What if social media optimized for less time online?
The article explores the hypothetical concept of a social media platform designed to minimize user time spent online, contrasting it with current platforms that prioritize engagement and prolonged usage to maximize advertising revenue.
Background
Tuomas "sbr" Kolli's "Kilta" (the Finnish word for "guild") is a speculative social-media concept that inverts the usual engagement-maximization model. Instead of algorithms designed to keep users scrolling, Kilta would actively push people to spend less time on the platform — for instance by limiting daily access, hiding the feed behind "stove walls," or requiring longer pauses between posts. The essay, shared on Kolli's personal site Tuhat.net, belongs to a broader conversation about "slow social media" and digital minimalism, reacting to growing alarm over attention-hacking, doomscrolling, and the mental-health effects of platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter). Other projects in this space include the invitation-only "Low-Tech Magazine" social site and the community-run "Nostr" protocol, but Kilta is presented here as a deliberately small, even hypothetical thought experiment rather than a ready-made product.