Behind every trending hashtag lies a darker reality: underpaid moderators, psychological trauma, and platforms prioritizing profit over safety.
Content Moderation: A Broken System
Content moderators face relentless exposure to graphic material while earning poverty wages:
- Working conditions: Reviewing 700+ posts daily under strict timelines, with PTSD rates comparable to combat veterans.
- Corporate neglect: Facebook paid $52M in 2020 to settle PTSD claims but outsources moderators to avoid liability.
- Elon Musk’s cuts**: Firing 3,000+ Twitter moderators and dissolving its Trust & Safety Council.
The Paradox of Choice and User Dissatisfaction
Barry Schwarz’s “Paradox of Choice” explains modern platform fatigue:
- Endless scrolling: Users overwhelmed by options default to familiar content (e.g. rewatching *The Office).
- Declining quality: Algorithms prioritize engagement over value, flooding feeds with recycled memes and ads.
Conclusion: A Cycle of Nostalgia and Disillusion
Users increasingly romanticize early social media, but its problems reflect broader tech industry failures:
- Monetization over safety: Platforms like X prioritize ad revenue while ignoring bot infestations.
- The “enshittification” cycle: Sites grow rapidly, exploit users, then degrade into unusability.
While trends may shift, the core issue remains: social media’s shift from connection to commodification. Until platforms prioritize people over profits, the cycle will continue.
