[dreen]

I think you're kinda right but its not exclusive to US. Social media did not happen in a vacuum, there was a whole fertile ground prepared for it with decades of couch-potato consumer behavioural conditioning, which has been a global phenomenon for at least 50 years or so.

[GhettoComputers]

Is the name “social media” doublespeak? Comparing the online or digital equivalent or approximation as a simulation of reality has either created a false hyperreality at best but usually that of a poor imitation.

[swebs]

It is still reality. You're talking to real people, not NPCs.

[mattgreenrocks]

Sometimes they're real, and sometimes they're idealized projections put forth by said people. This will happen in any setting but social media seems to encourage it for whatever reason.

There are no easy solutions to this.

[GhettoComputers]

Define reality, and what real people/NPC is.