Social Media is not a new thing

Decades before the invention of the Internet, the personal computer or even the mainframe computer, "Social Media" existed.   Those afflicted with the addiction would shut themselves into a room (usually darkened except for a desk light and the eerie glow of electronic gadgets that were a mystery to outsiders.

The rest of the family tried not to disturb the "social gatherings" taking place in that special room.   Social gatherings involving people located all over the world.   People who would never meet, and whose only knowledge about the "others" in the gathering is what each person chose to reveal about himself.

I say "him"self because even in the first part of the twentieth century, those addicted to social media were largely males.   The time required was enormous, sometimes 24 hours straight.   The conversations on this early social media ranged the gamut of topics, but the most frequent topic was simply how to build the "social network" and reach more people.

That's ham Radio.