Anyone else burned out on social media???

God not another "Mil and Gen Z ruined ______" charade. While the decline of social interaction can be considered concerning on a societal level, the party era had a CRAZY dark flipside, especially where college frat parties are concerned. #metoo didn't come out of a vacuum, after all. Even like the "glory era" of the Warp Tour which so many people fantasize about had its share of atrocious behavior and controversies. Some people got really messed up and/or messed up by others there. 
EDIT: Spoke too soon because I already saw an article today about how Mils are not having "midlife crises" the way their parents did because they're too broke to get a mistress, or buy a new car. Guess we ruined something else yet again, guyyyssssss! XD

Great take here!!! Yeah, I feel like a lot of the music was "super happy" to distract us all from the worst recession in decades, one that stretched over 5 years if not longer for many people. I knew plenty of well-educated, skilled people scraping by with pumping more debt into education/skills classes and part time gigs until like 2013-2015 before they got their actual "career job." Like let's just party with each other since we can't get good jobs, or any jobs （in many cases)!!! What you saw on TV wasn't the full reality of living in that time. 

And yeah, PLENTY of people didn't even like these "bops," which many Gen Z kids consider nostalgic now. If you check out Youtube comments and commentary at that time, for every "Yasss slayyy king/queen," there were just as many people bemoaning the loss of the musical sphere of THEIR day. "Like what happened to grunge and punk rock brooooo???" He's a contentious figure, but Youtube commentator A Dose of Buckley did a great piece on this, how every generation seems to think the generation right after them has a "terrible taste in music." Like how people fondly remember say, KESHA, now. Even if her music did commercially well, it wasn't considered "high brow" or even necessarily “good" at that time.

Yeah awareness of issues is an important thing but like...I feel like social media has turned into a "who can be the MOST AWARE person" and belittle others for "not being aware." I cannot possibly be aware of every single issue facing over 8 BILLION PEOPLE.
It didn't feel that way back in 2007 when I first joined Facebook, and from what I've heard of Myspace (for its faults), Myspace wasn't that way either. People were genuinely excited to share their interests and lives, and their Farmville farms. 
And yaassss to virtual pets and positivity, bring those back!!!!

Personal update: I'm going to remove the Facebook app on my phone, end my YouTube Premium subscription, and cut down my time on YouTube. I feel like I've been wasting much of my time in those places and do something more productive like working out. I noticed I felt much calmer talking face-to-face with people and doing more things offline. I hope I can improve my sleep too.

One thing that I've been doing lately is playing long compilation videos of old TV ads from the 80s and 90s as background noise.

That's awesome! I deleted the FB app last year (or maybe 2022, don't recall) for "peace of mind" and it's definitely helped. I too have wasted a lot of time on social media that should go to my other friends, family, visits, study time, and hobbies. Easy access to music is indeed a perk of Youtube, though. I love listening to gaming OSTs or longer form documentaries there, after I'm far enough into my work or task or chore to justify it. 

Yup, call it "influencer" or MC syndrome, or some variant of the 2. Even Facebook back in 2007 didn't have that sterile corporate feel necessarily, despite it being well...sterile and corporate. Probably because like you said, we DID use it mostly to follow friends, family, and maybe a fan group or 2. And that was it. And FB was cool with that. At least 50% of my FB feed today is recommended product ads and recommended groups. 50%!!! Instagram is almost worse too, because that's where people REALLY put up the filtered fakeness, the show-offiness, the "inhibited wanderlust," etc. 

Thanks for sharing your experience. I was a preteen during that era. Granted, I grew up in a boring agricultural small town with hardly any nightlife. I've always assumed that was a big city thing like in LA. Though, I don't imagine Seattlites as the clubbing type tbh. Definitely not Portland for sure. I guess the PNW isn't the party type like California.

I recall my family being more financially stable during the recession era until mid 2010's. But 2012 was when my family bought a house and my dad lost his job around that time so yeah...

Now thinking about it. I remember crime got worse around that time. Which is also probably why I see less clubbing at night time in my area. Where the Philippines on the other hand people are up late having fun and they don't seem to have a gang problem.