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Increasingly, Meta has been using debt to fuel its spending, amassing $59 billion in long-term debt on its balance sheet by the end of 2025, double the prior year’s total. And that doesn’t count the “aggressive” accounting it has used to keep the cost of a $27 billion Louisiana data center off its books. “The spending growth looks increasingly unsustainable,” The Wall Street Journal’s “Heard on the Street” columnist Asa Fitch wrote this week.

Now, as the company careens from one staggeringly expensive misadventure to another, its cash-cow core business is starting to wear out. Last quarter, the number of daily active users across its properties declined for the first time to 3.56 billion from 3.58 billion.

  • Mountainaire@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    2 days ago

    Historically, “social media” meant non-anonymous social connections in which nearly everyone knew everyone’s real names; in contrast, Reddit or Reddit-like networks like Lemmy were called “content aggregators.”

    We’re also not in a bubble (what bubble anyway, of anticapitalism?) if we’re diversifying our exposure to different sides. The most important aspect is that Lemmy instances seem to be among the more bot-free forums, whereas FB is completely overrun by “AI” spewing lies and fake studies, for example.

    I would argue that it only makes you “sick” (what kind of sickness, anyway?) if this is your primary means of your socializing. Message boards involving strangers utilized in one’s life in this way should only be a temporary lifeline while you work to gradually build/rebuild a habit of regular, in-person contact. As long as you’re diligently striving towards that, it’s likely a (perhaps small) net positive. Social media, content aggregators, forums, message boards, etc. are only a net negative if they’re your primary approach to voluntary contact with people.

    • Ibuthyr@lemmy.wtfEnglish
      2·
      20 hours ago

      Re bubble: look at Lemmy.ml… just criticize China and you’ll be banned. They just keep telling each other that China is the best country on earth and no one will challenge that anymore, as everyone gets banned. It’s an extreme example but a pretty good one.

      Re sickness: we’re a social species. That means interacting in real life. In real life you won’t have that many peers communicating with you all at once and you can gauge what your peers think by watching their body language. Online communication is all over the place and unfiltered. Humans haven’t evolved to process all of that information while still critically evaluating said Information. This leads to mental burnout, depression etc.

      For the record, I am capable of limiting my exposure to this, because I grew up and witnessed the evolution of tech (born in 82). I’m also somewhat intelligent. I hold a Master’s in engineering, which requires a bit of intelligence. Many people only ever get basic education, if even that (not trying to sound condescending. Education is a privilege!). These people can’t handle this type of communication. That’s also the reason why they’re so easily manipulated by the right extremists.