The Likes and Share buttons on social media fundamentallt changed the way we share content online. The history of the world since the 2010's is interwined with social media, driving social movements and changing the political landscape in multiple countries. But why is social media so powerful? The answer comes down to two important technical innovations:  the Likes and Share Buttons.  While these features shaped platforms in many powerful ways, they've also contributed to the way the social media experience has been ruined for many users.    Why the Like and Share buttons are so powerful-the first social media website was SIX DEGREES.COM, which was launched in 1997. Other early sites included MYSPACE and FRIENDSTER. Facebook and Twitter followed soon after on 2004 and 2oo5 respectively. In those early years, people used social media as a sort of digital photo albums and a place to keep up with what family and friends were doing. Social media was generally a nice and friendly place where most people were on their best behavior, just like in the physical world.   But in 2009, everything changed. Facebook introduced the Like button and Twitter introduced the retweet button, changing the way we give feedback to and share content. Facebook later copied Twitter's retweet button with its own share button. In just a few years, all social media platforms also had their own like and share buttons. These two buttons gave users the power to decide which post gained wide public exposure by liking and sharing it, a phenominum we came to know as 'Going Viral'. According to Social Psychologist Jonathan Haidt, writing in the Atlantic, "Something went terribly wrong, very suddenly". Authentic and meaningful connection no longer mattered. This made our lives "uniquely stupid", writes Haidt, as social media became a dystopian space where authentic interactions designed to attract the most likes, the most retweets, and the most shares.   How the likes and share buttons ruined social media- Because going viral on social media has become so important, it has brought out the worst in us.               Here are the ways the likes and share buttons ruined social media, drove us apart, and changed the world...  #1.  The volume of noise and outrage has gone up. When the share buttons showed up, the process of spreading posts became easy and nearly instantaneous. As a consequence, users started sharing more on the basis of emotion and impulse without thinking about what they were sharing. And what they were sharing the most is what angered them the most. This caused outrage and disinformation to constantly go viral on both Twitter and Facebook, drowning out everything else. As a result, the press, polititions, and many users and content sites started to tailor their posts to spark outrage in hopes of being shared or retweeted.   #2.  The level of trust has gone down-although social media use increases the participation of citizens in the national conversation, it also increases political polarization  and decreases trust in each other and institutions.   #3.  Common truths have been replaced by conspiracies-As the saying goes;  "A lie travels halfway around the world before  the truth has put its boot on."   Well, it has never been more true.  According to a paper published in Science, a lie on Twitter can reach up to 100,000 people before the truth has reached only 1,000 people. Social media has a powerful impact in spreading conspiracies among individuals and groups that "are attracted to, or otherwise predisposed to accepting, such ideas".   #4.  A minority has gained too much power-Social media empowers trolls while silencing normal users. According to a 2018 report called Hidden Tribes:  A study of America's polarized landscape:  Social media doesn't make people more aggressive, rather it enables a few hyper-aggressive people to dominate discussions, and turns off the non-aggressive people.    #5.  Mental health of teens is negatively affected-according to The Wallstreet Journal, Facebook's internal research shows that Instagram has a negative impact on the mental health of teen girls.  However, Facebook has downplayed this.  "We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls," says an internal Facebook document seen by the newspaper.  "Thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse."  Among users who reported suicidal thoughts, 13% in the UK and 6% in the US trased them back to Instagram, according to the same report. According to the Mayo Clinic, greater social media use by teens is linked with worse sleep quality and higher levels of anxiety and depression. Like buttons contribute to this as chasing validation online is one of the ways social media makes us sad. - How can we fix social media and fix society?  Without a doubt, the like, retweet, and share buttons have demonstrated their power to alter our social and political realities. They will go down in hostory amongst the most consequential technical innovations of all time. Unfortunitely they have also shown that a retweet by an influential person could cause a cascade of events that may well lead to devastating consequences or rising divisions.  Big tech has a responsibility to pro-actively regulate their platforms in order to avoid government intervention, which could lead to unwarranted censorship. However, if they fail to do so, regulators will have no choice but to step in.