Social Media Giants Are Failing Us — It’s Time to Take Back Control of Our Online Connections

Key Takeaways

• Virality-driven platforms reward manipulation over authenticity, turning fake influencers into profitable brands.
• Despite constant connectivity, tech-driven social isolation is rising, fueling mental health crises worldwide.
• User-owned platforms could redefine online connections, prioritizing privacy, community governance, and real engagement over profit.

Social media has turned deception into an art form and, more recently, a business model, propped up fake influencers like Belle Gibson, who made headlines recently for building an empire on fake health claims.

The problem isn’t just a few bad actors but rather a system designed to reward virality over authentic connections.

The cycle will repeat unless we shift the narrative and push for decentralized social media, where truth isn’t at the mercy of algorithms chasing engagement.

U.S. Loneliness Pandemic

The world is addicted to social media platforms that use algorithms to capture the attention of their users so effectively. However, many niche social networks are beginning to bypass the Big Tech giants, who have long forgotten the one key rule to any successful business: ‘Put the customer first.’

Who isn’t tired of logging in to social media and being faced with endless ads? It seems that the more ad revenue technology providers digested, the more they needed.

In 2023, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared that American citizens are in a “loneliness pandemic, ” while a study by Harvard graduates in 2024 found that 81% of adults who said they were lonely also suffered from anxiety and depression.

Even more interesting for our observations today is that 73% of those surveyed said that technology contributes to loneliness.

If one in every three Americans feels lonely, as the American Psychiatric Association highlights, what are we doing to establish new and real connections?

Perhaps this is because many of us have become numb to physical connections that create real bonds. Instead, we have moved to a culture that centers itself around celebrities, influencers, and trendsetters.

The recent series Apple Cider Vinegar on Netflix clearly demonstrates our love affair with fake personality types online.

Alternative Social Connections

Decentralized social media networks and projects focusing on this area are now beginning to tackle the issues at hand.

The battle for likes has long played out across social networks. Starting with Facebook and now more recent social platforms such as Instagram, the like button has become the norm as a way to show your support for a thought, a picture you like, or a video worth sharing.

Traditional social media’s long history of privacy violations, fake news, and algorithmic manipulation is now driving a growing appetite for alternatives.

The corporate model prioritizes profit over people but doesn’t fit well with the concept of being social and making connections online.

What Does a Decentralized Future Look Like?

Picture a network where users not only own their content but also have governance over the platform itself.

This might look like Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) running social spaces where the people actually using the service make every update, policy change, and revenue decision.

It’s an internet where privacy is baked into the infrastructure rather than offered as a setting that requires you to actively opt out.

For years, challengers like Ello and MeWe promised user-first social networking but couldn’t break Facebook’s gravitational pull. This time, the difference is that changing user expectations might make decentralized platforms viable.

Of course, the biggest challenge ahead is convincing users to migrate.

Facebook’s greatest asset is its inertia; we stay because everyone else is there. But if decentralized social media can offer a real alternative—one where users control their data, shape their communities, and even earn from their contributions—the old model might finally be on its way out.

Will we quit Facebook en masse tomorrow? Unlikely. However, the future of social media is tilting toward decentralization, and when the tipping point comes, we won’t look back.