Everything Sucks Now

How social media platforms are killing friendship

Online friendships have never been more important. But the platforms where we maintain those friendships have never been shittier or more annoying. So what’s going on? How did big tech hijack our social lives, and is there any way to reclaim them? Let’s find out in this Wisecrack Edition: Is the Age of Online Friendship Over?

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Written by Amanda Scherker
Hosted by Michael Burns
Directed by Michael Luxemburg
Edited by Brian M Kim
Produced by Olivia Redden

Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound

#Enshitification #socialmedia #wisecrack

© 2023 Wisecrack / Omnia Media, Inc. / Enthusiast Gaming

[LeonMRr]

Enshitification is the best word to describe what happened to the internet in the last decade or so

[sarthakwadhwa]

Having had the pleasure to work with Doctorow, highly recommending looking at his work on vibrant interoperable platforms for an alternative to this dystopian social media hellscape

[ryanhupp]

online friends can't help you dig a hole at 3am and not ask a bunch of questions

[einstwareinlicht]

I will never forgive YouTube for destroying so many innocent creators without any justified reason whatsoever.

[scarletokelly]

I've been able to maintain my friendships via Discord but I can see the enshitification of that platform on the horizon.

[KatriceMetaluna]

The sad thing is we HAD decentralized online social networks that weren't controlled by any one commercial entity. They were called Usenet and IRC. It was a mistake to move away from them.

[onexonesie]

Music sucks. Movies suck. Tv shows suck. Talk shows suck. Youtube sucks. Job market sucks. Everything is so expensive. I grew up as a young kid in the late 90s early 2000s and I long for that time again. It's almost like it was a different world. Crazy to witness such a shift in real time.

[pif]

As of today my social life is rather dire both online and offline. I can’t seem to create deeper connections no matter how honest I end up being. Idk, past 30 feels easier to build a company then a friendship.

[LittleKittyMine]

As a physically disabled Autistic, social media is quite literally a lifeline for me. 99.7% of my social interactions are online because of how hard it is to leave my home. I also just had my 10+ year old Facebook account hacked and stolen. Over a decade of networking and friendship building just... gone. And yes, I had two-factor authentication on, and my phone wasn't stolen too. It was a devastating and honestly traumatic experience for me, and even if they cared, Meta is never getting me my account back. Yeah, enshitification is right.

[reverendblind]

I just wanna give a huge shout-out to your writers. I know Michael is the face and the voice and the raw dome, but everyone take a moment to appreciate how well researched and written this content is. Every quote from authors and philosophers they reference is a new rabbit hole if you want to dive into even more great resources. A round of applause 🙌🙌🙌 for some of the best written content on YouTube!

[AssasinZorro]

I don't usually comment, but here I have a story to share.
I've met great people online and our friendship had outlived enshitification of several platforms.
I think it is important to remember that you connect with a person, not with their online presence.

It's sad that parasocial relationships rarely become two-sided friendships, but I am grateful that you have been posting your videos for such a long time that I can have your channel as one of the conversation openers

[Jaysin]

"Everyone is stupid and everything sucks" -Randall (Clerks)

[hangukhiphop]

I'm most upset about the archives of valuable information and media we're going to lose in the name of scraping just one more ounce of profit for the beloved shareholders!

[PeanutStrawberry]

Dude, someone told me a couple weeks ago I was *problematic* for not having online friends / not considering strangers online I've never met my friends.

[cosmicgregg]

Hey man, just want to give you props for introducing sched 35. It's really helped me out. Since February I've taken once a month. I've felt more connected and my anxiety is down and when it goes up I've been able handle it much better. It has also helped me start being creative again. Since I'm a songwriter that's a big deal for me. Sooo, yeah thanks dude. Sorry I know this has nothing to do with the vid

[natedogg]

I find using the internet for work and building skills helps me have a much better relationship with it. There is SO much amazing content still out there on these shitty platforms, I was able to learn how to code, how to make games etc, then connect with other people with similar interests on Discord servers where we can help each other with issues and ideas

[nicksherm]

My term for recovering from the social media mania is “defuckulation”

[TheSpyder]

honestly great vid- but surprised you didnt bring up Reddit's current Situation, the death of forums, or the current major advertising purge on virtually every platform

[jclar]

Being middle-aged and new to social media makes me rare. My perspective right off the bat is that there are a lot of people who need to have social media check-ins throughout their day and the reality is it's kind of a sad situation. I think people are lonely. I used to own a couple nightclubs and I was made it my prerogative to understand that I was competing with television and the internet at that time. And I'm competitive about it and I think those kind of interactions that you do in person are still much better. It's a lazy thing to be on social media, isn't it? And I really enjoyed this video. Although the thumbnail for it is not appropriate really. But one thing that they don't mention is that there are too many people just getting fat and older. Not doing very much at all drifting away on social media

[sams.]

This video couldn't come at a better time, because there are a lot of really smart people thinking right now about better ways to do online communication, and I've gotten to talk with some of them in the past few days! The thing that has underpinned most of these discussions, rather than being benevolence by capitalists, is communal ownership and control!