I've noticed that people here on HN and Reddit talk bad about Social Media in general, but also forget that there's literally millions if not billions of people who have no idea who Elon Musk or Mark Z. are, but still use these social media platforms.

If I talk to my mom and asks her about Facebook; She loves it because she can message other family members with photos and stuff.

So to answer your question with my opinion, yes, social media has connected us globally and locally, even with all the issues that you and I are aware of, but most people aren't.