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Study Finds Weak Evidence Linking Social Media Use to Teen Mental Health Problems
(tech.slashdot.org)
this post was submitted on 16 Jan 2026
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Lemmy isn’t social media. It’s a forum.
Forums were just social media before it had a distinct name.
No they weren’t. You don’t follow people on forums. Write a definition of social media that includes forums but excludes news websites, or literally any website with a comment section. I’ll wait.
Before Facebook etc, forums were really small and plenty. They might be about a certain topic, but you were there for the few loud people that kept it going. Following them, pretty much. Didn't like them, you went to another forum of that topic, same deal there.
It's nothing like the forums today full of new accounts asking one question and moving on.
Lemmy is also not really anything like those forums. The reason why you call Lemmy a forum but Facebook not is more accidental, maybe because of marketing, definitely not because of rigorous definitions.
In any case, @toiletobserver@lemmy.world's observation applies to social media, forums, news sites with a comment section and any other site.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media
Wow that was difficult.
So not forums then.
"Common features" does not imply it must have all on the list to be considered social media.
Here's the other three if you're curious:
Online platforms enable users to create and share content and participate in social networking.[2][3][4]
User-generated content—such as text posts or comments, digital photos or videos, and data generated through online interactions.[2][3]
Social media helps the development of online social networks by connecting a user's profile with those of other individuals or groups.[2][5]
Yep exactly, and if “common features” doesn’t imply that, then that means every website on the Internet meets that definition. Even Amazon you can literally follow users and chat with them. Yes, Amazon, the shopping website.
Yeah, most websites are incorporating social media these days.