If someone gets addicted to cocaine or heroin or meth, they must first try an illegal substance. A substance that’s a known hazard. Something that everyone is pretty sure will hurt you, but you may, for a variety of reasons, try anyway.
Peer pressure.
Cool factor.
Depression.
Whatever else might be the reasons someone might try an illegal, addictive substance.

There are 2.38 billion (with a “b”) people on Facebook right now. There are 1 billion (also with a “b”) people on Instagram.

Sure, social media isn’t meth.

It isn’t meth because it’s ubiquitous. Everyone (almost literally everyone) does it. It’s free. It’s fun. It’s easy. It’s useful.

It’s not meth. Right?

Yet, it’s engineered addiction.

The likes. The tagging. The notifications. The infinite scrolling. The videos. It’s all designed to give your brain a dopamine hit so that you come back for more. And more. And more.

The longer you’re on the platform, the more money they make. Because the product is not the platform.

The product is you. And me. It’s all of us.

We are the product, being sold off to advertisers. The longer we scroll, the more they win.

Maybe it’s time to take control of this beast.

Either get rid of it altogether.

Or go to digital detox. Learn what you can handle. And what you can’t.

Social media is not meth.

But social media is engineered to be more addictive than meth.

And the question I’m asking myself right now is this:

Is it really worth all that?