What Is The Point Of Social Media?

[Frogfucius]

I’ve tried Facebook before, but got very bored. I realized that I don’t care to share with people any of my musings or pictures, and I don’t care to look at other people’s musings or pictures. I only added a few of my friends before getting tired of it and deleting the account. Now I see that social media is expansive! Instagram, Snapchat, Google+, and so on.

I’m looked at sideways by my friends and family when I tell them I don’t have Facebook. They see me as some kind of loner freak. I just tell them I’m not interested in it. But they assume I don’t have any other friends, or that there's something wrong with me.

I’ve tried to get into this kind of thing, but I just can’t. I used to feel like there really was something wrong with me, because I prefer to stay anonymous, instead of creating some identity of myself on the digital world. It’s enough my real self is an illusion, but then that illusion wants to create an even bigger one?

I’m sorry for projecting. But in a world where more and more people are involved in a wide array of social media outlets, I can’t help but feel like an odd creature compared to my peers when I choose not to indulge...

[AxelK]

Social media has some platonic uses, be it news or catching up with friends. You can also use it to gather information on certain topics, for example if you follow scientists in a special field on twitter. Though, on a deeper level, it's mostly a waste of time. It's easily addictive and doesnt contribute in anyway in terms of personal development. I quit facebook a year ago and haven't looked back. It's been one of my better decisions in the last year.

[aurum]

Social media is a tool. If it fits your goals, use it. If it doesn't, don't.

Deep Work by Cal Newport gives a detailed and nuanced explanation on this.

I like social media, but not because I "use it" as a consumer. It's a business asset. Instagram is the number one driver of traffic to my blog. Easily the best marketing and sales tool I have.

As a consumer, no way. I have no idea why people use it except that it obviously seems pretty addicting.

[AxelK]

1 minute ago, aurum said:

Social media is a tool. If it fits your goals, use it. If it doesn't, don't.

Deep Work by Cal Newport gives a detailed and nuanced explanation on this.

I like social media, but not because I "use it" as a consumer. It's a business asset. Instagram is the number one driver of traffic to my blog. Easily the best marketing and sales tool I have.

As a consumer, no way. I have no idea why people use it except that it obviously seems pretty addicting.

Yep. This is how i see it as well. Nothing inherently bad with it, as long as YOU use it, and IT doesn't use YOU. Also, for many it's an extreme ego circlejerk in forms of "likes" etc.

[rush]

You can always use sites such as Linkedin for career info/ as a business asset.

[aurum]

7 minutes ago, AxelK said:

Yep. This is how i see it as well. Nothing inherently bad with it, as long as YOU use it, and IT doesn't use YOU. Also, for many it's an extreme ego circlejerk in forms of "likes" etc.

For sure. Not that real life is much different

@Frogfuciusone more thing, if people are giving you shit for this, they probably sense you're defensive about it. You can get away with so much social anarchy just by being unapologetic, it's hilarious when you see this glitch.

[Frogfucius]

@aurum Haha, you're right about that. I never really saw myself as a social anarchist - but that's pretty much how I've always behaved. I never saw the point in conventional norms. Guess I should embrace it, and quit trying to fight it or understand it.

[Alphard]

The purpose of social media is to make Mark Zuckerberg a lot of money.

[Leo Gura]

@Alphard Amen!

Social media is like consciousness' worst nightmare.

[Extreme Z7]

@Leo Gura It can vary depending on the stuff you follow and what pops up in your feed. For example, I follow a lot of hobbyist cartoonists and entertainers on Twitter because I dream of becoming a cartoonist myself and I've had fun seeing other people's work so far without being too distracted by it. Even then, I still don't spend a lot of time in it.

Facebook seems to be a real chimp stadium, though. Unlike Twitter, you're given content shared by people on your friends list giving you less control over the content on your feed. I mainly go there to share my drawings with my relatives, not to consume content.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Extreme Z7

[narwhal]

Facebook is awsome tool. I wanted to delete it but i couldn't becouse i use it for work and school alot. But i did install "Kill news feed" plugin for chrome which basicly removes your news feed. No more brainwashing. It's funny becouse of the habbit i used to have scrolling facebook news feed, now when i click home i just see blank page. 

[Markus]

5 hours ago, narwhal said:

Facebook is awsome tool. I wanted to delete it but i couldn't becouse i use it for work and school alot. But i did install "Kill news feed" plugin for chrome which basicly removes your news feed. No more brainwashing. It's funny becouse of the habbit i used to have scrolling facebook news feed, now when i click home i just see blank page. 

Thanks for this !!!

[StarfoxEpiphany]

It's a great way to contact people, especially for internationals.  In some countries, its the primary mode of communication for business and networking.

Its important to spend some time (not too much) building up an attractive account in such a case.

Edited November 6, 2016 by StarfoxEpiphany

[Bizarre]

I don't know, but from where I'm standing social media looks like another distraction from facing anything real (for the most part), mainly because most people don't know that there is any other way to live life.  It's a very sad situation.

[Xpansion]

Social media cultivates narcissism.  They have done research on it and found the more people use it the more narcissistic they are. It's all about fabricating a certain image of your self and most of the time that image is bullshit.  Look at me, look how happy, gorgeous, popular and successful I am. Meanwhile back in the real world they are probably miserable and lonely.

[MIARIVEL]

@Frogfucius As someone mentioned before it is a tool. For me social media is a business tool and it works for me. If I didn't have my own business, I probably wouldn't be bothered with it, as I see it as a waste of time. 

All well and good to see what everyone else is up to every now and then and its a great way to stay in touch with others from overseas (if you have friends or family overseas). Another reason I would use it is because I like photography so seeing beautiful pictures is inspiring to me. 

I think many people do not know how to spend their time, they have no structure or goals with what they want out of life, hence why they go on social media to kill time and see what everyone else is doing. You will notice how most people like to project their life and usually, it is not all what you see on social media. People like to project an image of themselves and their life - that makes them feel good.

Each to their own I guess. It all depends if it serves a purpose for you or not and there is no need to feel like the odd one out if you do not use social media. Just because everyone is doing it and everyone says your weird for not being on it, you can tell them you have other important things to do then waste time on social media. 

[CuteCornDog]

On 11/3/2016 at 3:59 AM, Leo Gura said:

@Alphard Amen!

Social media is like consciousness' worst nightmare.

Forums like this are way better than Social Media I think.

I remember the internet before Myspace was around.