SOCIAL MEDIA BLUES

NOT FOR LOVE OR ‘LIKES’!          

Manilka Ediriweera explains why her social media isn’t sociable anymore

Such a maverick may have surprised us a few years ago. In 2026 however, things are somewhat different. You won’t find it entirely strange; instead, you may even think it’s cool – I’ve thought about it myself.

In addition, you will understand what led to such a choice. This notion is especially true among Gen Zs, who feel that being offline isn’t a problem.

From being continuously online to going offline is a major shift, and this drastic change poses a question about what may have happened along the way.

What happened to using social media to stay connected with family, friends, former colleagues and long-lost buddies? What changed in relation to making new friends on social media? And what happened to the human aspect of social media that’s marked by messy and unfiltered (or filtered, if one accounts for all the flower crown and animal filters!) posts?

That version of social media is gone; it’s no longer sociable and it’s harder to stay connected.

There are a few reasons for this change…

You could say that social media is no longer designed to connect us. Instead, it’s built to capture and hold our attention through stimulation rather than conversation or connection. It’s become about endless passive consumption all the time… from standing in a queue to lying in bed.

In fact, the CEO of Meta Mark Zuckerberg acknowledges that social media is no longer social.

During the US Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) antitrust trial against Meta, he accepted that the priority is no longer about showing content from people you know. It’s about entertainment, what’s happening in the world and offering what the algorithm thinks you’ll like, rather than what you like or want to see.

It means that being social is no longer the point!

Think about it: every time you log in to social media, what do you see? Photos and messages from friends, or content from brands and influencers. Most of the time, it’s the latter. If you’re lucky, you might see pictures of your cousin’s vacation…

Essentially, social media has gone from being social graphs to recommendation engines, from connection to consumption.

And guess what? It can be exhausting!

With sponsored posts, influencer content and AI generated reels, social media platforms are overwhelming users – so much so that you barely have the energy to respond to a friend, let alone post something unfiltered or funny.

Of course, social media isn’t the only culprit. Life and work have also become busier and heavier. Late stage capitalism has left everyone feeling tired, distracted and emotionally detached… and unable to be sociable.

Let’s say you share a post. Even then, has it become more of a performance? This is because as with brands or influencers, many of us also curate our feeds. We want to share out a version of who we want to be, and tend to worry about aesthetics and ‘likes.’

Everything on social media including our lives has become content because somewhere along the way, spontaneity lost its way.

Some experts argue that we may be heading towards a point where we may not share our lives online. Conversations with friends reveal as much: even those who still post aren’t trying to connect; they’re simply archiving their memories.

Take a look at your own feed that’s mostly filled with posts by brands and influencers, and you’ll find very few of your friends’ posts. It’s likely that they will be one among many others.

All in all, the model has changed – and so have our roles. Companies that built social media platforms are abandoning the one thing that made them explode in the first place: connection.

We may feel that we’re connecting with people when engaging on social media but in all honesty, we’re not doing that. That’s because we have become part of an audience on a platform that connects with us as consumers rather than humans.

So where is social media heading?

Today, social media is a space that is overwhelmed by professionalised media; it’s become a marketplace – a place where ideological camps have formed; where divisions have been created; and sides chosen.

These days, social media is mainly about capturing attention; monetising time, data, emotions and performance; shaping opinions, behaviour and desires; and selling ideologies, lifestyles and products.

In other words, it is no longer optimised for relationships. But it still holds power and will continue to do so.

So will it return to being simply social?

That’s up for debate…

Being social is no longer the point