What's interesting to me is, earlier in the pandemic I would hear more lofty plans for organizing online games and having more video calls between friends and family. It's amazing how quickly the motivation for this dissipated. Maybe because it's plainly cumbersome and awkward and just doesn't feel the same, and everyone I know still works.
For my part I think I've retreated from video/audio correspondence considerably. I still write to strangers online, which is social media, but feel like this experience has made me retreat into my shell. No substitution for seeing people in person.
I used to play in a few city-wide social sports leagues, before covid, which were all canceled most of last year and aren't back yet due to the winter weather. I filled my time by hiking and trying out some new hobbies.
So while not quite the same as being force inside and/or forced on social media, I can see where the pandemic upended various gatherings/hobbies and social media is an easy alternative for many people. Social media is free, easy to access, convenient, can be a giant time-sink, etc. along with all sorts of negative consequences.
The pandemic means classes are virtual/online. That means kids need computers with internet connections and modern web browsers. That means games, stupid videos, games, chat, games, and more games.
I'm really at a loss here.
I've gone to demanding a cold-turkey moratorium on the junk, with computer use only when supervised. This solution sucks up too much parental time and doesn't allow enough computer time for the homework.
If the classes didn't require web video, I could get an old VT510 terminal (no graphics) or an e-ink display, and then the gaming would be limited to a few things like online chess. The addiction problem wouldn't be so severe.