Real human connection is migrating from Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms to WhatsApp, Discord and group chats. These are the cool, quiet corners of the internet where there’s no algorithm, no brand-building, no pressure to perform.

It’s not so much a tech obituary as it is a cultural reckoning — a retreat from public performance toward private connection.  Users are burning out.  There’s a pushback from curating personas, chasing engagement, and pretending everything is fine.  Authentic expression has been replaced by algorithmic survival.

Social media platforms have strayed from their original promise of connection, community, and authenticity with the good news being real people are rediscovering ways to connect.

Jaron Lanier is an early critic of social media and his take is “We cannot have a society in which, if two people wish to communicate, the only way that can happen is if it’s financed by a third person who wishes to manipulate them.”

Pass it along.