Facebook feels toxic in the sense of how it ruthlessly upholds social norms. I'm probably being whiny about it, but it seemed like FB was less about 'connection' and more about in-group maintenance.
What's so toxic about upholding social norms? You say "social norms", I say "social capital". About 40% of children grow up without both parents in the US, and the number is closer to 60% of poor children and 20% of well-off children. Before 1960, the average was 4% for all demographic groups. Growing up in a traditional family is a huge leg up in life. Popular media doesn't reinforce those traditional norms, so it's nice that we have one source that encourages the values of successful people.
If you ever have children they will be better off for your boring traditional life - encouraged by your upper-middle class friends on facebook.
I think the best leg up for a child is to be brought up in a stimulating, loving, stable environment. Whether that needs to look like a traditional nuclear family I'm not 100% sure. I think some progress can come from looking beyond the sort of social norms that a social network like Facebook seems to aggressively propagate.
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Facebook feels toxic in the sense of how it ruthlessly upholds social norms. I'm probably being whiny about it, but it seemed like FB was less about 'connection' and more about in-group maintenance.
What's so toxic about upholding social norms? You say "social norms", I say "social capital". About 40% of children grow up without both parents in the US, and the number is closer to 60% of poor children and 20% of well-off children. Before 1960, the average was 4% for all demographic groups. Growing up in a traditional family is a huge leg up in life. Popular media doesn't reinforce those traditional norms, so it's nice that we have one source that encourages the values of successful people.
If you ever have children they will be better off for your boring traditional life - encouraged by your upper-middle class friends on facebook.
I think the best leg up for a child is to be brought up in a stimulating, loving, stable environment. Whether that needs to look like a traditional nuclear family I'm not 100% sure. I think some progress can come from looking beyond the sort of social norms that a social network like Facebook seems to aggressively propagate.