Except even just viewing a post leaves a trace, whether a the service chooses to display view counts or not. The webhost knows how much traffic they're getting, and those numbers help them set rates for advertisers.
They're categorically different media, it's not just a matter of quantity. You could sum up 1000 pictures of bananas with the word "bananas", or you could spend 1000 different words describing nuances and context in just one of those pictures. Something is lost (and something is gained) either way.
Toddler speaking gets impressive/surprising quite fast, whereas the drawing usually does not. The most surprising thing about most toddler drawings is listening to the kid describe it or tell you about making it.
I think the point about productivity is less about people's 'burbs to downtown commute and more about say, the trucking industry. Trucks drive at or near the speed limit for much of their long highway routes, and over those distances, a slight difference in average speed can mean a big difference in arrival time, and throughput of the whole system.
Did you read the article? The first evidence it examines is roadway deaths vs speed limit, and the author concludes "there is little correlation". I'm not saying I agree with the article's conclusions, but it's easier to trust someone who shows some evidence than someone who just suggests that evidence which supports their conclusions exists.
Agreed. I think the distinction being made here is that it is whether it is an "unwanted foreign substance" at all. Some of the prevailing wisdom this article is countering portrays alcohol like vitamins (desirable and beneficial in safe amounts), rather than like high fructose corn syrup (undesirable in any amount but tolerable in small amounts).
If anyone wants to try something less fantasy themed, I strongly recommend hackmud (https://store.steampowered.com/app/469920/hackmud/), in which you play as a recently sapient program in the ruins of a network long devoid of human users. The community is very savvy and have implemented some complex stuff in and out of game, including bridges between all the popular text channels and mirrors of them on Discord (https://discord.gg/h5K5fYuuMj), so you can monitor and even play the game without being logged in (to hackmud, you would still need to be on Discord).
Because they are your public face online and the quickest route to your contacts. It is trivial to do immense reputation damage with access to that. Would you rather go through the hassle of getting money back after you were the victim of bank fraud, or getting respect back after someone posted hardcore porn to all your contacts or used your social media as a vector to spread a scam link?