Often lost underneath the privacy debates is a problem that is just as pernicious - social media is an addictive and harmful product that is being sold to us for money.

For both factors, addictiveness and harm, there are large piles of scientific studies.

Apart from magnitude of harm, I don't think it's a stretch to think that social media should be grouped together with tobacco as something we want to limit as a society. There might even be an argument on magnitude given that social media causes loneliness and loneliness causes early death https://press.aarp.org/2016-12-07-AARP-Foundation-Draws-Atte.... While I'm not saying that using facebook reduces your lifespan by 15 years, I think there is cause to assume a real physiological impact.

Sure, social media has had its positive impact - every new technology is mixed - but certainly, we need to find common-sense ways to regulate social media to reduce addictiveness and harm.