It's hard to imagine a world without Facebook. For more than a decade, the social media platform has been a place where people could document and share every detail of their lives, from the articles they find interesting to what they ate for brunch. According to the latest information on Facebook's site, more than 1 billion people logged on daily in September, making it one of the most popular web destinations in the entire world.
But none of that success has made former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya feel any better about his previous involvement with the company. According to The Guardian, Palihapitiya recently said during a talk at the Stanford Graduate School of Business that Facebook, and social media usage in general, is ultimately a massive detriment to society as a whole.
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"The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works," he said, according to video footage published by The Verge. "No civil discourse, no cooperation, misinformation, mistruth."
Palihapitiya added that neither he nor his children currently use social media and encouraged others to consider doing the same.
"Your behaviours, you don't realise it, but you are being programmed," he said. "It was unintentional, but now you gotta decide how much you're going to give up, how much of your intellectual independence."
It's no secret that frequent social media usage can take a toll on your mental, emotional, and even physical health. Research even indicates that being "social" online can lead to feelings of loneliness as we're prone to compare our situations with others and develop an unrealistic and unattainable perception of what happiness is.
While we're not suggesting you swear off your online interactions for good, it's never a bad idea to take a break when you're feeling overwhelmed. Use it as an excuse to buy some new leggings and go for a nice a stroll or call up a friend for some IRL Christmas fun. Ultimately, your well-being is so much more important than anything your school frenemy could possibly be posting about online.
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