We may never leave social media completely. But we will control which aspects of our identities we share, and with whom

The emergence of Facebook has been significant in how we conceive of social media. Almost every platform we use encourages us to share as much of our personal lives as possible, incentivising us with more features, filters and monetisation tools. Instead of the conscious curation that characterised social networks of the past, these platforms continue promising users that if they simply post more about themselves and their friends, they can have more fulfilling social experiences.

In recent years, however, public conversations around the darker elements of social media platforms - from data collection and privacy issues to fake news and propaganda - have led to more thinking on how we should use them (or if they should even be used at all). In the next decade, as we reassess our relationship with social media - and by extension, the Big Tech companies that run them - we will see more people leave public platforms entirely, sticking instead to small communities and friendship groups on more private platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram or Signal.

But this will be a luxury only few will be able to choose.

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