> Nobody is forcing them

Well, yes, the peer pressure and possibly the deep rooted insecurity you are talking about, and FOMO / the fear of isolation / being excluded. That's actually a big part of the issue.

(as someone who has always resisted social networks except HN for various reasons, pretty sure it's a net positive, but I've known since the beginning that interactions happened there and I was excluded from these)

I know I cut your sentence mid way, but I believe that reacting to stuff you see when you are there is probably only natural.

> Nobody is forcing them to be on Instagram and like posts about transgender, Middle Eastern conflicts etc nor forced to change their profile pictures to a faded flag in faux solidarity.

Peer pressure is forcing them.

Yeah, you can say they should just ignore peer pressure and such... but if say, 90% of teens had smoking problem, would you just shrug and say well nothing is forcing them to take a cigarette?

Early 40s man here who happily admits to indulging in grumpy, get-off-my-lawn rants from time to time.

Honestly, you are right on every point, A) you don't need to live your life on social media, B) once you do you get sucked into an increasingly weird and unhealthy point of view & behaviors.

The only way to win is not to play. Read books instead of doom scroll. Meet friends in meat space, don't text. If they get all unhinged about transgender Hamas rights or whatever the current Reddit/X tempest in a tea pot is, just go "Oh yeah that sounds serious, tell me more" and then change the topic after 60 seconds - that's going to be the upper limit of their attention span anyway.

It can be done, you can unplug, you lose basically nothing by doing so, and you gain the world, life gets better. Unplugging from endless online BS, simply refusing to participate, improved my focus, attention span, made me smarter because I read books instead, freed up time to start hitting the gym which led to a 15 point drop in my blood pressure, the list of positive benefits goes on and on. I once was an optimistic futurist, I now have serious, serious reservations about the impact our industry has had on society in the 21st century.

Tell the kids, it was better in the old days before Meta.

Yes and no. Being a child of the late 70s and early 80s I "predate" most of modern social media. We weren't connected the same way Gen Z and Alpha have been. My generation knows what it's like to not live in a social media bubble, and have the experience/knowledge of how to live without it. These kids have never had that. All they know is the narcissism and peer validation style of this new world. So in some sense "willing" is a bit strong of a word to use here.

The algorithm is forcing them. Stop beeing so naive. Even if you don't like or follow any of the controversial stuff, that stuff is constantly recommended "for you" by the algorithm.