Gambling is not physically addictive, but for its worst addicts it’s as ruinous as cigarettes.

Social media is similar in that the dependence is psychological, and the harm caused can vary from basically none, to tremendous psychological and material damage (up to and including suicide as a result of self-esteem, bullying or body issues).

I would agree that it’s our generation’s cigarettes simply because it’s ubiquitous and the impact on both health and society is unquestioned by the masses. It simply is. We don’t smoke on a plane anymore because we don’t want to give everyone cancer, but we don’t take the same precautions to protect unconsenting individuals, like children, from becoming mush-brained iPad babies manipulated by the TikTok and YouTube algorithms.

Let’s not forget that social media, Facebook to be specific, is blamed for fanning the flames of multiple ethnic conflicts in Asia and Africa that have ended in genocide. It’s likely that cigarettes do more harm to the individual user, but social media does more harm to society. This is something we will have to reckon with in the future, and once we establish sensible controls and norms we’ll wonder how we lived like this for so long.