So if social media is subjecting us to pain and making us feel removed and anxious, as said model Essena O'Neill this week when she quit her "deluded" social media life, why come back from a social media sabbatical at all? Why not leave online social networking altogether?
Kate Winslet is the latest celebrity to voice her social media concerns and advocate leaving one's social networks. Days ago she revealed she doesn't allow social media in her house, particularly because the images on social networks effect girls' self-esteem and lead to eating disorders. Those of you who've seen Instagram posts about the "thigh gap", for example, will understand exactly why Winslet is so concerned.
The presence of social media has added a lot of value to the 21st century. It has enabled us to reconnect with old friends, keep in touch with those separated from us by great distance, stay up-to-the-minute with news, share our lives with those we care about in an easy and accessible manner, and embark on civic exchange.
But those benefits have come with an incredible price. It gives us a false sense of connection through passive interactions with others. It decreases productivity. It promotes a dishonest and contrived sense of beauty. It's a haven for lies, unverified and harmful rumours, and some of the most "uncivil" of exchanges mankind is capable of.
In fact, social media has made bullying so easy and even acceptable, it's no longer just something from the schoolyard. It's something grown adults now participate in as well.
Perhaps most worryingly, social media has robbed us of the ability to live private lives. This has nothing to do with "spying" by organisations or governments, however, but amongst our peers.
Winslet made a salient point when her 15-year-old daughter asked to join Instagram. She urged her to keep photos as private memories: "The second you share that memory, that's not your memory any more. You've given it away," she advised.
Winslet's advice is pertinent to the anti-social media debate. Once you share a photo, a thought, or an idea, it's not yours anymore. You've relinquished it to the world, and this world will judge you on it.
Such judgement is the reason people like Azalea stayed away from social media for so long. She told Seventeen magazine in September, "It's hard to be a woman in 2015 with social media. There's so much more emphasis on taking pictures of ourselves and the 'likes' or people commenting on them. There's a lot more pressure to look beautiful."
Men, too, experience that same pressure on creating "like-bait": Social media obliges men to show off their abs, their clean eating regimens, and even every new pair of sneakers they buy.
Some argue this behaviour - particularly the posting of body photos by both men and women - is encouraging for healthful living. While there may be some truth in that, the pressure that "thinspiration" placed upon those who (metaphorically and literally) kill themselves trying to achieve something seen online creates more societal harm than it does individual benefit.
Worrying about what others think of us is a pressure nobody needs. Social media today has become a sty for vapidity and envy; a measure by which we can compare ourselves to not just our so-called-friends but complete strangers, and do our best to compete with (or outdo) them.
We also don't need the anxiety of being required to record and promote our lives, because it takes so much away from actually living them. There's something really wonderful about having original, witty, poignant thoughts and experiences and not going straight to your status bar to share them.
Social media has changed our world, for better and for worse. It still has value, and certainly isn't going anywhere.
But Azalea is right: It remains an ugly reflection of mankind in many respects. For a medium that is purportedly all about beauty and sharing the good things in life, this is a contradiction we should all be more wary of.
