A healthier way to get friends away from social media // steve gattuso

I get frustrated at how successful social media companies are at hijacking societal levels of attention. It’s tough to resist the products and antics of companies like Meta, TikTok or X. It’s not enough to ditch them yourselves, you really have to convince the people around you to ditch them too.

I’ve found it very difficult to convince people to look away from platforms that employ addictive algorithms and have strong network effects (ie all of your friends are on them). It’s difficult even when trying to convince close friends who are aware of and sympathetic to the negative effects of these products.

The reality I’ve learned to accept is that I generally can’t talk about these opinions without coming across as condescending or a jerk. Trying to persuade through conversation gets annoying very quickly. Hinting at being frustrated when they’re on their phones also doesn’t work. It just makes you seem passive-aggressive and is self-defeating.

What’s there to do, then? How can we, those who believe these companies are up to no good, convince our friends and family to put their phones down and be present in real life? I’ve long struggled with this question, but think I’ve stumbled into an approach that’s been sitting in front of me this whole time: be the instigator of meaningful interaction.

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