In the spring of 2020, the digital world served as our global lighthouse, providing orientation and connection when the analog world went dark. As physical communities shuttered, we migrated to the screen, not out of preference, but necessity. These platforms became classrooms, boardrooms, shopping centers, and the “village” for isolated lives. They performed their function, sustaining connection and economic continuity when nothing else could. 

As we navigate 2026, the emergency has long since passed, yet we are still circling the shore’s beacon instead of returning to the harbor. The current legal and cultural narrative often frames social media companies as predatory antagonists. That framing misses a deeper structural reality; the assumption that these platforms are the source of the problem. It is equally possible they simply revealed it, and, for a time, helped people hold it together.