This article examines seven dimensions through which social media platforms are fundamentally reshaping human cognition, relationships, and society. Drawing on attention economics research, neuroscience of dopamine reward systems, adolescent brain development studies, and sociological data on family and community fragmentation, the article documents how platforms engineered for maximum engagement time are producing measurable changes in attention span, emotional regulation, relational quality, political discourse, body image, and the capacity for solitude. India-specific data on digital addiction prevalence is examined alongside global research. The article traces the architectural decisions — infinite scroll, variable reward notification timing, social comparison metrics — that make these platforms structurally addictive rather than incidentally so. The Vedic concept of Satsang — the quality of genuine human presence and nourishing company — is presented as the philosophical framework for what social media systematically replaces without providing.
Narayan Rout (Wed,) studied this question.