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Ask Slashdot: Living Without Social Media In 2015?

Posted by timothy on from the you're-clearly-living-in-throwback-thursday dept.

An anonymous reader writes On Slashdot, we frequently write derogatory comments regarding social networking sites. We bash Facebook and the privacy implications associated with having a great deal of your life put out there for corporations to monetize. Others advocate for deleting your Facebook profile. Six months ago, I did exactly that. However, as time went on, I have fully realized social media's tacit importance to function in today's world, especially if you are busy advancing your career and making the proper connections to do so. Employers expect a LinkedIn profile that they can check and people you are meeting expect a Facebook account. I have heard that not having an account on the almighty Facebook could label you as a suspicious person. I have had employers express hesitation in hiring me (they used the term "uncomfortable") and graduate school interviewers have asked prying questions regarding some things that would normally be on a person's social media page. Others have literally recoiled in horror at the idea of someone not being on Facebook. I have found it quite difficult to even maintain a proper social life without a social media account to keep up to date with any sort of social activities (even though most of them are admittedly quite mundane). Is living without social media possible in 2015? Does social media have so much momentum that the only course of action is simply to sign up for such services to maintain normality despite the vast privacy issues associated with such sites? Have we forgotten how to function without Facebook?

15 of 394 comments (clear)

  1. Oh this is easy .... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Funny

    Just be an old codger like anyone with a 5 digit UID. They don't expect that much of us. If we can handle email then we're doing better than our elected representatives.

    And, if you don't mind, off the lawn.

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    1. Re:Oh this is easy .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I swear I'm the only person in my subdivision who isn't talking on the phone while walking my dog.

      That's a friendly neighborhood to all be willing to walk your dog...even if they do talk on the phone while they're at it.

    2. Re:Oh this is easy .... by Frederic54 · · Score: 5, Funny

      LOL 5 digits :)

      --
      "Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking
    3. Re:Oh this is easy .... by Marginal+Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      I swear I'm the only person in my subdivision who isn't talking on the phone while walking my dog.

      Likewise, if you haven't bought a phone for your dog yet, I'm afraid I'll have to report you to the ASPCA.

    4. Re:Oh this is easy .... by Marginal+Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Careful with that talk about the six-fingered among us being mutants. You might hurt my cat's feelings: she's polydactyl.

    5. Re:Oh this is easy .... by meglon · · Score: 4, Funny

      'Ello, My name is Inigo Montoya, I may be looking for you....

      --
      Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
    6. Re:Oh this is easy .... by MoOsEb0y · · Score: 5, Funny

      lol 3000s

    7. Re:Oh this is easy .... by chipschap · · Score: 3, Funny

      I don't have any of that junk either ... but I'm also an old codger who thinks email is modern and up-to-date, and since I play on chess.com I think I'm an advanced internet user :) I don't bother with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, SnapChat, or any of the others. I sometimes wonder why I bother with /. for that matter.

      But hey, I run Linux and I use Emacs org-mode, so I'm hip, right?

    8. Re:Oh this is easy .... by YuppieScum · · Score: 4, Funny

      Missed 3 by twenty minutes... bloody meetings.

      Oh, and fuck FaceBook.

      --
      This sig left unintentionally blank.
    9. Re:Oh this is easy .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Oh, you numbered people... I'm like a ghost!

      Living without a Facebook account? I live without a Slashdot account!

    10. Re:Oh this is easy .... by Larryish · · Score: 4, Funny

      No. vi would be hip.

    11. Re:Oh this is easy .... by Altrag · · Score: 4, Funny

      I *am* antisocial.

      Interactions are face to face

      You're doing it wrong.

      or not at all.

      That's the ticket!

      I have a phone. Almost never use it for calling people and rarely get calls on it either. I use it more as a glorified GPS+music player+reminder pad+internet browser+basically everything else a modern phone can do except actually be on the phone.

      Honestly, I couldn't live without the thing anymore. Its just so damned convenient for everything. Being able to receive phone calls is almost a detriment to an otherwise amazingly useful tool.

      That said.. if you want to talk to me, I'd much rather you send me a text message. I hate when people just drop by out of the blue. I hate when people call out of the blue. If you want to do lunch, text me a time and I'll get back to you when I can. The only acceptable reason for a call rather than a text is if you want to do lunch in the next 10 minutes and "when I can" may not be a reasonable response time.

  2. Re:Very simple answer by shadowrat · · Score: 5, Funny

    Whenever someone asks why you don't have a social media account, all you need to tell them is:

    I'm not a narcissist.

    You don't believe your life is anyone else's business, no need to show them pictures of your latest adventure, no need for gratification from the unwashed masses. You are who you are.

    ah yes. It's a classic page right out of "how to win friends and influence people". Impress them with your smug sense of superiority!

  3. Re:Take Me As I Am by HornWumpus · · Score: 3, Funny

    I don't work for narcissists, so we're both good.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  4. Re:Ask Slashdot: Is Slashdot Social Media? by grimmjeeper · · Score: 4, Funny

    So it's sorta social, demented and sad, but social.