Social media is broken. And yet we stay.

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

How and why I built an alternative.

The problem

Nobody seems truly happy with social media. The algorithm feeds you content that makes you angry, your feed is full of people you barely know, and it feels more like a shopping street than a town square: glance at one ad for a few seconds and you’re immediately flooded with ads from ten competitors. Your data is merchandise. It feels gross.

The nostalgia for 2016 makes sense: just your friends’ updates, in order, no AI and all that other noise, back when the word ‘doomscrolling’ didn’t even exist yet.

But nobody uninstalls. Because you’d also lose the updates from your friends: the holidays, the hobbies, the parties, the personal stories. You’re trapped.

Acini on Michiels blog

Social media is broken. And yet we stay.

The problem