So how often is it the homeless person or person in need or hungry dog or trapped cat, etc... you met on your way to the interview was the interviewer? I read that so much on LinkedIn that I figured it's a recruiting tactic.😅
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Completely quitting social media gets lonely.
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I was walking to the job interview and saw a beggar on the street. I laughed at him and gave him a kick.
When I got to the interview it turned out that the beggar was in fact someone who robbed the company a few days ago. I got the job.
I don't know why I have an account on there either. I haven't updated it in years, and have no plans to, because no one ever looks at it (because why would they).
I wouldn't call LinkedIn "social media" though.
Good thing that the person who hired you wasn't posing as the beggar who was kicked by you! Right?
Perhaps you are correct. I just believe that trying to understand yourself in a public setting is more difficult to attain than in a private setting. The reason for this is that most would not want to expose their shortcomings (the skeletons in the closet) to the public. As such they aren't learning much about themselves, but about others, and mostly superficial stuff.The process of taking the time to formulate a position on a topic, helps you understand yourself and your position, because you are having to organize your feelings to express them, but that’s just my opinion.
Social media for me is staying in touch visually with my friends and family. I hide all political content and the whole concept is really what you make of it. You can hide and show whatever you want. I wouldn’t have reconnected with so many friends if I hadn’t had Facebook and it’s nice to see what they’ve been up to. I don’t post a lot myself anymore and I restrict it to friends only when I do. Considering I live over a hundred miles from where I am originally from, it’s a nice tool to stay in touch for me despite the negatives that may come with it it.
I've been tempted to post my fake version to all those Linkedin also-fake stories, but that would break my "don't post on Linkedin" rule.Good thing that the person who hired you wasn't posing as the beggar who was kicked by you! Right?
Unless exposing the shortcomings(the skeletons in the closet) is all just a part of the "game plan".
It is possible that you might be overestimating "private setting" and underestimating "public setting". Surely it is possible to ask the same question in ten or more different variations in order to make sure that a person is not "faking" confidence or experience.
I can't express how happy I am that I sparked five pages of chats
I doubt the a person in his or right mind is going to expose such things, but maybe it is possible (?). To me it would sound more like the person with the plan is presenting a bait for others to take, in which case he or she is mostly learning about others. Most aren't going to tell the truth about things about their lives that will land them in jail, for example. To learn about oneself one would need guidance from a knowledgeable person, or perhaps to learn the steps for self analyzation. Maybe there are other ways?
I can't express how happy I am that I sparked five pages of chats
You’ll find right at home with some of our other usual suspects.
Yea people just need to control it more. I don't argue with people anymore. Just check it once in a while, rarely comment, and very rarely post. And it disappoints me when people say they are leaving, because they are the few that I actually want to see their posts.
I’ve left Twitter and Facebook. I‘m still on instagram to share photos of the dog with family. I’m also trying some of the alternative: Discord (will probably keep); Lemmy (probably going to give this up in the next week or so); Threads (ditto probably giving it up); Mastodon (jury is out on this one). I have found my usage has dropped to about 5% of what it was freeing up a lot of time for podcasts and audiobooks
- Twitter/X - never going to join
- Facebook - limiting my posting to stuff about music
- Instagram - don't know yet, at this point I'm just on it so that people can tag me in their own posts
- Discord - I like it, and I've confined myself to just a few servers with a nice community of people to talk to. I don't plan on getting rid of it
- Lemmy - never heard of it
- Threads - never going to join
- Mastodon - probably never going to join
1. Twitter/X: Once upon a distant time, it used to be the online equivalent of the town square, the agora, the forum, a public space that allowed for an exchange of views, and allowed one to hear some interesting - unusual, and sometimes, unexpected - perspectives.
Many writers, political people, artists, critics, commentators, have had accounts, and would offer thoughts and observations - or, links to interesting and thought-provoking articles or pieces, often written by yet others - that would not appear in their regular outlets. Anyway, I have found it both interesting and useful, and, at times, very valuable.
While the degradation of the service since the change of ownership last year has been widely written about (I remain convinced that the owner wishes to destroy the platform), leading to many of the individuals whom I followed to abandon the site, some recently mooted changes - such as the removal of the function allowing one to "block" an account - would prove a red line for me.
In other words, I have an account, - and I have had it for a decade - but - looking at the tawdry mess that Twitter has been allowed to become - am increasingly thinking of terminating that account. With considerable regret, for, I have found it useful and valuable.
2. Facebook: Never joined and never going to join.
3. Instagram: Don't know. Not on it, - never joined - not persuaded of any good reason to want to join.
4. Discord: I loathe the format and find it very hard to read - it hurts my eyes; joined and regretted it. Will not return.
5. Lemmy: Never heard of it.
6. Threads: Have heard of it, haven't joined; will wait and see; might serve as a substitute for Twitter, in which case I shall give thought to joining the platform.
7. Mastodon. Have heard of it, haven't joined; will wait and see which of either Mastodon or Threads end up playing the role in the public space that Twitter used to, and will possibly open an account with that platform, then.
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Here's something I was thinking about... how many of you use email for personal communication? I certainly don't—nearly all the emails I send are professionally-minded. I haven't seen email be brought up in this thread (or did I just not see it?), and I think that's another interesting point, because does it count as "social media?" I don't think it does. But what's so special about email compared to other platforms?
I can fully understand that quitting social media can get lonely. I don't blame you for this, I blame everyone else who has become too lazy to interact outside of social media.
I'm still happy that I quit social media, because I have to remind myself – the interactions I had on Facebook etc, they didn't mean anything. They weren't really meaningful.
I'm an introvert so I'm happy having quit. But I can totally understand the struggle if you want a wider range of connections. For close friends, I do use email.
I'm still happy that I quit social media, because I have to remind myself – the interactions I had on Facebook etc, they didn't mean anything. They weren't really meaningful.
I'm an introvert so I'm happy having quit. But I can totally understand the struggle if you want a wider range of connections. For close friends, I do use email.
I do.
Very much so.
I use it for both personal and professional communication.
While my use is mainly professional, I am of the demographic that used to write letters (both personal and professional) by what is quaintly termed "snail mail".
In fact, email is probably my main form of communication.
Very interesting point.
And, while I could live without any of the other platforms discussed, I would struggle without email.
It allows you to write; this is a medium where the written word (rather than memes, or images) is allowed to triumph,
The form allows people who are comfortable expressing themselves in the written word to do just that, and allows for long, thoughtful (articulate) communication, as well as rapid response communication.
Before email, I was one of those people who communicated with distant friends (and was communicated with, in turn) via long letters, the kind of letters that usually took an evening or more to write. Frequently, I typed them - as did my friends, we all came from homes with type-writers to hand, homes where we had been encouraged to use these type-writers, for essays, among other things, (and, in my case, my brother and I were both sent on typing courses by my mother before we started university, and were thus very familiar with them).
Now, there is possibly a proverbial 'chicken and egg' situation to be found, here, in that the people with whom I was (am) friendly, are also the sort who read books, like putting their thoughts on paper, are comfortable with the written word and with expressing themselves through this medium.
Hence, we use email to communicate (and sometimes, still write at length, such as, when discussing books, or politics, or history), and, of course, nowadays, we also use phones.
Agree completely.
I understand what you are saying.
However, I will make the observation that social media must have been (at least, I found it so) very useful during the pandemic when many, if not most, personal (and face-to-face) relationships were - of necessity - curtailed.
As do I.
Of course that’s not social media. There are no kindergarten rewards, no likes, no bubbles, no reposting, no algorithm trying to hook you up with more nonsense but just an open communication format that typically lends itself to transport the written word.
You could of course use email to send super short messages but that’s probably more effective on X given the typical low attention span people attribute to these bits.
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Speaking of snail mail, in the past I used an app called "Slowly", which can be considered social media I guess. You, essentially, write messages that you can send to recipients all over the world. The time it takes for a message to be delivered depends on the distance between the sender and the recipient. I got bored with it eventually, but I made some friends abroad that I am still in touch with. It has some fun elements, like collecting stamps etc. I think the app/platform is Chinese, for those that are mindful of that sort of thing.
On occasion. I use iMessage more for personal communication if I’m honest. I wouldn’t consider that social media.
It also has one very useful feature that spoken/live communication doesn't: the Backspace key. Can't count the number of times I spoke before thinking things thru, and wish I hadn't said that. Emails give me a chance to step back and make sure I hadn't said anything I'll wish I hadn't.
And I've learned that if its an email about something I'm angry about, to send it the next day, after sleeping on it.
😉
Yes, iMessage works well for communicating with family and friends. Most contractors I know in Fairbanks, Alaska use iPhones for communicating with their clients, and often use iMessage to give me a heads up when they are arriving to do work in my house, or the yard, driveways, and so on. But it seems that WhatsApp is more efficient than iMessage in relation to transmission speed and things like that (texting a photo, for example, is quite fast), regardless of cellphone type, and it can be used to make international calls. Maybe I don't know enough about iMessage?
About email: it use it quite often. It is an efficient way to communicate with family and friends, plus work settings at a professional or just business level. But I don't consider these mediums "social media."
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