I just don't get this post. I connect with people, and I've never needed Meta products to do it. I have friends, and I've never needed Meta products to do it. You're not describing needs, your describing a specific and intentional choice you and your friends have made to not have a friendship (by your own words) if it's not facilitated by some shitty online tool.
You've chosen to make these products your sole means and way of "connecting" with people because you, they or both are utterly and completely unwilling to even vaguely consider doing anything else. You want to doomscroll Instagram (we can swap "want" for "are addicted to" if you'd prefer - the broader point is the same). If you didn't, you'd stop.
Anyone using Meta products is a bad person, full stop. Are they Zuckerberg/Sandberg/Thiel/Musk bad? Of course not. But you don't get to absolve yourself of the clear and obvious consequences of your own choices just because they make you feel bad about yourself.
You've chosen to make these products your sole means and way of "connecting" with people because you, they or both are utterly and completely unwilling to even vaguely consider doing anything else. You want to doomscroll Instagram (we can swap "want" for "are addicted to" if you'd prefer - the broader point is the same). If you didn't, you'd stop.
Anyone using Meta products is a bad person, full stop. Are they Zuckerberg/Sandberg/Thiel/Musk bad? Of course not. But you don't get to absolve yourself of the clear and obvious consequences of your own choices just because they make you feel bad about yourself.