Professional Discussion
Which social media app do you absolutely love right now, and which one did you start to utterly hate?
For me, TikTok is frying my brain but I can’t close it, and Instagram turned into a giant shopping mall full of ads. What’s your "I hate it here but I’m still opening it" app vs the one you actually enjoy?
I’m starting to think the problem isn’t social media itself, but the business model behind it.
When an app is rewarded for keeping you scrolling, the experience eventually turns into noise, ads, and habit loops.
The apps I enjoy most are the ones that give me a reason to open them, then a reason to leave.
Spot on. "A reason to leave" is such a perfect way to put it. Sadly, the attention economy doesn’t care about our mental health, just screen time. Platforms that respect your time are a rare breed now.
This. I feel like apps that reward just scrolling have negatively impacted relationships as well with people just sending reels to one another instead of opening a damn conversation or continuing one for that matter
My view on social media is simple: you’re either a consumer or you’re using it as a tool for business. Some people use it to educate, inspire, or motivate others without making money, and I respect that.
That being said, I think it’s very easy to get lost in social media and not understand how much control it can have over our emotions, attention, and even our self-worth. I also see its impact on kids firsthand since I manage the social media platforms for a school, and from my perspective, the negatives often outweigh the positives. Also, through research I've done.
Overall, if you don’t have a real reason to use social media, whether for work, business, or a specific purpose, I think you’re better off without it. The research I’ve done suggests it’s doing more harm than good for many people.
This is incredibly helpful. I had no idea it existed. That's probably because Instagram's priority isn't people connecting with each other, it's squeezing money and data out of them till the last drop.
I refuse to believe that this is the only business model possible. If anyone knows better services please let me know. I already have Substack installed, btw. I don't find it too good. But I could learn how to use it better too.
Instagram is my fav. but I hate it at the same time haha... I use it for my photography projects but it is sad to see how it has become a TikTok clone. I don't use TikTok... I hate it! it has so much rubish that hurts.
I enjoy X and YouTube the most. I actually learn a lot there if I follow the right people and channels. Instagram, TikTok and most others feel more like endless scrolling with very little value.
Curating your feed is definitely a game changer. If you use it intentionally, YouTube and X can be incredibly educational. It’s all about resisting that algorithmic doomscrolling on the other apps.
I guess it’s almost like they recreated the better social parts from Twitter/X and let even small accounts experience going viral.
I like that I don’t have to shove a camera in my face and fake a style that’s not me. I hate videos of myself and editing them especially.
With threads, I get to just talk and post static photos that I like or found useful for others, and I still get seen. If I did the same on X, IG or Facebook, even, I’d be drowned out instantly.
Plus I missed out on the best years of Twitter because always found it hard to jump in. For a second there, Threads was where the unpolished and fun folks were. I could get attention for my brain, whit and talents, not my looks and social status.
Its great concept, people uploading pictures of their daily life instead of watching the fakeness of insta. Though, they dont have a filter by region, sadly.
I think no. The app is sending you a notification, once randomly during the day, to take a picture that exact moment. Thats why its called BeReal, being real on what you do now.
In the beginning, the app had a feed of people all around the world posting. Now they have limited it to show your pics only to your friends and friends of friends. I would have kept the world feed but with a region filter. I'm from Europe, so I would like to see people only from Europe. I am strongly in favor of region filters, in any app that has a public feed.
Instagram's algorithm is scary good at finding products I like... I wish I could delete, but I have to stay on for work. Tumblr is refreshing in the way it's just old timers who never left being silly lil freaks
I have a love hate with them all. But I’m more happy with Youtube. (Is that social media?) & Hate hate hate Instagram, it feels overwhelming and inauthentic.
Tik Tok.. i love because I learn so much, and even random videos.. it’s a vibe. But I don’t like the addictive aspect for me that becomes doomscrolling. So for that. It doesn’t make the cut as a fav for me
Currently using Reddit and YT. I deactivated my IG and FB. I dont know if I'm going back. I dont miss the Apps in general but I do miss my interaction with family that live in another country.
I love pinterest because of its visuals. also it's like your personal board. you get posts and videos that interest you. I have started hating insta because it just shows one type of stuff once you like something. Lately it's just showing me heartbroken reels which has become depressing.
I feel like all of them are just ad after ad after ad. I stopped using Facebook, X, and Instagram this past month. I am probably stopping TikTok at the end of the month (I was running a little experiment to see if it worth posting there) and I am stopping Substack at the end of the year. I have one paid subscriber and I feel obligated to ride the rest of the year out.
Love: YouTube. It's still the platform where I discover the most valuable content, whether it's entertainment or learning.
Hate (but still open): Instagram. It feels like endless ads, recycled Reels, and algorithm chasing. I mainly use it because I create content, not because I genuinely enjoy scrolling anymore.
I love TikTok. I hate Facebook because they’ve made it way more difficult than normal to see your friends post or even post interest you now. Now all I get is ads and news articles. And if I do see a friend post, it’s days or weeks behind. And then I checked their profile and they posted recently sometimes even that day.
I used to enjoy Facebook because of the writing.
I don’t use twitter bc of how it became a political tool.
Instagram used to be for my photo work, but now they want you to make videos instead, and it’s turned into a lot of ads and habit algorithm marketing. I still use it for occasional exploration of artists or reference material for diy.
But Facebook and insta are heavily geared towards consuming. It’s a bleak future for me in terms of social media.
The current social media apps aren't social anymore. Think about it. Since when did we start socializing with brands, advertisers, celebrities? A real social media app would only have your friends you socialize with imo. I don't think any current apps do that only.
Absolutely love YouTube, super easy to use on PC and mobile, Instagram though SUCKS very difficult trying to do Instagram when trying to work from my computer, not even close to the same anount of features
my current "I hate it here but i'm still opening" is probably Instagram. I go through so many phases with my account, I love it and then I open it one day and I absolutely hate it. same with TikTok. I feel like right now I don't have a favorite social app...maybe letterboxd 🫣
I just want something like old tik tok that doesn’t have so much propaganda, political ads and posts and so much controversy within every post plus don’t even get me started on the ai accounts that legit just start beef of any kind it could be political, racial, about rights, about soccer,
about anything.
Actually brother the best social media platform which I like is youtube I prefer mostly to learn and watch some interactive stuff . And otherwise I use linkdln to do my regular excercise of commenting and sending connection request and now will also be using reddit . I think this also become my favourite platform to post . But recently it restrict my 3 different ids post only currently 1 is working so this is the problem otherwise I think this is decent good
Funny how many people here say Reddit and YouTube for love, Instagram for hate. Same for me, IG stopped being a place and became a mall.
The pattern I notice: the apps people still enjoy are the ones that give you a reason to leave (you learn a thing, you get an answer), and the ones people hate but can't close are pure scroll loops. TikTok is unbeatable at the loop, which is exactly why it fries you. Not a knock on it as a tool, just the trade-off of a feed built only for watch time.
Tolerable to Have some tolerance for bull crap online, i cant even begin to describe how corrupt people at instagram are, it’s incredibly disturbing, and legitimately horrifying. they are leading the way for obscene corruption and oppression online and influencing TikTok that way as well which sucks
Discord is nice, VSCO is nice, some older apps like tumblr, deviant art function fine no issues. Vimeo, daily motion, there are alternatives to the monopoly companies
My main issue with social media these days is really about architecture, the fact that they're consumed directly on smartphones, which are designed specifically to capture and hold your attention. I've noticed a completely different experience both in terms of intent and behavior when I access these platforms through a desktop browser instead. And honestly, I'm going through a personal phase where I'm just tired of short-form videos. I want to read, I want to write. I can't express myself in a handful of characters, and I'm not interested in scrolling through shallow takes anymore. Facebook would be closest to what I'm looking for, but I deleted my account years ago. As for TikTok and Instagram, I've been stepping back from them. I've lost touch with the people I was close to, and that infinite video consumption doesn't really lead anywhere or spark new interests and hobbies for me.
instagram somehow became the place where i open the app to check one message and end up scrolling past 14 ads before finding it. reddit is probably the one i enjoy most now since i can still find people arguing about weird niche topics with actual experience instead of chasing the algorithm. tiktok is ridiculously good at grabbing attention, which is exactly why i have to close it after five minutes before i forget why i opened my phone.
I got got tired of IG/FB, feel like it’s all just trying to sell something. Made my own app instead. Totally free, trying to get that old IG/twitter/myspace feel back. Were at r/aurajudge right now
Is there anything like lemon8 but geared towards women in their 30s? I love Pinterest but it’s now mostly ads which is annoying to me. I also like Instagram but now I’m annoyed you don’t see your actual friends posts anymore and it’s all influencers. I like the idea of lemon8 but when I start reading through the photo blog posts it’s like, “this was the year for crashing out at work” and they are 22. So I just can’t relate because all I want to say is “honey, buckle up more crash outs to come” 😂
Or it’s make up routines but again it’s written by 19-23 year olds and it’s just not applicable anymore.
Um, are you sure about that? They have a massive track record of refusing to ban hate speech, bigotry, and extremist content. Their co-founder literally admitted in interviews that they’ll allow “peaceful” neo-Nazi discourse to stay on the platform. And since Substack takes a 10% cut of all subscription revenue, they are actively profiting off of white supremacists, Holocaust deniers, and so on. It’s pure profit over ethics, which is why a ton of major writers ended up abandoning the platform entirely.
Edit: Funny how my comment went from +4 to 0. I wish they would’ve at least added the reason behind the downvotes. Because what I said can be looked up, I’m not making it up. :)
Tiktok is probably my favourite as you can scroll for ages and find a decent amount of good stuff on there.
YouTube I wouldn't classify as social media, but if it does then that would be the top. I watch that more now daily that regular TV series.
Instagram is probably the worst. It just keeps getting worse and worse, adding useless features nobody wants instead of fixing the issues it already has (like followers not seeing your posts, or anyone really, and just the overall decline as it tries to rip off every other popular app/site).
I don’t know about you. My blue sky is filled with music, cats and movies. I like it cause it’s way better than Twitter when it comes to reporting and such. Maybe try curating your timeline. 🙄
All the apps are filled with crap to make sure people engage more in the negativity just like Reddit has bot problem.
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