Four Reasons to Avoid Social Networking

Leave Me Alone - The Anti-Social MediaSometimes, you just need to stay the hell away from social networks. You’ve got better things to do than spend your whole life looking at cat photos.

Well maybe I don’t, but you do.

Here are four excuses to stay as far away from social networks as possible.

  1. You have a life. So maybe everyone else is burning their life away having all the fun in the world on LinkedIn. That’s ok. You can actually apply for jobs, rather than pretend to apply for them.
  2. You have a job. We all need a paycheck to survive. It’s not that hard to give up Facebook for 8 hours a day, unless your job is to be on Facebook. Then you’re ruined.
  3. You have things to do. The only people who ever accomplish anything on social networks are the ones who are paid to accomplish things on social networks. And I don’t see you bringing home that big social media paycheck yet.
  4. You’ve got the rest of the internet. There really is an entire internet that has nothing to do with social networks. Most of it is porn, but apparently there’s some other good stuff in there too. Just watch out for the porn.

Don’t you feel better already, giving yourself excuses to stay the hell away from your friends, “friends,” family, and everyone who desperately wants the weakest of connections with you? I know I do! What are your reasons for avoiding social networks?

Tags: ,

11 Responses to “Four Reasons to Avoid Social Networking”

  1. Loig November 14, 2011 at 8:36 am #

    Oh boy….. spoken right out of my heart! I can’t think of any other good reason. Keep up the good work!

    • Jay November 14, 2011 at 11:45 pm #

      I’m just here to help.

  2. Camilo Olea November 14, 2011 at 11:13 am #

    According to point # 2, apparently I’m ruined. Thanks Jay!

    Also: Porn has always been the driving force between technology innovations, basically.

    • Jay November 14, 2011 at 11:45 pm #

      I’m ruined too.

  3. PJ November 14, 2011 at 11:14 am #

    I sometimes have to just take a break from the annoyance of it. Such as endless FourSquare check-ins and stupid games like “let’s post our bra color on Facebook to raise awareness for breast cancer, but don’t tell the men”. Or updates from friends who are brilliant professionals but who have no common sense (i.e. OMG my child has a 105 fever, what should I do, woe is me).

    • Jay November 14, 2011 at 11:45 pm #

      That reminds me, I need to post my bra color.

  4. Ellu November 15, 2011 at 7:23 am #

    Thanks, sometimes it’s good to remind that life still goes on if one hasn’t logged on for a while. Living on the otherside of the world from my family - it sometimes feels like I have to be online for them so they can keep an eye on me.

    A big reason for me is:
    (If) You have kids. Spend time with them. They will learn much more from the example, so why not go outside or even just sit down and have a proper one-on-one time with them. Stop giving advice to them over the social network so everyone can read how poor the upbringing has been.

  5. Chris Jean December 1, 2011 at 1:09 am #

    Great post- I Completely agree people are way to attached to their social profiles. I mean all you hear about now is social networking. Whatever happen to the rest of the internet.

  6. Toaden December 4, 2011 at 3:25 pm #

    Well if you stay away from social networks you might have a reason to want to go to High School Reunions

  7. Paper Bag Writer December 9, 2011 at 12:16 am #

    #1 and #3 apply to me. Not #2, well not yet anyway (damn this dumbed-down digital economy that basically $h!ts all over us intellectual liberal arts majors), and I couldn’t care less about #4. Most of my day is spent either outside doing yard work, indoors reading books (real ones, and not the infernal Kindle, which I will never own), or doing other, non-computer activities.

    Ironically, the one thing that’s suffered is, in fact, my personal relationships, but I just chalk it off to those people really need to learn some social skills if they can’t pick up the damn phone to contact me and have to use apps or Twitter or Facebook or e-mail. Not a “smart” phone either, but a land line. I don’t even own a cellular phone and have no intent of ever buying one. I don’t come across as abrasive as this comment to my real-life acquaintances, but I like to think I do have a snarky sense of humor, a wide variety of opinions, and a rather blunt way of expressing them that doesn’t sugarcoat and is not PC (politically correct, not the yin to Mac yang) at all.

    But I must be a dying breed, because it seems every job I apply for the potential manager wants to see that I’ve got technical savvy, and the fact that I don’t have an e-mail address to put on my cover letter or resume is apparently a turn-off. I know very well how to use the Internet. I just don’t care to bother. 99% of it is all bollocks anyway, but the way of the world today seems to be never mind the bollocks, here’s the billionaire brain-farts of Silicon Valley.

  8. annasofia January 31, 2012 at 3:52 pm #

    Thank you!! I just linked to your great blog as after all these years filled with social media I started to wonder WHAT AM I DOING spending all my evenings (and the boyfriend too) in Facebook watching those cat photos - sometimes videos too. Anyway, I guess my crisis is just about to start so maybe eventually it will lead me to a social media-free life - or maybe it’s just wishful thinking…

Leave a Reply