I was reading Cal Newport’s new blog post Back to the (Internet) Future, and I found it super valuable. It reminded me of the days when social media platforms like Twitter (X) and Instagram weren’t as popular, and people actually took the time to read. In his post, Newport argues that conversations happening through blog posts or articles are usually more authentic and meaningful.

Back in 2012, Scott Hanselman also wrote about how publishing your words on Twitter (X) or any other social network means they are essentially wasted. He suggested that when you post your ideas on your own website, you truly own them. Although the post was published over a decade ago, he had already warned us about tech companies that lure us into writing on their platforms instead of maintaining our own spaces. They achieve this through clever “marketing traps” such as “reimagining writing” or “rethinking publishing.”

Personally, I neither disagree with social media platforms nor have concerns about the ownership of the content we publish on them. What worries me more is that people today read far less than before. Instead of engaging deeply with written content, they scroll mindlessly through social media, seeking quick dopamine hits, only to be bombarded with random (or even “personalised”) advertisements. To me, social media platforms don’t care whether you actually absorb the information in a post—they only care about keeping you engaged for as long as possible so they can monetize your attention. The dopamine rush is so strong that quitting social media becomes incredibly difficult. In reality, it’s just another form of addiction.

Another concerning trend is the quality (or lack thereof) of interactions on social media. When scrolling through comments on most posts, you’ll often find irrelevant comments, a string of emojis, or completely off-topic replies. Many people don’t even take the time to view all the images in a post! Let me share a real-world example that happened to me recently: A few days ago, I posted on Instagram about the first loaf of bread I had baked. I wanted to share the process with my friends and family, from preparing the dough to cutting the finished bread. The post contained four photos, starting with the dough preparation and ending with the final result. Here is the first and the last photo:

The photo on the left: Dough, the photo on the right: Me cutting the final loaf of bread

After posting, I received a few strange comments like, “What is this?” I was confused, so I messaged one of the commenters privately to ask why they were unsure. Their response shocked me—they admitted they hadn’t even scrolled to the last photo to understand what the post was about!

To me, these behavioral patterns are alarming. As social media addiction grows, people skim through almost everything instead of taking the time to process, reflect, and engage meaningfully. This isn’t just my personal observation. In 2018, Maryanne Wolf published an article in The Guardian titled Skim Reading Is the New Normal—The Effect on Society Is Profound. In the article, she explained how social media has conditioned us to skim rather than read deeply:

When the reading brain skims texts, we don’t have time to grasp complexity, to understand another’s feelings, or to perceive beauty. We need a new literacy for the digital age.

All in all, we need to be mindful of how we use social media—before it’s too late.