I had a cull a while back, deleted like a third to a half of my "friends." Because you're absolutely right, there's a tendency to add people you "know" but that can be pretty tenuous. Sure, we went to high school together so I've at least heard of you, but we didn't speak two words to each other when we were at school let alone a quarter of a century later. People change and I get that, I'd hate for people to remember be as the walking stereotype Sheldon poindexter I was back then but... you've added me as a friend and not even said hi? Why?

Facebook's still just about usable for me. Not [i]too much [/i] onscreen spam confusing my eyeballs, just the stuff I want to see from bands, bike co.s, new releases, sales, stuff like that - I don't follow any friends or family any more cos they just put stuff relevant to themselves, not to me.
But TWITTER?! Ow, my eyes man, not only is it full of spam and shite fed to me, in the expectation that I'll read or click on something I have absolutely no ****ing interest in (Who IS Elon Musk ffs?!) but all the interesting people I used to follow seem to have been suckered into reading the trash and re-tweet it so now I see loads of crap I don't want to see. I think, by my calculations, 99.7% of the twitter feed I see is of no interest to me whatsoever. So occasionally, I open it (like I was linked to it from here the other day to see some crazy roundabout), and scroll through, seeing nothing really.

I deleted the FB app from my phone in the midst of the first lockdown. I still have the profile but log in once in a while to have a look at memories. I have an Instagram which I post anything on and that's linked to FB for any family that may not see it otherwise. I use Twitter sparingly, mainly to find news etc. LinkedIn for work related shite.

Is Reddit classed as social media? I probably use that most.

I ditched FB many years ago. Other than Strava and lurking here I don't do any other social media.

I do feel my world has got smaller because of it. My social group certainly has probably not helped by the covid years. Do worry slightly that as I get older that I'll miss some of the connectivity that social media offers. It used to wind me up mostly, hence why I ditched it. But undoubtedly there were some positives to be had.

I'm only on STW, FB and Twitter and they are more than enough for me to waste my life away. Don't do Strava, Insta, TikTok or Snapchat and never will. I wouldn't consider YouTube to be SM as I only watch and don't interact beyond hitting like. FB is good for family or local stuff and special interest content. Many of the suggested groups are quite well aligned to my outdoorsy / photography interests.

Twitter, on the other hand, seems quite dark and manipulative by comparison. So much uninvited content from right-wing headbangers, journalists and politicians just keeps appearing. I block 'em like a turkey shoot and a whole new batch appears in short order. People I've never heard of spouting hateful poison about asylum seekers or a slightly brown duchess. Presumably this is due to me following people who engage with the headbangers however, I never see suggested content from left wing commentators, politicians or grown ups who call out gammons or government corruption despite already following plenty of these types of people. Twitter might be getting binned soon, the witty stuff is sinking in a sea of bile.

I have a theory that it’s possible to take this too far. It’s as if Facebook needs to push a certain amount out to you and it’ll make that up with crap if you’re not engaging with enough friends and groups.

Indeed, before I finally ‘left’ (I’ve shutdown, but not deleted, my account) I had limited what I was seeing to such an extent that FB basically went: you’re not interacting so we are not going to serve you anything…. I dropped FB previously for 2-3 years (deleting app off phone/ipad), only going back on it after my folks death to ‘keep in touch’ with family and close friends. I then binned it as it was headed the same situation (and I had pretty much moved to IG instead). I prefer IG as there is less ‘interaction’ necessary although the current algorithms pushing ads are getting on my tits.

Never done twitter or strava and managed to avoid linkedin (its always seemed pretty odious and self-promoting bullshit that I normally avoid like the plague). Don’t have a YouTube account and tend to search for specific things (only really click on something if it looks to be of interest). I can bored on there pretty fast these days (the incessant ads again don’t exactly lend me to interact more than necessary).

The current STW ‘algorithms’ have lead me to interact significantly less these days and drop paid membership although I have had an uptick in the last week or two.

I prefer closed WhatsApp conversations (with different friends and family) to other ‘channels’ these days.

Get rid of Facebook. No downsides.

I've never used any of them. I read my wife's fb once and that was that.

I deleted my Facebook, Instagram accounts a few years ago.

I deleted Twitter about two years ago.

I’m just about to delete my Reddit account (again).

I’m on Strava but not for the social aspect.

Even if you choose to ignore the moral and ethical concerns, the bottomless pit aspect to it is too much to take for me.

Never joined. As a forum user since the mid 90's it was clear what they were going to be and what the public was rushing headlong into.

Ring-fenced corporate money-makers that are gated communities off the "real" internet that exist only to mine you for data that can be sold and to serve advertising. To do that they must be as addictive as possible because more data = more value. They were never going to be healthy - by definition that's not possible.

We now know what a huge impact they have biochemically. They were AIDS when they started and they only got worse as the companies that run them learned how to hook you in more effectively.

Yes, of course, there's some good to them or people wouldn't use them. But the cost is way too great and the ultimate functionality (joining people together, enabling easy communication) was available on the internet - with no strings attached - long before corporates ring-fenced their herds of sheep off and started feeding off them.

BTW - STW is not "social media". It's just social. It's forum is searchable and indexable from the internet (Facebook isn't for example - so it doesn't even add to the "greater good" from that point of view) and it's not designed to make you addicted. The reason you're all here is that you like bikes, not that STW provokes an outsize dopamine response. STW Towers do not employ an army of PhDs to make the experience here addictive so they can sell your data on. They're trying to flog a mag and enable a community of like-minded people. That is all.

BTW – STW is not “social media”.

Given the rest of your post I can see why you're trying to make that argument, but forums are the original social media*!

They might have been overtaken in term of whizzy apps with bazillions of users and cunning monetisation strategies over the last decade or so, but they are very much social media.

*quick acknowledgement to all the people who are about to tell us they were on alt.cary.grant.fans in 1908 or whatever

STW is not “social media”

As a forum social media user since the mid 90’s

Came off twitter after a short period on there. It’s a truely poisoness place that brings out the worst in people, myself included

I’m still on fb though, only for the market place bike ads. I don’t count Strava as social media as I only use it to track my rides

I don't view Strava as social media - I simply use it as somewhere to log my rides. Follow/am followed by a few close friends and thats it.

YouTube similar - I don't interact with anyone on there (I did post 2 videos though!). Just use it to watch videos, same as I do for Sky/Prime/Disney+.

Nope. Forums don't qualify. The bringing people together specifically in social networks was the thing - importantly using the "web of contacts" method. Probably six degrees was the first "social" platform that used that model - in 1997.

Forums have been around much longer - and effectively are a more user-friendly extension of bulletin boards.

(Which I also used extensively back in the day - utilising my JANET connection at University).

Interestingly, the first thing I ever saw on the "internet" was a porn story involving the Thundercats that I had to access by typing in an IP address onto some terminal software - before web browsers were invented.

Either way. STW is not "social media".

Either way. STW is not “social media”.

You keep telling yourself that if it makes you happy that you are in the clean and enlightened minority free from the curse! 😉

Nope. Forums don’t qualify. The bringing people together specifically in social networks

Nope. For the purposes of definition that "web of contacts" method is fundamental to it - because that defines it.

Following your argument then football fanzines could technically be social media - multi-user created content that's consumed. But it just ain't so.

That networking component is important in what is defined as a "social media platform" - and without that component the harms that social media can inflict are reduced. It's that technical innovation - the six degrees of separation - that is fundamental to the basis of it's functioning and success - and the harms it can inflict.

Forums aren't capable of that and when we talk about "social media" we need all of those aspects.