In a revealing moment during Meta's antitrust trial, Mark Zuckerberg effectively admitted that social media as we knew it is dead. Online commentators aren't surprised – they've watched Facebook and Instagram morph from platforms of personal connection into endless content streams designed to maximize engagement.

The numbers tell a stark story: Meta's own data shows the percentage of time users spend viewing friends' content has plummeted. On Facebook, it dropped from 22% to 17%, and on Instagram from 11% to a mere 7%. This decline isn't accidental but a deliberate strategy to keep users scrolling through algorithmically-served content.

What killed social media? According to tech-savvy observers, it's a perfect storm of corporate greed, addiction-driven design, and the relentless pursuit of advertising revenue. Platforms like Facebook stopped being about connecting with friends and became digital slot machines, serving up increasingly provocative content to keep users hooked.

The migration is already happening. Users are retreating to group chats, niche forums, and more intentional online spaces where meaningful interaction trumps endless scrolling. While Meta might see this as an evolution, many view it as the systematic destruction of what made social media compelling in the first place.

Ultimately, the future of online social interaction might look less like Facebook's content farm and more like targeted, intentional communities where connection matters more than engagement metrics.