But some things are a net loss, i.e. we really were better off without them. Social media, for instance
We really
would be better off if there were unicorns and leprechauns.
I think it's hard to calculate the costs and payoffs of social media. One interesting and not well advertised side-effect of social media is that people forming relationships now, and having children, almost 90% of the time met their partner online. So whereas in the past you were 95% likely to meet and marry within your own immediate cultural milieu ("us"), you are now 95% likely to meet and marry into a group completely divergent from your immediate cultural milieu ("them").
And if you think of a society as a network of connections between "us" and "them," those connections now are far broader, for more inclusive, and far more tolerant as a direct result of social media.
Conversely, in some discrete contexts we express our frustrations more easily, but also more meaninglessly. I, for instance, yell curse words at people very commonly when I am driving. I am much more restrained pushing a shopping cart at the supermarket. The bubble of a car is safe place from which I can rage and yell at f*&ing idiots, but it has no staying power, no lasting effect.
I am selling this idea: That quietly, under the surface, social media is totally remapping and revolutionizing a deep connectedness between individuals, families, and social groups around the world. The tip of the iceberg, the little piece of it we can actually see, is a discrete context--a car-like bubble of safety--where people can express their frustration more easily, but also more meaninglessly.
So I advise against judging the impact of social media based solely on the rage it allows us to express.