[armchairhacker]

I don’t think social media is intrinsically bad, just the toxic popular social medias. Did kids in the 1990s with access to internet forums have stunted social development?

[reaperducer]

Did kids in the 1990s with access to internet forums have stunted social development?

"He's intelligent, an underachiever, alienated from his parents, has few friends. A classic case for recruitment by the Soviets." — War Games

More seriously, internet forums weren't designed to be addictive. They were designed to communicate.

That's the difference between the past and the present.

[api]

Old school Internet forums and sites were not designed to be addictive.

The "time on site" KPI and its variants is the root of all evil.