Do you find it sketchy if someone doesn't have social media or barely uses it?

[PhoSita]

Unless they're over the age of 40 it probably means they just won't tell you what their actual social media profile is.

Huh?

So are you implying that everyone under 40 has a social media account, the people who say they don't are just lying about it?

Pretty much.

[Neurotic Guy]

Society considers social media to be the norm now, so for someone to actively avoid participating in it, they either are so successful and busy that they don't care for social media, or they don't have anything to post/brag about on it.

Not that I'm that active of a poster, but I'm thinking about taking a year off of social media and maybe making it part of my 2016 resolution campaign.

I wouldn't describe myself as too busy (note time on cblog) but i do not do facebook, Twitter, linked in, or anything else that would be considered social media.  Except for Cblog.

To be honest, i don't really understand what twitter is. What does hashtag mean?The other day at a conference someone said something about "tagging" on facebook.  I dont know what that is.  I dont know what snap chat is.  And i am sure there are many other social media things i don't know anything about.  Sometomes my daughters try to explain things to me and i either dont fully understand or the concept doesnt sound very interesting to me. 

I am Sketchy.

A hashtag aggregates every post with that same hashtag attached.  So if I wanted to see what people worldwide were Tweeting about, say, the Republican primaries, I can just search for #gopprimary or whatever the tag is.  Imagine if CB was 100x the size it is now - it'd be hard to find anything, but if you could just look up #Smart and find every thread that was related to Smart it'd make sorting through the clutter a lot easier.  It's a carryover from the old IRC channels where people would look for the channels on the topics or groups they wanted to talk about.

Tagging on Facebook is just linking posts or pictures to the profiles of people or groups that are in the pic or that might be interested in the post.  It's just an easy way of getting those people's attention, giving them credit, etc.

Thanks!!   I still am "sketchy" on the tagging, but your hashtag description helps a lot -- especially the idea of sorting given the volume.   I think I need to see it in action to completely get it. 

Truth is, there is much about social media that is just too fast for me (not claiming ignorance here, just style).    I really like Cblog because it seems that there are hundreds of Cbloggers ready to get the info out to pokier folks like me who are fine with waiting.   I am in my 50's (upper ones), and I definitely know contemporaries of mine who are all in on every latest thing -- so it's not completely an age thing -- however, there has got to be somewhat of an age connection.  People my age can remember waiting for the morning paper to arrive to get yesterday's news -- and we thought it was pretty great to be so quickly informed.   

You all know the old-guy story -- 3 TV channels and news sign-off at 11:30.  The worst was NO Celtics news for months during the off-season.    It's WAY better now, but things change so quickly it's hard to keep track.  After I figured out WORD, e-mail and google, everything else has been pretty superfluous.

[LarBrd33]

I do think that generally when I hear someone doesn't have a facebook feed and they are in their 20s/30s, I find it pretty strange.  Makes me think they are trying to hide something.

See, I don't get that at all. 

Just because someone doesn't want to tell the whole world everything they are doing, that means they are shady and trying to hide something?

I've had friends who have disconnected themselves from social media for years just because they felt it was becoming a distraction to their lives.

I've had other friends who have disconnected themselves because their are so many issues with scamming and identity thief that they would prefer to keep their personal lives private.

I've had other friends who never gone on there because quite simply, they just didn't care.  They have a handful of close friends and family whom they care about, and if they want to communicate with those people they do so via phone calls or text messages. 

Can't for the life of my understand why social medial is so 'important' these days that anybody who doesn't have it would be considered weird or shifty.  That genuinely makes zero sense to me., and just shows what a sad, sad state this world is in.

My cousin deletes his facebook feed every other month, but it's usually because he's strung out on drugs and paranoid about the feds... or he's cheating on his girlfriend and doesn't want her to find out.

I know a girl who deletes her facebook feed every other month, because she's bipolar and sometimes it gives her anxiety.  She's one of those girls who over-shares about how emotional her day has been.  I think sometimes she gets embarrassed and deletes her account for a month. 

I know a guy (also bipolar) who deletes his facebook page every once in a while for attention... so he can post, "giving up facebook" and watch as people say "nOooOo don't go... we'll miss you..." and later post, "I'm back!" so his friends with like his post and say, "yaaaayy we missed you!". 

I know another girl who deleted hers permanently, because her ex was "stalking her"... but seems to me she just had a poor understanding of Facebook's security and privacy controls. 

I'm sure there's perfectly reasonable reasons for not wanting a facebook feed... I'm just telling you that when I hear someone doesn't have a facebook profile and they are in their 20s/30s, it makes me think something is up with them.  I'm not saying you have to be a conformist and have one because everyone else does... I'm just saying that to me it's akin to not having a cell phone.  Unless you're full-on hippie subculture or something, it seems a bit weird to me.   Immediate reactions would be, "Ok this dude probably has a double life he doesn't want mixing" or "ok, this dude is an anti-social" or "ok, this dude is super paranoid" or "ok, this dude isn't totally happy with how his life turned out and would rather just avoid social media entirely" or "ok this dude probably gained 150 pounds since high school and doesn't want to run the risk of someone tagging him in a photo"...   WHile there's probably tons of plausible reasons not to have one, that's my immediate reaction when I hear someone doesn't have a facebook profile. 

Like i said on the previous page... when I was meeting a lot of girls via sites like match.com, I wouldn't bother meeting them in person if they didn't have a facebook page.  That screamed "drama" to me.

[Neurotic Guy]

Society considers social media to be the norm now, so for someone to actively avoid participating in it, they either are so successful and busy that they don't care for social media, or they don't have anything to post/brag about on it.

Not that I'm that active of a poster, but I'm thinking about taking a year off of social media and maybe making it part of my 2016 resolution campaign.

Rarely use it. Was a senior exec for a long time until I retired and had to limit access and that certainly affects my attitude toward social media. I'm very private, so I follow family members that use it and and a few close friends and some non-profits I help. Some people use it to a fault, especially teens and young adults although I'm sure it helps people find dates which is better than the meat markets I use to frequent as a single.

You have to be very careful about what you post too if you're interested in working to support yourself and family. OTOH, something like Linked-In is pretty necessary.

i'm self-employed -- a consultant -- and I do fine without Linked-in, but I have a hunch this is something I should learn about.  I'm resistant because I have a rudimentary understanding of facebook and I don't particularly see it for me -- and I think Linked-in is the same idea but for business.  You said "pretty necessary" and I am curious what brought you to that conclusion.

[Surferdad]

Society considers social media to be the norm now, so for someone to actively avoid participating in it, they either are so successful and busy that they don't care for social media, or they don't have anything to post/brag about on it.

Not that I'm that active of a poster, but I'm thinking about taking a year off of social media and maybe making it part of my 2016 resolution campaign.

Rarely use it. Was a senior exec for a long time until I retired and had to limit access and that certainly affects my attitude toward social media. I'm very private, so I follow family members that use it and and a few close friends and some non-profits I help. Some people use it to a fault, especially teens and young adults although I'm sure it helps people find dates which is better than the meat markets I use to frequent as a single.

You have to be very careful about what you post too if you're interested in working to support yourself and family. OTOH, something like Linked-In is pretty necessary.

i'm self-employed -- a consultant -- and I do fine without Linked-in, but I have a hunch this is something I should learn about.  I'm resistant because I have a rudimentary understanding of facebook and I don't particularly see it for me -- and I think Linked-in is the same idea but for business.  You said "pretty necessary" and I am curious what brought you to that conclusion.

The thing with LinkedIn is that there is no downside to using it, just another tool to advertise your business or professional capabilities. It also has discussion groups and other means to show yourself as involved and up-to-date on your professional field. When I was job-hunting about six months ago, is was essential.

I can certainly understand the hesitation if you are a private person. My wife and I are EXTREMELY careful about the personal information we put on Facebook and LinkedIn. Just use common sense, for example, don't put telephone numbers, addresses or birthdays.

Regarding the OP term "sketchy", I think that is an extreme term. I think "out of touch with modern trends of communication" is more like it.

[RockinRyA]

I only have facebook. (wait, does CB and reddit counts?  ) I dont condone active fb posters and I wont say Im better than them. Now if you take social media too seriously thats a problem, like when every single thought or event that happens you share. But funny posts or useful info, or several post a day, I dont mind them. Its because of Social Media that I know my cousin in the US loves the same games I do, or that my long time friend who migrated several years ago came out of the closet etc

[colincb]

Society considers social media to be the norm now, so for someone to actively avoid participating in it, they either are so successful and busy that they don't care for social media, or they don't have anything to post/brag about on it.

Not that I'm that active of a poster, but I'm thinking about taking a year off of social media and maybe making it part of my 2016 resolution campaign.

Rarely use it. Was a senior exec for a long time until I retired and had to limit access and that certainly affects my attitude toward social media. I'm very private, so I follow family members that use it and and a few close friends and some non-profits I help. Some people use it to a fault, especially teens and young adults although I'm sure it helps people find dates which is better than the meat markets I use to frequent as a single.

You have to be very careful about what you post too if you're interested in working to support yourself and family. OTOH, something like Linked-In is pretty necessary.

i'm self-employed -- a consultant -- and I do fine without Linked-in, but I have a hunch this is something I should learn about.  I'm resistant because I have a rudimentary understanding of facebook and I don't particularly see it for me -- and I think Linked-in is the same idea but for business.  You said "pretty necessary" and I am curious what brought you to that conclusion.

I did consulting for a while too on my own and for a firm. Having a portfolio of skills and people vouching for them helps. I have been contacted as a result of it as has my daughter. She just joined a regional service firm that is pushing it as a good business practice. I do think it's kind of expected these days and if you're on your own, it's another place to hang a shingle.

[alldaboston]

I only use Twitter, college confidential (I'm a student), celtics blog, and on rare occasions, reddit. Of those, the only one I truly consider social media is Twitter. And even then, all I use it for is following the updates that the guys like Jeff, Adam, g.washburn, jay King, etc. post for Celtics pregame, in game, and post game updates, and for things like wojbombs and other rumors.

[Ogaju]

why would that be sketchy?

[crimson_stallion]

I do think that generally when I hear someone doesn't have a facebook feed and they are in their 20s/30s, I find it pretty strange.  Makes me think they are trying to hide something.

See, I don't get that at all. 

Just because someone doesn't want to tell the whole world everything they are doing, that means they are shady and trying to hide something?

I've had friends who have disconnected themselves from social media for years just because they felt it was becoming a distraction to their lives.

I've had other friends who have disconnected themselves because their are so many issues with scamming and identity thief that they would prefer to keep their personal lives private.

I've had other friends who never gone on there because quite simply, they just didn't care.  They have a handful of close friends and family whom they care about, and if they want to communicate with those people they do so via phone calls or text messages. 

Can't for the life of my understand why social medial is so 'important' these days that anybody who doesn't have it would be considered weird or shifty.  That genuinely makes zero sense to me., and just shows what a sad, sad state this world is in.

My cousin deletes his facebook feed every other month, but it's usually because he's strung out on drugs and paranoid about the feds... or he's cheating on his girlfriend and doesn't want her to find out.

I know a girl who deletes her facebook feed every other month, because she's bipolar and sometimes it gives her anxiety.  She's one of those girls who over-shares about how emotional her day has been.  I think sometimes she gets embarrassed and deletes her account for a month. 

I know a guy (also bipolar) who deletes his facebook page every once in a while for attention... so he can post, "giving up facebook" and watch as people say "nOooOo don't go... we'll miss you..." and later post, "I'm back!" so his friends with like his post and say, "yaaaayy we missed you!". 

I know another girl who deleted hers permanently, because her ex was "stalking her"... but seems to me she just had a poor understanding of Facebook's security and privacy controls. 

I'm sure there's perfectly reasonable reasons for not wanting a facebook feed... I'm just telling you that when I hear someone doesn't have a facebook profile and they are in their 20s/30s, it makes me think something is up with them.  I'm not saying you have to be a conformist and have one because everyone else does... I'm just saying that to me it's akin to not having a cell phone.  Unless you're full-on hippie subculture or something, it seems a bit weird to me.   Immediate reactions would be, "Ok this dude probably has a double life he doesn't want mixing" or "ok, this dude is an anti-social" or "ok, this dude is super paranoid" or "ok, this dude isn't totally happy with how his life turned out and would rather just avoid social media entirely" or "ok this dude probably gained 150 pounds since high school and doesn't want to run the risk of someone tagging him in a photo"...   WHile there's probably tons of plausible reasons not to have one, that's my immediate reaction when I hear someone doesn't have a facebook profile. 

Like i said on the previous page... when I was meeting a lot of girls via sites like match.com, I wouldn't bother meeting them in person if they didn't have a facebook page.  That screamed "drama" to me.

I get what you are saying, and no doubt there would be cases where people are avoiding social media for that reason.  But I don't think it's fair to judge somebody like that and assume there is something wrong with them, just because they don't have a Facebook account.  That's pretty harsh.

I do take my cell phone everywhere, but that's different because my cell phone is essentially my personal organiser.  It provides me with my emails (to know about job opportunities), it is my point of contact to close friends and family (if they ever need to reach me for something urgent), it is my internet access on the go (if I need to make a last minute booking) and it's my portable media player (to entertain me on train rides).  It's an incredibly practical device, so my world goes very much into darkness if I don't have it with me.

Social media on the other hand really has no impact on my life.  Not having a Facebook account doesn't affect me ability to keep in touch with my friends and family (the ones I care about, at least), it doesn't affect my ability to do my work, it doesn't leave me stranded if my car breaks down, and it doesn't take away my ability to entertain myself. 

In all honesty, it has zero practical use for me and has no value outside of occasional entertainment (which I can get from other places).  If I want to look up NBA news for example, I don't need Twitter - I can just as easily do a Google search.

I have enough accounts, passwords and notifications that I have to deal with on a daily basis.  Why bother adding another one if I'm not going to really get anything out of it?

I don't have problems with people who use social media, but I don't have problems with people who don't either.  The way I see it, it's nothing but entertainment, so I don't see it as any different to people who listen to music, watch TV, go to the movies, listen to the radio, etc.  If you want to do that, then do it - if you don't, then don't.  Who cares?

Only thing that annoys me is people who use it excessively - as in EVERYTHING has to go on there.  When I'm out with somebody and they are on their phone half the time posting stuff on Facebook or taking pics for Instagram, that's just rude and antisocial.  Also unnecessary. 

But alas, what can I say - I dislike many things about the modern world.  I am a grumpy 70 year old in a 30 year old's body lol

[crimson_stallion]

Society considers social media to be the norm now, so for someone to actively avoid participating in it, they either are so successful and busy that they don't care for social media, or they don't have anything to post/brag about on it.

Not that I'm that active of a poster, but I'm thinking about taking a year off of social media and maybe making it part of my 2016 resolution campaign.

Rarely use it. Was a senior exec for a long time until I retired and had to limit access and that certainly affects my attitude toward social media. I'm very private, so I follow family members that use it and and a few close friends and some non-profits I help. Some people use it to a fault, especially teens and young adults although I'm sure it helps people find dates which is better than the meat markets I use to frequent as a single.

You have to be very careful about what you post too if you're interested in working to support yourself and family. OTOH, something like Linked-In is pretty necessary.

i'm self-employed -- a consultant -- and I do fine without Linked-in, but I have a hunch this is something I should learn about.  I'm resistant because I have a rudimentary understanding of facebook and I don't particularly see it for me -- and I think Linked-in is the same idea but for business.  You said "pretty necessary" and I am curious what brought you to that conclusion.

Personally, I don't agree that it's "pretty necessary". 

In the past 10 years, I've only had one job that I have gotten as a result of Linked In.  Every other one I got by finding online job advertisements, and sending my resume out to all the ones that suited.

Linked In is a nice resource, but it certainly is not necessary - at least not for me. 

I wouldn't consider it social media either, it's really more of a professional tool.  There isn't really much (if anything) social going on there - you don't message people on Linked In to tell them you just got married, for example. 

[crimson_stallion]

The thing with LinkedIn is that there is no downside to using it, just another tool to advertise your business or professional capabilities. It also has discussion groups and other means to show yourself as involved and up-to-date on your professional field. When I was job-hunting about six months ago, is was essential.

I don't necessarily agree.

It's one extra profile that you need to keep track of and keep updated, which I find kind of annoying.  A resume is easy, you just update it each time you are looking for a new job...but with Linked in it's dynamic and always up there, so you kinda NEED to keep maintaining it, which can be a pain.

It's also annoying getting the constant notifications from people who want to link to you, people who have endorsed you, etc.  I'm sure you can probably turn that off, but it's annoying regardless.

Finally it's yet another account to manage. Between banking, forums, work IT systems, phone accounts (and all the rest) there are so many bloomin' user accounts and passwords that people need to keep track of now days.  The more that quantity grows the higher the risk that people will start forgetting passwords, in which case people start to follow bad security practices (like using the same password for everything, or writing their passwords down somewhere).

Having yet another account to manage is something I see as a negative.  I do have a Linked-In account - keeping it up to date and ignoring the constant notifications frustrates me to the point where I've seriously considered deleting in on a number of occasions.  I just don't have time for all that crap. 

Regarding the OP term "sketchy", I think that is an extreme term. I think "out of touch with modern trends of communication" is more like it.

I wouldn't even say that. 

Just because somebody chooses not to use social media, doesn't mean you are out "of touch with modern trends of communication". 

I work in IT as a trade, I am perfectly in touch with modern trends of communication - I have to support them at work on a daily basis. 

I simply choose not to use them because:

a) They provide me with little or no practical benefit
b) They can be annoying and distracting
c) I have more important things to worry about

I really don't see why anybody should be in any way judged based on whether or not they use social media.  I think that is utterly ridiculous, and is no different to judging somebody based on whether or not they own an iPad. 

Not having social media is not the same as not being social - it just means you live your social life through other avenues (i.e. through phone calls, messages, skype i.e. actual person-to-person interaction). 

How I live my social life shouldn't make a difference in the world to anybody but me - just like it shouldn't make a difference whether I browse the internet via a table, a phone or my PC.  I'm still on the internet, just doing it in a different way.

[Csfan1984]

I think social media use is all about time and interest. If you have the time and interest then you participate in it. If not then you simply don't.

[crimson_stallion]

Yeah, pretty much.

Well said

[Casperian]

Unless they're over the age of 40 it probably means they just won't tell you what their actual social media profile is.

Huh?

So are you implying that everyone under 40 has a social media account, the people who say they don't are just lying about it?

Pretty much.

Well, I'm 35, and I can assure you, that's not the case for me. Maybe that's because I'm german...


https://twitter.com/OECDStatistik/status/666569403283152902/photo/1
click on the picture to see the full image (why do images not work, anymore?)

Anyway, if you count Celticsblog as social media (which I don`t), then that's pretty much the only social media I use. I do have a reddit account with around 10 posts, too.

I don't use social media because there's nothing of interest for me, everything I want to know I can specifically search for on the internet. I don't feel the need to digitally "stay in touch" with people I can't stand in real life, anyway. When I'm on the train, I rather read, think about stuff, or talk with the old lady next to me than play Angry Birds. Luckily, I'm also pretty good at picking up girls.
I grew up during a time when people were talking with each other to waste time, instead of staring at their mobile devices. In my opinion, people have become so "connected", they don't even realize how sad and lonely they appear when they stare at their phone in the middle of a crowd.

Generally, I think it's pretty concerning that we have reached a point as society where people have to defend themselves, can be accused of lying or hiding something just because they deny social media to be part of their lives. Call me a radical if you like, but I do value privacy as much as I value freedom or human dignity.