PUT OLD ON HOLD Journal

Advocating Non-Traditional Lifelong Growth and Productivity

Quote of the day

Man's schemes are inferior to those made by heaven.
Chinese Proverb

What? You Don't Like Social Media?

Grandma Cranky

When rearranging books on my bookshelves, I found some interesting titles I had forgotten about. One of those forgotten books had the title Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now. It’s written by Jaron Lanier.

That title really resonated with me. I loathe and detest social media. Early on, when Facebook first appeared, it seemed cool, so I opened an account. I thought my account was just for me, but I soon learned it wasn’t. People I didn’t know and never heard of were posting all kinds of stuff on MY Facebook page! How dare they! Good grief!

I don’t understand the need for social media. If I have a message to send, I send an email. No one sees it except an inept Russian spy named Vladimir and the person it was intended for. If I want friends to see photos, I email them.

I have often wondered if there was something wrong with me because I don’t “get” it, so I decided to do some internet research. To my surprise and relief, I found there are many, many people just like me. They don’t need gazillions of “friends” they don’t know and will never meet. They don’t need to read the latest gossip about town tramp Mazie Misstep. They don’t want to see photos of friends of “friends” they don’t care about. That’s reasonable, isn’t it?

You get the picture. Here are the Ten Arguments from the back cover of the book that confirmed my thoughts about social media:

You are losing your free will
Quitting social media is the most finely targeted way to resist the insanity of our times
Social media is making you into an a**hole.
Social media is undermining truth
Social media is making what you say meaningless
Social media is destroying your capacity for empathy
Social media is making you unhappy
Social media doesn’t want you to have economic dignity
Social media is making politics impossible
Social media hates your soul

Throughout the book, the author clearly explains why he holds his views about social media. If you disagree with him, don’t email me to say you are offended because I dared to share his point of view with you and others, and that you are unsubscribing. If that’s your position, please reconsider, as I value you. However, if you are truly offended, feel free to unsubscribe. In my world, everyone has a right to express an opinion, even if it is different from or offensive to others.

Be brave – click on the image to get a copy of the book from Amazon. Here it is:

PUT OLD ON HOLD Journal