Now that’s not entirely true either. You need some companionship to maintain mental health, but you certainly don’t need more than a few, and you certainly don’t need the admiration of even a small fraction of the people on social media. So I maintain, this persisten desire to be liked or accepted by many should be addressed as a mental illness.
I didn't mean that people go to social media to be liked/accepted by many. I said that social media made huge efforts (and succeeded) at becoming humanity's primary communications tool so that you are forced to use it (and thus be exposed to its dark patterns and toxicity) even if you originally had no desire to use it for vanity purposes.
You’re supporting this being a mental health issue still. Nobody is forcing you to use social media. There are plenty of other methods to communicate with others, and if you focus on have a few strong relationships you have absolutely no need. This is starting to read like Stockholm syndrome.
