Before Facebook I recall that chat apps like AIM and MSN messenger were fairly popular. I actually found those useful, and could have fairly meaningful conversations on them. Even if I hadn't seen a person in years, I might have an ongoing and strong online friendship with them. On Facebook, though, this never seemed to happen and many old acquaintances started to feel like complete strangers.

I also recall that things like e-mail from friends was a lot more common. You know the type - you hadn't heard from someone in a few months and they send you a long e-mail just checking in and telling you about their life. And people would respond to you if you sent the same. A few years ago I stopped sending those types of e-mail out because people stopped responding to them. These days, it would be a genuine shock to get a "just checking in" e-mail from friends.

I feel like Facebook has encouraged connections to be vapid and shallow. As a result, I feel like I have far less meaningful connections with friends now than I had a decade ago.

Not sure anybody need care whose "fault" it is; the most empowering viewpoint is to assume it's always your own. (Which optimistically implies that you can change it, since you're the one doing it.) But as for Facebook being a similar timesuck to TV or radio back in the day, it definitely is. The parallels are many, not least of which are similar ubiquity, similar motivations (to show you advertising), and similar gimmicks to keep your attention even when you might otherwise - god forbid - get the idea to go do something else.

It doesn't matter whose fault it is. It isnt the chocolate chip cookies' or ice cream's fault people are fat but that doesn't mean we should treat them like best friends and keep them in the fridge

Next time you use Facebook, pay attention to how much time you spend scrolling past videos or images (including images for link previews). That time is partially Facebook's fault because (instead of just showing every post to every friend) they preferentially show images and videos. They also render short text posts with a larger font, optionally with a big gradient background. The actual information density of a Facebook feed is surprisingly low.