Remember when Facebook was mostly vacation pictures, birthday reminders and your aunt posting “AMEN” under a photo of a bald eagle?

Those were simpler times.

Now Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, is facing a massive legal battle involving U.S. states that allege its social media platforms use features that can be harmful to children and teens.

And while the eye-popping dollar figures surrounding the litigation get plenty of attention, the potentially bigger story is what could happen to social media itself.

If the legal challenges succeed, some very familiar features could eventually be targeted or changed.

1. Goodbye, Infinite Scroll?

You know how you open Instagram to check ONE thing and suddenly 47 minutes have disappeared?

Infinite scrolling and autoplay are designed to keep content coming without requiring you to make another choice.

Restrictions on those features could mean feeds actually have an END.

Imagine that.

“You’ve seen everything. Please go outside.”

2. Could the “Like” Button Disappear?

Another potential target is social validation metrics, including visible like counts.

For younger users especially, critics argue that chasing likes, views and reactions can turn social media into a giant popularity scoreboard.

Without likes, though, how will your cousin know whether the picture of his smoked brisket is receiving adequate validation?

3. Chronological Feeds Could Make a Comeback

Remember when your social media feed showed you what people posted in the order they posted it?

What a concept.

Restrictions on recommendation algorithms could potentially push platforms toward giving users more control over what appears in their feeds.

Instead of an algorithm deciding what will keep you staring at your phone, you might actually see the people you chose to follow.

4. Fewer Notifications

“Someone posted.”

“Someone went live.”

“Someone you haven't spoken to since high school added to their story.”

“COME BACK. WE MISS YOUR EYEBALLS.”

Another focus could be cutting down on excessive push notifications designed to repeatedly bring users back into an app.

5. The “Finsta” Could Get Tougher

A “finsta” is essentially a secondary or burner Instagram account, often used by teens to post things away from parents or their main group of followers.

Stricter age and parental verification requirements could make maintaining multiple secret accounts more difficult for younger users.

Could Social Media Actually Become… Less Addictive?

None of this means you should expect to wake up tomorrow to find the Like button missing and Instagram politely telling you to go mow the lawn.

Major lawsuits can take years, and exactly what changes could result remains uncertain.

But the case is part of a much bigger debate over how social media companies design products for children and teenagers.

And if some of these changes ever happen, we could eventually get something many of us haven't seen in years:

A social media feed that actually ends.

Then we'll have to figure out what to do with our thumbs.