I understand that logic, but "being the product" must not really be that bad for them. They might complain, but if it was truly distasteful, they'd do something about it.

And being exploited for profit and explicitly knowing it is about the saddest thing I can think of for my fellow humans. It's no wonder the billionaires just take and take, because people let them.

One may as well have said the same things about cigarettes up through the 1960s. Sometimes we do things against our best interests. Sometimes it's really, really bad for us. Sometimes it's painful and deadly.

Humans aren't rational creatures.

Exactly. I'm not trying to victim blame here, but I do want to point out that you can leave social media and still have a social life. It takes a lot of effort, but it can be done a little at a time.

For example, tell people you don't check Messenger or WhatsApp or whatever very often, but you do check Matrix or Signal or whatever a lot more. If they ask, tell them why you prefer the other platform (e.g. less SM noise), and if they try it out, reward them by being super active on it. If you get enough people on it, try organizing your own events or whatever and communicate about it on your preferred platform as a sort of reverse network effect.

My SO is still on Instagram and sends me links occasionally, but neither of us use Facebook or WhatsApp (granted, WhatsApp isn't very popular here in the US).