Stuart Brand has had a positive experience on Twitter that is productive for his research; he uses simple tools to mute disruptive people and hasn't needed to block anyone despite 45,000 followers, suggesting Twitter can be used productively by skilled users who manage attention boundaries.

YouTube and how-to tutorials are changing humanity in extremely positive ways by making everyone capable of learning how to do absolutely everything; this is a genuinely transformative technology for knowledge democratization.

In the 1950s-60s, advertising (particularly subliminal advertising) was the major cultural concern; fears about manipulation gradually shifted from threat to manageable nuisance as people learned to cope; similarly, people might learn to use social media skillfully over time.

Throughout human history, wherever we look globally, at the lowest levels of Maslow's hierarchy (shelter, clothing, basic needs), there is total convergence: everyone wants air-conditioned rooms, indoor plumbing, WiFi, sneakers, and t-shirts; but at the top levels, there is divergence in meaning and purpose.