Founder of a social-media-adjacent startup here — 100% agree that monetization model, moreso than funding etc is the core problem.
The decisions for which I am most grateful my co-founders and I have made, from day one, were to 1) have a monetization model that's not reliant on usage and 2) not set goals against usage.
Granted, we're a bit of a peculiar case because of the market we serve (giving parents a screen-free alternative to smartphones and social media for their kids). But personally, my experience here has given me hope that other monetization models _can_ pave the way for non-addictive social products to flourish.
The coolest thing IMO watching kids use an old-school home phone is how quickly they pick up new social skills/etiquette, especially compared to something more distraction-prone like Facetime. Also: the first time they try to plan their own playdate is infallibly hilarious.
Two buddies and I built a private “landline” network for their kids (~9 year olds) and their kids’ friends. We used analog phones and VoIP components, so there’s no screens or anything like that. It’s been cool seeing kids go from begging to use the family iPad after school to running to the home phone to dial their friends.
We ended up turning it into a network others can join[1] after other families started to ask about it. Having over a hundred local families join within a few weeks has given me hope that the next generation isn’t just condemned to live in a social-media-saturated hell, or that smartphones will inevitably be a part of kids’ lives earlier and earlier.
[1] https://tincan.kids/ – Disclosure: it’s not free, but we’ve tried to make it low-cost.