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No. 605663

Are you anti social media, have minimal social media precense, or would like to be? Then this is the thread for you!

Are you anti social media? Why?
Do you hate social media?
Do you preffer anonymous websites and imageboards?
Do you protect your image and data online? How?
What are your go-to accounts and emails, do you have any hidden ones?
Does your job, career choice or field of study require social mefia and how do you manage that?

Discuss!

No. 605666

Personally, I change my email and discord account every random ammount of months. I have changed social media frequently since I was 17 and will likely not stop. But aside of that I keep my distance from social media platforms, I rather go on imageboards.

No. 605680

I'm 25 and deleted all my social media when I was 14 because I was tired of the "drama". I did have a tumblr from 17-18 though where I posted art.

I like not having a presence so weirdos can't stalk me and I'm not obsessed with others views about things.

No. 605728

I’m in my early 30s so I grew up with MySpace, and then got Facebook when it was still a college-only thing and dabbled for a bit with Twitter. Facebook lasted me for a few years after graduation but I didn’t like how it was showing me details of people’s lives (and mine to them) that I knew I would never otherwise be privy to and keeping us ~connected in what I felt to be an artificial way. This was probably exacerbated by the fact that I went to an Ivy League but come from a working class background, where most of my peers were from rich families and going into hedge fund management and working for right wing politicians and other bullshit that I couldn’t be less interested in. I only kept Facebook for as long as I did after college to keep up with upcoming gigs and events.
After somehow amassing a few thousand followers in my mid-twenties, I nuked my Instagram a few years ago because I felt a growing sense of conspicuousness and it made me really uncomfortable. I replaced that with a small, private insta a few years ago but I killed that just before covid hit so I’m about 6 months in now with zero social media and I don’t see myself ever going back.
I think this change in my relationship to social media is definitely related to my growing up, getting my mental health under control and feeling zero need any more to seek validation and status online. Only a handful of ~friends who have my number have reached out to me since I left all socials, and that’s fine by me.

No. 605730

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Great thread!
I was never one to post many pictures or personal stuff in social media, thankfully, but I was still addicted to it and had a very strong phase, when I was younger, in which I was simply obsessed with how celebrities and models portrayed their lifes on Instagram.
I grew up and started being very critical about social media as a whole but continued to use it to read stuff and interact with friends.
Now I've been social media free for a month, and I've mixed feelings. Sometimes I feel disconnected to the world and I feel like a ghost because people can't really see or found out about me, but it's been great for my mental health in many senses, I love having no idea about other people's business, but I'm struggling with wanting people to know how good I am doing (social media in a nutshell, basically)
I think that, for me, being overly present and completely absent in social media is alienating, but I won't be coming back, for now.
I'm very interested on how I can protect my personal information as much as possible, and my image as well, it's very scary to think what people could do with your pictures, particularly as a woman, and that always throws me back when I have felt like posting something.

No. 605736

>>605730

> Sometimes I feel disconnected to the world and I feel like a ghost because people can't really see or found out about me, but it's been great for my mental health in many senses, I love having no idea about other people's business, but I'm struggling with wanting people to know how good I am doing (social media in a nutshell, basically)


Hard agree. I think the ghost-like feeling is heightened by covid. I also noticed that those who did contact me by phone after I deleted everything moved to me as if I was on death’s door or something. Like, I get that for a lot of people deleting their socials is a “cry for help” or whatever but folks forget it’s equally possible that you’re bailing on social media because your irl life is going well.

No. 605744

I'm really tempted to delete my facebook account, I barely use it and FB is just trash anyway, but I also am reluctant to nuke all the photos I have on there in case I change my mind..

No. 605751

>>605744

Don’t they have some kind of data download option like Instagram? If so, do it anon. It’s great! If not, just deactivate it…. forever.

No. 605753

>>605744
save them all and then delete it

No. 605755

I feel kinda bummed about having online college because of 'rona this semester, because I have to make a bunch of social media accounts (e.g discord) at the college's request. At least I don't have to make a FB account.

No. 605756

I don't dislike the idea of social media but I don't like how people as a whole use them and the current internet etiquettes. I wish we could go back to simple times when forums were more common, because usually with social media now the most interaction you'll have is either your close irl friends communicating with you which you can usually do by other means, or mutuals liking your posts and not daring posting comments and having direct conversations with you which is boring as fuck. There's also the fact that children and teenagers shouldn't use social media at all unless their parents or another authority figure make sure they're not doing stupid or dangerous things. I also hate how now that many people have a smartphone if you do or say something deemed stupid or funny you can be filmed or photographed against your consent and posted anywhere until you become a meme.

Now I have an instagram account to post pictures from time to time but never selfies, and a facebook account I was basically forced to create because of university. Teachers preferred posting info on fb and nowhere else rather than send us emails sometimes, it was a pain in the ass. I had a twitter account until like two months ago, I didn't need it anymore because my mutuals unfollowed me for being too problematic for their taste. All of tis gave me bad habits and I used to look at two guys I knew from university's accounts on there, and sometimes I still check them just because one of them was my personal cow and the other is an obnoxious hypocrite whose takes are getting worse and worse.

No. 605763

I prefer to lurk on social media. Plastering your entire name out there and attaching it to your shitposts is a terrible detractor for your career opportunities, people are so flagrant and stupid

No. 605881

>>605663
>Are you anti social media? Why?
>Do you hate social media?
Not necessarily. I dislike how over-represented social media is in society, such as business and political campaigning catering to the woke crowd. But I'm fine with the concept itself.

>Do you preffer anonymous websites and imageboards?

A lot more. I couldn't stand having a long-term account, knowing someone will try to dig up an embarassing 10 year old forum post. Now, people get their careers ruined over that kind of stuff.

>Do you protect your image and data online? How?

>What are your go-to accounts and emails, do you have any hidden ones?
I generally sign up for accounts under temporary emails and store my password in a password manager. I still make sure I go back sometimes to delete my accounts if I'm not using it. I sometimes post through a proxy, a friends' connection, or Tor. I absolutely prefer to never put my real life information through the web, but seeing how a lot of job applications and driver's license renewals are now online or phasing out paper, its harder to avoid.

I'm technically not on social media, so I also haven't made myself into a target.

>Does your job, career choice or field of study require social media and how do you manage that?

My career path, no; that mainly asks for a degree and a portfolio.

My side stuff like independent art, apparently so. The path to getting donations or commissions is becoming a mini-celebrity. (And this goes back to filling out real life credentials to sign up for payment processors and reading through a massive TL;DR privacy policy and terms of service. On principle I disagreed with Paypal's and I'm still reading through Stripe's.)

Actually being on social media, it feels like you have to grind for fame or stir up drama. Not being on social media is like having to put your roots down through rock.

No. 605885

I’m also in my late 20s and my whole family are the types to want to know about your life and talk about it like they don’t have a life of their own so I deleted my Facebook and now I only have an Instagram that is anonymous where I just post art—The only people I follow are artist I like. My relatives can think I’m in the streets dying of hunger, broke af and a POS for all I care.

No. 605894

>>605755

Be thankful they didn't make you use second life.

No. 605911

>>605755
>having to make a discord account for college
This sounds so fucked up.

No. 605920

>>605911
Yeah, well, part of it is that I'm in a very small program, and will need to communicate with all the other students in my program. It'll also allow 1-on-1 talks with instructors, which again is necessary to the program. Still not happy about it, though. I'd managed to avoid Discord up until now.

If I don't need it once the fall semester ends, I'll delete it.

No. 605928

I'm in my mid 20's and I don't have any personal social medias because I've deleted them all. It was mainly because I realized I waste so much time on it and it made me really toxic and critical of people. Like I'd see a friend post and everybody else commenting "omg you are so pretty!! uwu" and it just felt like they were doing it just so the circle jerk will continue when the next person posts a selfie or whatever. Doesn't help that I mainly was in a community of cosplayers/image conscious weebs. This happens in art communities too and I loathe it because I feel like the value of a compliment has been cheapened, in a sense, feels like people just say whatever to get a more popular person to notice them, etc.

I still have an Instagram/Twitter/fb page for my art though, and even on there I tend not to interact much because it's just not a habit for me to open the apps and browse, I just dump my art and go. I don't like hanging out with other artist friends and listening to the conversation delve in how to boost their followers, engagement, the invisible tug of war vs the evil algorithm, etc. It's very tiring to be on social media in general, I think.

Unfortunately, all the time I used to waste on social media sites just translated into time I waste on imageboards, lol.

No. 605948

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>>605928

> Unfortunately, all the time I used to waste on social media sites just translated into time I waste on imageboards, lol.

No. 605996

in my late teens and i'm the only one i know who doesn't use social media. i feel like i don't even exist and people think its super weird i have no online presence. i've been considering going back to social media just so i can seem normal again. like, it sucks hanging out with people and everyone's on their phone and ur just kinda sitting there lol. but it has an awful effect on my mental health- just more stuff to get anxious and obsessive about. not to mention the paranoia and whatnot.

No. 606085

>>605948
I don't even know how to use social media 'properly', I basically have no presense. I just have accounts to follow artists but I frequently find myself spending hours on the instagram explore page which is a huge waste of time

No. 606103

I only use IG to keep up with some news about tv series, but barely anything else. I have coworkers my age or only 2 years younger, going on a bout tik tok and i dont get it. I want to eventually get away from social media entirely. I'm glad i never used twitter.

I hate people who act like you have to be informed of youtubers and twitch streamers all the time. what the fuck

No. 606111

https://youtu.be/3E7hkPZ-HTk

this is a pretty good ted talk on social media and career

No. 606112

>>606111
samefag but i meant lack of social media

No. 606118

i have a fb that i use mainly for groups and for the messenger. i deleted all my info and locked it down. i have no other social media, so i feel like i need at least one account somewhere lol.

for those of you without insta, are people shocked when you tell them you don’t have an account? i guess for a late 20s female it’s weird to not have much of a social media presence, but it gets kind of annoying having to answer to these people. they act as though you’re some sort of social outcast lol

No. 606121

one of the reasons I dislike social media is because it always comes across as contrived to me. Like, I’ve seen some people’s (friends or classmates) twitter accounts and every tweet is just trying to be clever and funny and trying way too hard to impress other people. I feel the same about selfies—it’s just very obvious validation-seeking. I’ve always been critical of social media and it’s only just now that I have friends who are coming around to my views.

No. 606122

>>605920
I find it really weird that you have to use discord instead of some school-specific site or something.

>>605894
lol

I'm an old so I used to be pretty active on myspace and even facebook, back it was still almost all college students. I deactivated my facebook forever several years ago, it had been horrible for a long time even before everyone knew just how bad it really was. There is almost no information and no pictures of me online; the latter was a result of low self esteem and I'm at least now grateful I never put any up (especially since I used to be on a proto-incel forum and linked my social media, which wa incredibly stupid but would be even worse now). At this point I have a tumblr I still use but I just use it as a relaxation tool (I like to scroll through endless pleasant pictures), there's nothing personal there at all.

I remember it used to be an oft repeated lesson to keep your identity and personal information away from the internet as much as possible and I think there's still quite a bit of wisdom to that.

No. 606149

I've had facebook since forever. Hardly use it anymore unless I need to sell stuff. If we had no social media a lot of people would be wearing masks and vaccinating their kids in North America.

No. 606212

>>605730
Holy shit anon are you me lol
I recently deleted my twitter and I had over 14k because I just didn't feel connected to it anymore. I've been having anxiety attacks on and off for a week now about how much I feel like I've basically gotten rid of any 'recognition' I might've had in the world. Despite the fact I haven't been posting consistently for a long ass time - I'm talkin like over a year.
I still feel weird about it but it's just with covid you stated it perfectly - I feel like a ghost now. I know eventually I'll start over but it's still just. Weird, yet also starting to be sorta freeing to just wipe the slate clean.

No. 606344

I use Messenger a lot and Facebook to keep up with my university's news, or to see events I might be interested in. I just changed my profile pic after five years, and deleeted the old one (so I only have one pic of me visible on my page).

I regularly purge my Reddit accounts (and now I've stopped posting altogether).

No other SM other than lolcow. It makes me feel bad and angry in general, and I want to get into politics/administration so better stay anonymous.

No. 606481

>>606344
Imagine a farmer as a politician or administrator. That's kinda funny to me. Like are you going to call people retarded on their faces? lol
Just kidding, I'm happy for you anon, please become the first farmer president in the world.

No. 606520

>>606481
"A vote for me is a vote against my opponent's nasolabial folds and his haggard-looking saggy jowls."

No. 606526

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No. 606542

I feel like I'm pretty minimal SM, at least compared to how I used to be–does that count?

I used to have all of it. FB, twitter, insta, tumblr, reddit and be on all of it every day.

I've completely deleted FB twitter and reddit, and don't really go on IG and tumblr anymore even though I still have both. IG is my most used. I just find them boring, but I like the pictures, memes, and info sometimes, and they're the least likely to be annoying in random interactions (I find).

No. 606548

I’ve had accounts on all of the popular sites and deleted them all after getting a. Paranoid and b. Depressed because I think I’m boring. The only one I still have is my private Instagram that I check like once or twice a week.

Idk how people live trying to balance their life and personas. I just went to an art installation and the people there weren’t enjoying it, they were just using it as a backdrop for pictures. Full on posing taking up half the room or entire hallways with no shame. It was so fucking bleak and kind of eery

No. 606569

I still have accounts on all of the major social media sites but I've realized I'm losing interest in sharing my life with others that are for the most part barely my aquaintances. If something particularly valuable happens at my work (online store) I'll share it for the sake of better reach; if I go somewhere cool I may post one photo afterwards but times of random posting on instastories are gone. The attention that comes from there gives me nothing and is not worth the time I'd have to waste recording something or editing and posting a photo with proper tagging and all. Gonna risk sounding like a boomer, but it's more valuable to focus on living the life rather than documenting and flexing on others with it.

No. 606609

I've naturally been using social media less and less in the last year (despite using it as a messaging app for various friends) and I've been wondering why. I used to be obsessed with being ~tumblr art famous~ as a teenager, but now with work and university I have little time to make art or to document my life online (and not sleeping at 4am every day) so I guess the most important thing for me now is to be able to chat with my friends. I guess it helped that I never had much engagement and always kept myself anonymous.

I'll admit though that corona got me slipping, I'm so isolated being at home without a routine and depression making me lose all pleasure I had in my hobbies makes it so lately i will just browse social media and imageboards all day in search of a semblance of social interaction. Can't wait for this bullshit to be over so I can go back to enjoying life.

No. 606678

>>606481
She could pull a Joe Biden and just call people fat right to their faces

No. 606751

I haven't had any social media presence outside of having an email in just over a year now and I barely think about it anymore. Sometimes I wish I had somewhere to host pictures of my artwork but I don't like the idea of things just being out there permanently. The idea freaks me out.
Lolcow is as social as I'll be online which is still minimal.
I spend a lot of time making clothing now which would have been otherwise used to look at instagram artwork and photos of handmade clothing. Seemed retarded. My mum used to berate me for not having something to show for my time so now that's kinda been the goal.
Fuck social media

No. 606772

I'm minimal social media, but not by choice.
In reality I'd like to have a regular online presence (sans posting face since I feel like that's always bad news), but I just burn out way too fast so most of my accounts are inactive. Even my art posting is extremely sporadic despite my volume of work.

It's the same with friendships. In general I just hate attention so anything that involves me existing with an identity exhausts me.

Love being anon though.

No. 606788

Ill answer the questions but i mainly am here because i dont understand what people who have 0 social media do with their time. You guys do image boards; but i have coworkers who are under 22 who have 0 social media and the only account they have is email and youtube. I dont get them.

For context i only have instagram where i post my pets and food i eat. Last photo of me is from 2 years ago but ive had the account since 2012, over 800 photos and ive rarely deleted photos but id say less than 5% contain my face.
>Are you anti social media? Why?
Im not anti social media but its a time suck and i dont like things being tied to your name, forever. Part of the reason i closed accounts though were because i got involved in male dominated hobby/sports and their online communties and didnt want them to find me.
Do you hate social media?
Ive gotten more and more paranoid with facial recognition but i woudlnt say i hate it. I just dont self post anymore.
Do you preffer anonymous websites and imageboards? Yes
Do you protect your image and data online? How?
I rarely self post. I dont post updated info about my life, things like if ive moved, changed my name or relationship status. Insta is private but i still post as if my stuff is public. REddit account is under fake name/username thats unrelated to any previous usernames that would be tied to me.
What are your go-to accounts and emails, do you have any hidden ones?
I have my insta account,discord animal crossing trading account and reddit.
Does your job, career choice or field of study require social mefia and how do you manage that?
nope. I fell out of a hobby and have little community ties because it requires facebook groups. I dont see this as a huge loss but it can be annoying as im new to my area.

No. 606790


No. 606805

>>606788
They… work and have hobbies and real friends? Social media is boring why is it hard to imagine doing literally anything else

No. 606812

>Are you anti social media? Why?
I am not exactly anti social media, but as I'm getting older, it simply feels…kind of childish to use? Not sure how to explain it. I used to be active way more in my late teens and early 20s, then I naturally grew out of it and now posting stories of what I have eaten seems kind of ridiculous.

>Do you hate social media?

Eh, not really. It's just not a thing for me anymore. Most of my friends aren't active on it either and only use messaging apps to keep in touch.

>Do you preffer anonymous websites and imageboards?

Yeah, I've been using 4chan since I was 14. Got used to this type of discussion and now participating in forums/social media with some sort of identity attached (be it either simple nickname/avatar or full name facebook profile) feels unnatural.

>Do you protect your image and data online? How?


Other than having my social media accounts private (aka only friends can see if I post something), not really I guess. But then, I haven't been posting anything about my real life for years now, so there isn't any recent important info to be misused. Even when I was active, I never posted private stuff.


>What are your go-to accounts and emails, do you have any hidden ones?


My main account would be my google one, and the one that I'm mostly worried about as it ties in to my main email etc.

I have accounts on facebook and instagram, but they are mostly inactive. I use facebook messenger mainly to talk and make plan with friends, as it's convenient, but don't really use the "social media" aspect of it.

I have some old throwaway mails that I still sometimes use to today to sign up for free trials but that's about it when it comes to "hidden accounts".


>Does your job, career choice or field of study require social media and how do you manage that?


Thank god they don't. I do have a linkedin profile though.

No. 606826

I had a Facebook account in highschool but I didn’t like using it much, once in a while someone would chat with me on it but I didn’t like making posts about myself or things I liked. I also didn’t like being tagged in other people’s posts, say like a classmate uploading group photos from field trips or when we were in lower grades. Liking or commenting on posts from people who I would barely talk to in real life felt weird too.

In college one of my classmates didn’t have a Facebook account so I followed suit and deleted mine. So I didn’t use it for years until I was forced to download Facebook messenger for a group project last year. I hated having to use it and that my phone would blow up with chat notifications at 1am because people wouldn’t use the private message feature.

I only have a tumblr account and a random one on reddit I use because there’s a subreddit for the company I work for and I’ve used it to buy/sell stuff too. I don’t see myself making a Facebook account again and I’ve never used Instagram or Twitter

No. 606827

>>606548
>I just went to an art installation and the people there weren’t enjoying it, they were just using it as a backdrop for pictures. Full on posing taking up half the room or entire hallways with no shame. It was so fucking bleak and kind of eery
I went to the MET and Guggenheim just before the corona lockdown and this describes 60% of the people visiting there. One group in particular at the MET was so obnoxious. They had a woman working the camera as every member of their group took turns doing their most insta-worthy poses in front of artwork, even as people were trying to view it. This wasn't the normal tourist-y thing. The camera lady was snapping each of them at various angles, as if it were a fucking Vogue cover photoshoot session. They stopped at every piece of art in the section. I was so triggered.

No. 607542

>Does your job, career choice or field of study require social media and how do you manage that?
It's almost impossible to be a tattoo artist now without Instagram, the only one who do it are ancient tat wizards whose reputation doesn't require them to promote. It's your portfolio, booking system, and your promotion too. One of your tattoos goes viral on an aggregate account and suddenly you're booked up for the year.
There's a lot of tattoo artists now who have made the move to be influencers as well. If you're hot as well as talented it means your reach goes even further. Although I've seen uggo male tatters doing this just because they have a lot of face tats, and it works.

No. 607561

>>607542
I follow a few artists on IG and i've noticed this. It's such a stark difference from artists who used to have take photos and put them in a physical portfolio for others to see. Now everything is IG if you're new. It's almost a game of likes and comments now vs real skill.

No. 607663

>>606520
ngl I snorted

>>606827
This was my experience when visiting the Louvre. It was awful. It was already crowded as fuck and people kept gathering in front of the art pieces to take selfies with them so you could even barely see the paintings.

No. 608025

I went on a social media deletion binge not too long ago. I'm an artist and felt like I had to stretch across multiple platforms in order to get noticed and build an audience (portfolio/patreon/merch/instagram/twitter/twitch), but as time went on it only stressed me the fuck out trying to focus on everything and told myself it's not worth the hassle.
Now I'm only posting on Instagram and twitter. (Although I'm considering nuking twitter to be honest)

No. 608026

I dont have a social media account linked to my real name and it's fun. Nobody can ever find me even if I told them I had an fb/insta. I barely use the ones I add normies in but for the accounts I use for buying and selling I keep it fairly active since the fb sellers like accounts that are "alive".

I honestly want to delete all of my social media accounts but my brain has a constant need to shout its thoughts onto something all the time and I hate talking to people at least if I had an empty twt account it just goes there…

No. 608047

>>608026
Anything I just want to rant about just goes onto a random anonymous imageboard. The only bad thing about imageboards is that I don't think it's possible to have one with both men and women on it without going down the same journey as 4chan.

No. 608090

I do have accounts but only for lurkfag purposes. I don't really like interacting with people on twitter and instagram because it's always unhinged crazy normies, deepfake Mossad bot accounts, or faggots with their political/social guips.

And in general, I find it incredibly boring, too. I hate how you have to be extremely extra and inflammatory to get noticed by people, especially these past few years. It didn't used to be like that before. I hate how triggered people are - can't say shit without someone losing their fucking minds. Tell them to chill out, it just makes it worse.

And like other anons have mentioned, I like not having anything linked to my name because I know it frustrates people who want to stalk or bitch about you. Kek, best feeling in the world.

No. 608317

I cold turkey deleted all social media platforms in 2017 and honestly I’m a better version of myself. I became attention addicted and pick me ish due to social media popularity when I was 13 on scene girl Facebook pages?! I lied about my age a lot and consequently got lots of male attention that boosted my ego. I became obsessed in my teen years with trying to curate a following and to be cool and likable on the internet. Years later I calmed down a lot but still felt like I was just addicted to all forms of social media to the point that I didn’t have hobbies and tried to define my personality to other people online to validate myself that I wasn’t boring as fuck?? I got a boyfriend in 2016 who I met at work and he’s a great guy (who I never would have met online bc he doesn’t use socials either), started rediscovering my interests and hobbies outside of internet addiction, became interested in working out and yoga, started actually finding my own authentic self not influenced by the pressure to care what other people think of me. This is just my experience and I know my cringey teen years on social media are probably not everyone’s experience but I definitely have benefited from not having social media. I was also homeschooled due to MDD and social anxiety which caused me to be extremely isolated irl so I would constantly try to have human connections online that were NEVER as fulfilling as real life friendships and relationships. When I got offline I started socializing more, I was able to build more confidence and hold a job as well. I doubt I will ever go back to social media and probably wouldn’t want my kids using it tbh. And as far as communication goes anyone who has ever really wanted to contact me would reach out to someone they knew knows me personally on social media and get my phone number from them if it was important. And if anyone is on the fence about deleting fb for the pictures, just deactivate your account! You can always open it up whenever you decide to download those pics to back up, etc,

No. 609889

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Being 18 and not using social media makes me feel so isolated, everytime i talk to someone my age i feel like an old person struggling to comprehend the new generation. I don't get internet humor either, it's just random nonsense and being horny. It's also an struggle to meet people, i don't want to use Tinder but i also don't know where to meet people in real life. I remember that when i used to have friends all they would do is stare at their phone browsing inta/twitter, they wouldn't want to do anything else like watching a movie or discussing something. It's so boring, i can't understand how they can enjoy scrolling through an endless wall of garbage that brings nothing of worth.

No. 609908

>>609889
me too anon. it sucks when you try and hang out with people and they're on their phones the whole time. like you can't escape social media ever

No. 609920

>>609889
Same. Left discord recently and I don't miss it much

No. 610049

>Are you anti social media? Why?
Yes. It's designed to be addictive and to assign false importance/weight to the thoughts and lives of people who are unremarkable.

>Do you hate social media?

I strongly dislike it, yes. I think it's making people
have shorter attention spans.

>Do you preffer anonymous websites and imageboards?

I avoid those, too, but they tend to be more focused on ideas rather than who's discussing them.

>Do you protect your image and data online? How?

The only accounts I have are email accounts and LinkedIn. I always use a VPN and StartPage and use Signal to talk to people.

>What are your go-to accounts and emails, do you have any hidden ones?

I like Protonmail for the privacy. If I need to sign up for something I'll use Mailinator for a throwaway email.

>Does your job, career choice or field of study require social mefia and how do you manage that?

I'm a software engineer, so not really. If it did, I would just create throwaway/minimal accounts.

No. 610105

>Are you anti social media? Why?

Not passionately. It's a good way to keep in touch with relatives and friends who live far away. Other aspects like causing addiction and causing people, especially teenagers, to become more insecure.

>Do you hate social media?


I kind of hate social media. I deleted my facebook account years ago because it was getting on my nerves.
I only have instagram, in which I don't post anything, so I can talk to my friends who live far away because none of them use whatsapp.

I actively hate how normalized social media has become. In my uni we are taught that it's alarming to potential employers if you don't have social media.

I've also been told by dates that it's weird I don't have snapchat or post on instagram. A few even aggressively accused me of lying.

Back in high school all of our important class announcements were posted on facebook and it made life harder since I didn't have an account and didn't want one anymore.

I remember back in middle school we were taught that you should never use your real name online yet nowadays it's seen as weird if you don't. I don't want people I don't know to find out who I am, where I live or anything at all about me.

No. 610175

>>606827

Last winter before rona a friend invited me to a “popup art exhibit” with her. Had never done anything like that but it sounded interesting so I tagged along. Nobody explicitly said anything but it became very obvious as soon as we got past the ticket booth that it was just a set of interactive backdrops and themed objects to take selfies with. I tried to keep a positive attitude and enjoy myself but it just slowly sucked the soul outta me. The whole premise was that you pretend you’re taking a fun impromptu picture, but really you’re being scooted from selfie spot to selfie spot and nothing you see exists for any purpose other than social media attention seeking.

Towards the end of it there was a section filled knee-high with multicolored shredded paper. In the middle was a mom who had plopped her young kids down and wouldn’t let them play freely in the paper because she needed to get more photogenic pictures of them pretending to play in it.

No. 610383

>Do you hate social media?
mostly facebook. they breed the most idiotic shit on this planet and the fact that it's EXTREMELY popular in my country gets on my nerves a lot. i just keep it around for school announcements and if i need to contact my mom. i have a cousin who made a facebook account for their child when he was just a baby. shits p fucking dumb if you ask me lol. i dont understand how people just give away their location and education and other details on that website.

>go to email accounts

I have a lot of email accounts and I use it for like steam and the likes.

>Does your job, career choice or field of study require social media and how do you manage that?

Oh it does. sadly. im looking to get into art related careers since i took up animation in college. i have an artstation account and i got conscious about using my real name + i use twitter, tumblr + insta to post art most of the times.

No. 610385

I never really got into social media. When I was 13, Facebook was becoming a big thing but this was before smartphones became popular so no one was constantly on there. I didn’t join for years but knew from my friends that people they barely spoke to at school would act like their BFF on there. That put me off

I have a couple SM accounts with minimal information on, which I don’t post on, and some blank ones for following cows/interesting people. I’m a fairly private person and can’t think of anything I’d like to share with a lot of people, from my breakfast to big life events. I’d rather text people individually or tell them in person

A colleague added me on FB a while back, and I did have a look at her profile and noticed her posts got a ton of reactions. Then she started asking me to like her shit and it made me feel sad for her because that’s fucking weird. It just sums up the worst of SM to me - begging for attention and attempting to convey popularity despite gaining the image through pathetic means (asking for likes, hashtagging the shit out of something, etc). So I didn’t

I need a FB account for work but I do accept people I know out of fascination as to how different people can be online. Some are truly unbearable

No. 610400

I'm not 100% against social media as a concept, I find the way in which most people USE these platforms to be the actual problem. I keep profiles with fake names and no photos of me on most platforms (I never got into snapchat or tiktok, and never use the story feature anywhere or watch anyone else's stories because I don't care lol).

It helps that I'm never friends with my relatives and nobody I'm friends with feels the need to plaster 100% of their life online, nor has anyone given me shit for using an alias. I use it to keep in touch with the friends of mine who don't use discord, and to have fun shitposting without any of it being bundled together with my name or face. Some facebook tag/meme groups are a pretty fun way to waste time, and since I'm doing it anonymously my experience isn't radically different/riskier than any other website. I also NEVER use the mobile apps for any of them.

I have had jobs ask me for social media handles, and I have a "decoy" account centered around my pets, which also doesn't have my name or face on it.

No. 610406

Facebook and Instagram are just platforms to run adverts and propaganda. I've been off both sites for about two years now and haven't felt left out about anything. I have a twitter I haven't told IRL people about because idk, people look for things to get offended about online or coworkers finding you and thinking you talking about Katy Perry is subtweeting them. Ive went back to having online and offline as sperate entities. The thing I have noticed is my mummy friends love that I never see their baby pictures on Facebook so I'll spend half an hour with them in person doting over their kid. It just seems much more appropriate and genuine. When people were using their fb as a newsreel for their life I wasn't as interested in them. Now that I'm not getting updates from them online we have more meaningful interactions in person.

No. 610413

File: 1598006595159.png (253.36 KB, 480x480, EeyWehDWsAAzlu4.png)

>>607663
Not too long ago I visited the Parthenon with my dad. It was an impromptu decision because we were in the area.
It was summer in Athens, which means it was smelly and hot as balls and there were lots of tourists. Getting to the top it was already difficult enough to take photos of the area without tourists clogging up the path with their photo sessions, but whatever.
At the top it was horrible, crowded as fuck with almost no shade, we got to this very cramped lookout spot to take a quick photo of the city before heading back down since people were literally pushing on a small platform at the edge of a cliff just to take a quick peek.

Suddenly I hear a very annoyed "um EXCUSE me, do you MIND?" from somewhere around me. These 3 German (or Austrian, idk) girls were posing in the middle of the crowd, with the fourth taking their pictures, and my dad and I walked into their shot so they were pissed off. There was no room to breathe on there, let alone take posed selfies, and they were hogging pretty much all of the space just to take photos. My dad can't speak English but he understood what the issue was and started yelling at them to get the fuck off the platform and go home to take pictures, then they got scared and walked away.

People are fucking animals and social media is to blame.

No. 610415

File: 1598006729183.gif (906.96 KB, 500x200, g.gif)

>>610413
What a satisfying ending. Serves them right.

No. 610426

>>610413

Shitty, entitled tourists who choose bad spots/times to take photos have existed long before social media.

No. 610437

>>610426
Instagram has made them worse and even more entitled.

No. 610452

>>610437

Google "begpackers" if you think you can handle it, anon.

No. 610505

>>610437
There is a lot "Auschwitz selfies". it's like those people have no brain

No. 610511

File: 1598018564349.gif (2.87 MB, 140x140, 1574476682446.gif)

>>610452
If Western tourists did this in my little village where the average salary is 200€/month they'd get their ass kicked by the locals so fast, man or woman. These people are saints to even keep them out there that long without beating them to a pulp. Jesus Christ I want to rough them up so bad.

No. 610679

I haven’t had social media for over a year now. Whenever people ask me why I simply say “I just don’t like it”. Hard to argue with that point. It‘s never caused a big issue personally yet, but the people who are obsessed with social media will think you’re weird for it. There’s this stigma around it that you’re off or you have something to hide. I think they’re the weird ones so it’s whatever.

No. 610695

>>610679
I’m getting really sick of this, yeah. I do have a couple socials but I don’t add strangers, co workers, acquaintances etc. and I just say I don’t have them. Every time without fail there’s some weird conspiracy over me being weird, having things to hide, etc. I’ve had coworkers in the past gossip within earshot of me about how they googled my name looking for things just because they can’t add me on sights like ig or fb. I’m not paranoid or secretive, I’m literally just chilling so it’s kind of irritating.

No. 610702

>>610679
I got doxxed as a kid because I was an idiot and pissed off this crazy chick. I haven't had any SM but one account to post my hobby. If people want to contact me they have my emails or phone number. The only thing I wish is that I'd gotten this one coworkers socials because she could have been a good snow cow.

No. 610725

>>610679
>It‘s never caused a big issue personally yet, but the people who are obsessed with social media will think you’re weird for it. There’s this stigma around it that you’re off or you have something to hide.
Yeah, I hate it too. It's funny because before social media were an actual established thing in the late 2000s when I was a teenager, if I said I liked talking about hobbies in forums or playing some basic dress up games online I was seen as a super weird nerd by classmates. That was when blogs were a big thing.

No. 610734

>>605663
I have a crafting hobby that I spend a fair amount of time on. For a while I used IG to post pictures of what I make. I generally only followed people I already knew from IRL or discord or wherever, or after interacting enough to be "friends" with them. I realized early on that the things I liked doing most were not the things that got the most likes, and didn't really care, but I did generally get a few dozen likes on every post and that made me feel good about my work.

I stopped using IG a couple months ago because I hated how much time I spent on it. I couldn't stay away from the explore page and it became an inane mess. I would look at some dumb low effort meme and then the entire page would be flooded with nothing but for the next week.

I don't miss the time I spent on it, but I do miss how I used to make posts to show off my work - setting up little stages and diroramas, choosing the best pictures to share with the world. It made my project feel "complete". Even when they got few likes, I really enjoyed having my profile as a portfolio. But due to my own habits, I don't want to keep IG for only that, since I'll just waste time on it again. What are the non social media ways people share art nowadays? Are blogs still a thing or do people mostly ignore them? I come across a lot for tutorials, but they're often pretty old, and they're never run by younger people. I still want people to be able to see my work, even if I don't care about the number of likes. Is that the desire I need to get rid of? I just don't know where to share anything anymore if it's not on a big searchable site.

No. 610751

I only have an ig that I keep under lock and key, LinkedIn for work, and ravelry for knitting patterns and chatting with nice grannies. It's nice, ig makes me "not weird" but I don't get swamped with notifications either.

No. 610876

>>610702
What kind of cow? I had one that I’m pretty sure was horrorcow territory but I was so offput I just couldn’t exchange socials, ah what could have been.

No. 611130

>>610876
She was supposedly a recovering ana but she was really pro-ana who loved the attention. She also liked to pretend she was a teenager while being in university. Photoshopped and sperged badly on SM from the posts she showed me of her outfits. I think she was getting into a hard drug before she quit our work too.

No. 611523

This is gonna sound ridiculous, I really wanna delete social media but almost everything I do is tied to it. I don’t have friends in this small town, I never go out due to covid, but I never really went out before. I feel like a lot of my identity is tied to my online persona. I feel ridiculous saying this but I used to get dressed and put on makeup just to take a picture for Instagram, I‘d feel weird not having to do that anymore. I’m a lonely person and being online makes me feel less lonely, short term. But in the long run, I feel like such a fool, like I’m just nothing without it.
I do have some online friends too, more like acquaintances and they’re really sweet, I don’t wanna lose them, I don’t wanna lose all the validation I get from likes and shit.
I have been online since 2012, I will say I miss the internet when it was just memes and bestgore and stupid shit. Now it’s woke and “unproblematic” so I’m honestly at the tipping point

No. 612592

I've ditched most of the social media sites I used to be a part of including Discord, KF and twitter and the withdrawal symptoms have been hell over the past couple of days. I'm sure it'll be worth it in the long run but getting to the point where I don't need social media is a bitch.

No. 612616

>>611523
Genuinely hard same, I also tend to talk to a few closer friends mostly on ig because linking posts is so easy

No. 612629

I need facebook for a few things, especially to try to sell some books I want to get read of, and after that I'll deactivate my account so I can still use messenger. I hate that most people who know each other irl use messenger to communicate in groups because that's the only reason why I even created my facebook account in university. If I just deactivate my account instead of deleting it I think facebook can still gather and keep data about me, right? I plan on keeping instagram but the app is trying way too hard to show me shitty recommendations even on my TL instead of just the explore page, I'm starting to consider deleting it too. I made a blog to occasionally vent and think out loud a few months ago after I deleted my twitter account but I don't update it all that much.

No. 612630

>>612629
I hate that there’s so much stuff that’s Facebook exclusive. Wtf is that shit? I refuse to make a fb account, so that means I’m just screwed apparently

No. 612631

>>612630
It's not even just that, since fb owns whatsapp and instagram it's even harder to escape that shit. I could sell my books without fb but it's way easier to use it to contact stores and random people who might be interested there. I hate it so much. I hate that because I didn't have a fb account when I started university I had no idea about some classes I missed taking place on other days than planned because everyone was trading info there, even the teachers. They wouldn't even bother sending emails to our university email addresses with their own, they'd just do this shit and think people not being aware of last minute changes were in the wrong somehow.

I think fb is less used by the younger generation though? When I was in high school it was the new hot thing but my sibling who's in high school right now won't stop saying fb is a website for shitty boomers and not trendy anymore. Hopefully there will be some new competitors soon thanks to that.

No. 612638

>>612631
I was trying to join an unpopular activism group in my area and they would only let people who were on fb join. Like are y’all complete retards? I’d like to keep my job

No. 612639

>>612630
What stuff is fb exclusive? A lot of sites ask you to login with fb but always offer email as an alternative ime

No. 612640

>>612639

>>612638
This is me, it’s not websites, it’s organizations, social groups, and some business stuff

No. 612680

>>612638
Have a similar story, but nothing related to keeping a job. Wanted to join a local beekeepers club once, but they required facebook. I was going to try joining their in-person events, but lolcorona.

I went like, "fuck it, nah."

No. 612701

>>612638
I find that shit really suspicious. Same thing with how you have to use you're real name on fb and in yur settings you can add your political alignment/opinions. I was barely in middle school when we were taught to never talk about that kind of topic online because that could bite us in the ass later, especially not with our real identities attached, and that was before fb became mainstream in the late 2000s. With how cameras are everywhere thanks to smartphones and how people are so eager to dox each other for the "greater cause" it's even less safe to talk about that kind of stuff online.

No. 612803

>>612701
My mom tried to make a fb account for work related reasons and they immediately suspended her account (probably for not putting her full name) and they asked her to send a picture of her id for verification. Like wtf.

No. 614105

>>612803
Same thing happened to me when I needed to make a FB for a school group. I used a randomly generated picture from thispersondoesnotexist.com and it was accepted after a few days.

No. 614178

I deleted all my social media accounts a few years ago when I graduated high school. It was really liberating since I was no longer distracted by useless stuff like followers and likes, as well as the constant comparing to other people. I tried to get back into Instagram a few times, but only to delete my account after a few days. I hated the vibe there. Now, I only have YouTube which I don’t even watch much since no one uploads quality content. I keep it around tho since all my music playlists are there. I mainly browse lc in place of my social media needs. I also have a suspended Facebook account that I still need to try to get deleted. I put my name as “Anna oop” and it got suspended a few days later. Idk how I’m supposed to get it deleted since I don’t have an ID with that name Lol.

No. 614190

>>612803
Fuck facebook this shit pisses me off so much.

No. 614193

I know someone who switches back and forth between her real name and a completely made up name on a semi-regular basis on fb. How is she able to do this without getting suspended?

No. 614199

>>614193
Maybe you should call the police

No. 614208

>>614199
she's doing it out of severe paranoia/mental illness, it's nothing to call the cops over. I just don't understand how she's able to do it at all without getting suspended

No. 614220

>>614208
Nayrt but I’m pretty sure they were kidding lmao

No. 621908

ever since my boyfriends ex girlfriend became obsessed with me/stalked me to the point where i felt uncomfortable from many many miles away, i just wanna disappear from social media entirely or recreate an account with a new name that she can’t find

No. 621913

Always nice to see other artists in here realizing that being popular on social media isn't the only way to have a stable career. I maintain a minimal presence on twitter and IG but 95% of my new projects come from my existing network that I built outside of social media (e.g. book publishers, small businesses, NGOs, etc). My advise is to just email your portfolio to the companies you're interested in working with. If you show you're reliable and complete work on time they'll tap you time and time again. I don't always post my completed art for all to see and I don't even advertise commissions. It's a very comfy existence.

No. 621915

>>614193
Not entirely sure how it works but Facebook gives an option to display your "nickname" instead of your full name. Totally possible she's just been changing her displayed nickname and not necessarily the name attached to the account.

No. 621932

I am in my 30s and used to have quite a large social media presence on Facebook, I joined back when you needed a college email address to sign up.. like 2005. I'm still not sure what happened, but one day I just kind of broke down and asked myself why am I sharing any of this stuff? What I realized was that I felt this compulsion, that if I did something cool or made something nice, it had to be shared.. that if I didn't share it felt like it might as well not have happened. Also, as I approached my 30s it felt extremely competitive and no longer fun. While I would love these "friends" of mine and wish them the best, I felt sadness when I saw the carefully written posts with carefully posed pictures, the kind where the luxury item or whatever just happens to get cropped in. It was a sadness about the absolute meaninglessness of it all, and thinking how my time wasn't even for me anymore.

So this stuff was bothering me for a few years but I think the 2016 election just pushed me off the edge. Seeing all the nasty propaganda and disgusting takes from people I thought I knew.

So in 2017 I basically deleted everything and took a hard look at myself and my values. I kept Snapchat around for another year or so but eventually deleted that too.

I am happier now but I can't say for sure it is because of this, since I also started doing much better in my professional life after deleting it all. I have been pretty much blacked out from social media for over 3 years now and it is still just fine. I have a few friends and family I text and that's it. I have been thinking of starting a twitch lately to stream some of my crafting shit but idk seems like a lot of work lol. I have a lot of gifts and talents I would like to share because I am truly proud but the downsides of social media just aren't worth it to me. I might still have more growing to do before I'm mentally ready for it again.

No. 621996

I'm not a social media person at all, I barely use Facebook for Messenger and to track events (never found a better alternative), otherwise I never post anything personal on it. I have a Twitter under a random name only to follow japanese artists, and I still use Tumblr but I barely consider it a social media since follower counts don't matter there. It's under another random username, and I only reblog fanarts, animals and architecture posts, I don't interact with anybody and I'm just here to build some sort of aesthetic blog.

Otherwise, nothing else, no Instagram, no Snapchat (how does it even work?), no Tiktok, no Discord… I had to download Zoom during lockdown to communicate with coworkers, and I deleted it as soon as it was over, it gave me anxiety.

I'm some kind of a social autist, but weirdly enough I'm way more comfortable talking to peope IRL that on social medias, there's too much clout chasing and stupid discourse on the internet, and in this day and age, anonymous boards like 4chan, KF and here are a blessing.

Also I've seen some anons in other threads saying that guys without any social medias are a huge red flag, which I don't get, to me not having internet presence is a sign that people are more grounded in reality.

No. 622012

>>621996
I’m almost exactly same as you. Now I can only tolerate e-interactions if it’s somewhat anonymous without faces and names and sub counts.
Guys without social media’s come off as trying to hide something, like a coomer private. If they truly don’t use social media, I either think they’re 4chan faggot or just paranoid nuts. Guys with an inactive facebook who only updates once a year with a new picture of his dog are a good sign in my experience.

No. 625497

>>621996
>I had to download Zoom during lockdown to communicate with coworkers, and I deleted it as soon as it was over, it gave me anxiety.
I don't get why/how Zoom caught on so quickly despite every other existing voice conferencing and chat app.

No. 625498

>>625497
marketing.

No. 657306

Seriously considering getting a flip phone when my iPhone dies, which should be soon. I waste a lot of time watching Youtube or googling dumb shit to avoid engaging in my hobbies. I work them up so much in my head, that they’ll be this big ordeal and hassle. Then when I just do it it’s so simple and super fun. Wtf brain. I spent a week avoiding baking because its will take forever and be so much work’ … it was only 5 mins before it was in the oven kek

No. 657359

I don't hate social media, but I also don't love it. I know it serves a purpose, but it really isn't for me? The only ones I had was a Facebook (now deleted), and a Pinterest (does that count as social media?) that I got bored of. Idk, I liked Pinterest because it was less about selfies/yourself, and more about pretty pictures and recipes. But I became obsessed with gaining followers and posting became less fun since I was preoccupied with only posting stuff that would get me more likes/reposts/follows.

Now when it comes to Facebook/Instagram/whatever, I find them hard to enjoy. I have seen people that I know on these platforms, and I can't stand how "fake" everyday people act on them? Like, I know you in real life. You're a regular old boring normie person, yet you try to act special or interesting online. I also find it pretty, idk, a bit narcissistic for a person to think anyone cares about all of the minute details of their life, enough to make a page devoted to it. Like I said, I know social media serves a purpose, but I feel like for many people, it exists solely for asspats and to build egos.

I definitely prefer imageboards. I don't like all of the parts of my life shared on the Internet; I'm a pretty private person, so being anon is a plus. I also find discussion on said sites more interesting, because there is less ego/clout-chasing and people aren't afraid of sharing their opinions (even unpopular ones). It's way better than those social media sites where people conform their opinions to what is popular, because they are afraid of the dreaded downvote or losing followers.

No. 657368

im anti social media since i got stalked and harassed by my bfs ex. ive made numerous accounts to get away from her but she always finds me. cant bring myself to leave

No. 657517

I want to start doing furry commision because is easy cash but I don't want to deal furries, the thought makes me anxious, they are so fucking annoying on twitter and other sites

No. 657562

File: 1602892865154.gif (507.41 KB, 221x231, 1602771054375.gif)

Do I really have to make an instagram to be a professional artist? please help

No. 657564

>>657562
Short answer: yes

No. 657600

>>657564
long answer is yeeeeeees

No. 657626

>>657562
i think the right answer to your question would be an absolute yes

No. 657668

>>657562
No. It's horribly over-saturated, and most of the artists I know who make money off their art don't use it. It helps, but need, nah.

No. 657672

>>657562
Might depend on how you want to make money. Do you want to be an independent artist and sell directly to people? Then yes. Do contracts for companies or studios? Maybe not. Might get away with saturating Artstation and Twitter.
Not in the industry though so I'm talking out of my ass.

No. 657721

>>657562
>>657668 and >>657672 are right. It helps, but you don't need it, especially if you plan to work more for companies than individual commissions. Just decide which client you'd prefer to have more of. I have so much more to say about this but I'll just end up sperging about how much I hate social media kek

No. 657807

I'm into social media, I have an account on probably all the major sites, but I am not consumed by it in a sense where I feel like responding to everything and live posting every half hour. I like scrolling through feeds and talking about my opinions to myself or my bf.
I think the only site I'm most active in is Discord.
I love anonymous sites and sites that don't update you about your friends activities, like tiktok and Instagram, it's mainly catering to your preferences.
I have two hidden emails, mostly meant for anon boards or to lurk on websites that require email but I don't have a need to use it for anything else.

No. 658162

Social media can get really fucking annoying, and it is a VERY toxic community. I say this tho, well knowing I have some social media accounts of my own. I feel as if they're completely pointless and retarded, but at the same time it'd be retarded not to have any social media in the first place? Cause then again, who doesn't right?

No. 658168

>>657562
I'd say, a most definite yes. I make digital art for the fun of it, literally only when I'm really stoned and feeling creative. Even by just not taking it so seriously, I have already created a genuine following for my art- people who are excited and eager to see my future work. I do all this with little to no effort, I just make my art and post it on social media with the appropriate hashtags. Done, simple.
>>657562

No. 658480

>>657562
Yeah social media is absolutely necessary if you want an audience for your art. I hate it but there’s not much we can do about it.
With that said, does anyone know where one can post nsfw art? Is the cesspool that is Twitter my only option?

No. 658707

>>657562
It depends. IG is the lesser of the two evils (The other being twitter). It's also easier to build a following and stay focused.

No. 659176

I deleted all my socials a few years ago and only keep an anonymous tumblr acc for reposting weird art and bug stuff that I find interesting. I keep trying every once in a while to start new social media accounts on the big platforms to make friends since I don't have any real life ones, but that requires keeping a presence and being open and personal in a way I am very uncomfortable with, and thus I quickly delete again. I used to be extremely open online but after a really scary stalking incident some years ago, I deleted everything and never returned. I'd never post too much or too personal things online anymore, you can find out so much about people from just about anything. I learned that the hard way.
My job fortunately doesn't require social media and I mainly tend to lurk anonymous boards, rarely posting. I miss the early 00s when most of my online time was spent designing and customizing your own homepages at sites based on your interests and styles, connecting with others. It wasn't the norm to be public with your face, age, name and hometown.

No. 659322

I had a very popular presence in the twitter art community for years, but after I deleted all my social medias, I wondered why did I ever stayed online? I was friends with a lot of popular artists and all we would do is talk shit, gossip, or start discourse (mind you, we were college students). Since Ive left, it is as if my entire mood and personality had shifted it. Im no longer combative or confrontation, it's insane lmao. It is super refreshing. Ive never realized how bad my addiction was until I left every platform.

Sometimes, I miss my twitter friends. I wonder what they're up to. But honestly, I would rather die than return to twitter. A lot of them aren't big fans of communicating outside of twitter, so I guess I wont see them anymore.

No. 660059

>>605663
I had an older sibling that was over protective. After one week of downloading instagram, they told me to delete it. That was when insta first came out, never went back.

The only elaborate thing I've posted on the net is this diy club penguin blog from when I was 11. I don't have friends so I don't message anyone. Idgaf about what ppl do everyday. I truly don't understand the obsession of seeing what others do/wear daily and uploading a gazillion pics of your face or whatever you value. Has vanity been normalized?

All those corny 2000s internet safety videos/stories rly got to me from an early age so i've never had a typical personal profile with my info/photos. For most of my time on the net, I've only ever used youtube and reddit regularly tbh…and lurked on other sites/forums. But I rly need to wean off of youtube.. Fuck social media.

No. 660060

>>660059
anon /ot/ is closed for now, everyone went to /meta/

No. 660061

I'm really upset that something might be happening to /ot/.
This is literally the one good random image board free from men.


Why would the freaking vent thread be closed? it's one of the most active ones around.

No. 660569

I hate social media and don't want to go back to it but I know eventually I will have to

No. 668504

jesus christ I didn't know instagram was this bad now. I don't know if I should come back to it even if I need it as an artist

No. 924483

I am very very anti social media. But I still use it.

No. 924588

>>605663
I deleted all my social media over a year ago, and I am really fucking happy. Highly recommend.

No. 924598

>>924588
i’ve deleted social media for a while and it’s freeing honestly. you actually focus on living and yourself.

No. 924601

File: 1632744868686.gif (574.36 KB, 540x416, original.gif)

>>605663
>Are you anti social media? Why?
>Do you hate social media?
Can I call myself truly anti because I have accounts on multiple platforms and I still check up on them from time to time? But my attitude towards social media is significantly colder and I contribute minimally. The only thing that's got me in any type of 'scrolling hypnosis' is anonymous boards. I personally hate social media but I'm still tied to it because it's my only means of reaching some people. Other general reasons I have for hating it are similar to or same as a lot of the reasons explained in other people's responses here. Social media is just another corporate tool to profit off of the masses perpetual body dysmorphia and dissatisfaction, to pit them against each other and to inflate insignificant people's egos. The bane of authenticity.
>Do you preffer anonymous websites and imageboards?
>Do you protect your image and data online? How?
Yes, I prefer any site that lets me be anonymous or at least heavily customize my personal user page or profile. Anything that asks for your full name, phone number, linking to multiple platforms and such makes me want to practice flame thrower use. If I want to take a peek or lurk I put in fake info where I can, use temporary emails and go back to delete the account when it's unnecessary. I should probably do more for data protection, since I still want to use these platforms to keep up with artists I like and so on. Anyway, I prefer my accounts to be unlinkable.
I've made the mistake of posting too much of myself online on my accounts when I was younger, so the last of what I can 'protect' is delete pics I don't want to show anymore. I don't really take photos of my face anymore, and if I do, I don't post them. I've been thinking of removing the last of my selfies from social media, but am afraid that a select few weirdos notice that and start stirring up shit (despite me being relatively irrelevant lmao).
>What are your go-to accounts and emails, do you have any hidden ones?
>Does your job, career choice or field of study require social mefia and how do you manage that?
Currently I have my main, no active secrets. Keeping in contact with my family and making things simply effortless with my student life requires me to keep an all-in-one personal social media account plus a linked account dedicated to what I do. I wish it wasn't that way, or rather I wish I didn't put myself into that situation.

Tldr; I'm still in the range of average social media usage but want to change that. Social media is a societal menace, I'd rather just get to the content and do or look at something I want to see, but sidestep all the negatives.

No. 924767

File: 1632763325975.jpg (138.19 KB, 960x741, 1558809914962.jpg)

Beyond small well-moderated communities, social media is and always will be more harmful than not (though, depending on the structure of the platform and cultural climate, often harmful in unique ways), but it's here to stay so really the only thing you can do is use it responsibly or opt not to use it at all. It irks me that journalists (who are as a profession among the worst offenders wrt unhealthy social media use) shit out clickbait on specific platforms as if issues with social media aren't inherent to the medium itself:
>1. The way humans connect with each other has not evolved for instantaneous mass communication, let alone global-scale communication.
>2. Because human communication hasn't evolved for scale, there's very little that a social media company can do to encourage healthy use of a mass communication platform.
>3. Any sort of extrinsic reward for participation (even imageboard replies) will encourage the people who should have the smallest social influence (cluster Bs and people with poor impulse control) to participate more often than healthy individuals and as such have an outsized effect on culture creation.
>4. Said reward-chasing individuals are motivated to say or do extreme things in pursuit of more reward because people are more likely to engage with extreme things (especially if for some reason they contain content that elicits fear, insecurity, or anger), thus amplifying said extreme content and giving even normal people the impression that it's a dominant opinion/aesthetic/body type/etc if it reaches critical mass.
>5. Politically or socially-charged extreme content can be used as propaganda by opponents, who use this steady stream of outrage porn to radicalize their own ilk, who then create content that radicalizes opponents, and so on.
>6. Even attempts to prevent unhealthy behavior on social media at a severe hit to a company's bottom line will likely fail or only offer partial mitigation because people who are chasing dopamine hits will use any cue available (e.g. (You)s on 4chan) and most of the other factors that make social media unhealthy are extremely complex to address (e.g. how do you even prevent Instagram from spreading BDD in a world where photo-editing is available to everyone and anti-shooped pic measures would open up a huge can of worms?) and even to investigate and understand.
>7. People and communication are incredibly complicated, and any given intervention is likely to at least partially fail or even have harmful ripple effects; for example, Reddit and Twitter's attempts to detect and downrank 'harmful' or 'controversial' comments amplifies the echo-chamber effect because harmful OPs go unchallenged (and not even necessarily harmful politically; for example, glorification of depression and suicidal ideation is widespread on both platforms any is likely an internal blindspot because said glorification happens under the guise of 'mental health support').
>8. The extremists created by social media are motivated to proselytize anywhere they possibly can, and the consolidated nature of social media makes it easy to find new communities to swarm, which means that even small, well-moderated communities are at risk of being overtaken.
>9. Moderation is extremely important for maintaining a healthy community, but right now it's impossible for platforms to do at scale, and interventions that make sense for one locality may be ineffective or even dangerous for another; for example, if Twitter decided to globally boost counterspeech from ethnic minorities because muh equity or w/e, that could end with a Hazara in Pakistan getting a black bag thrown over their head or an escalation of the Biafra conflict or something.
>10. At this point we've all been subject to so much social media brainrot that any effort to create healthy online communication is like pissing into the ocean.
It's literally, LITERALLY impossible to create a healthy communication platform for millions of people to communicate at each other and join new communities at the click of a button. It will never happen. Even Usenet had massive issues with toxicity and trolling. The only form of online communication that can provide a net positive to its users is a small, topic-oriented community with clear community guidelines that are consistently enforced by moderators who were chosen because they are level-headed rather than because they're extremely active or friends with the other mods.
sage for turbosperg

No. 924816

File: 1632766584158.jpeg (11.4 KB, 161x275, 1622248208800.jpeg)

I deleted my twitter and instagram after realising just how miserable social media was making me. if people aren't gloating about their lives and looks on there, they're posting sanctimonious keyboard activism or getting weirdly competitive about how bad their mental health issues are. people who I generally really liked chatting to in person were insufferable on social media so having access to all their posts was completely killing any positive regard I had for them. I was really attached to my twitter in particular, I loved posting things to make people laugh and one or two of my favourite authors etc followed my account, so letting go of that in particular was quite hard, but it just wasn't worth putting myself in a bad mood every day for the sake of an app

No. 924941

I hate the effect that social media in its current manifestation has on our personalities and on social interaction. It encourages extremely embarrassing behaviour. I have the impression that it's made people more socially awkward if not blatantly anti social by enabling people's narcissism and their ability to withdraw into their own world and completely disengage from ours. As much as people spend their lives on sm and make a racket about censorship this and freedom that, it seems to me that there's not nearly enough concern over digital rights as it concerns the commodification of user data or what should be done about the weird feudalist structure of the digital world. Generally speaking, I also suspect that sm has a degenerative effect not only mental health but also on intellect and even creativity and imagination. I hope there's more research in this area considering the influence it has on modern life.

No. 925081

I’m so ready to get rid of my Facebook. I’m leaving my job soon and the only reason I still have it is because of the stupid work group on there. I use discord to message my boyfriend and my brother and that’s it. I’m trying to wean myself off my phone/ the internet in general and FB is just one extra lousy app that I mindlessly open and close.

No. 925094

>>924816
Because sane people like you leave social media for the reasons you said, it's just getting slowly worse because it's just nutbars feeding off of each other with not enough sane people to call them out on any kind of regular basis.

imo we aren't far off from most people seeing social media as just as awful as supermarket tabloids. it happened to facebook a while ago & everyone sane left, but now the crazy spreads so fasr that the only ok places are actually imageboards where no one's posting for likes and people aren't afraid to call people out. Obviously imageboards have problems, bit I do think chans and traditional forums are actually making a comeback among people who are tired of awful twitter/ig/discord shallowness and contant mutual fluffing.

No. 925949

Social media is digital heroin. I can get stuck for hours on end looking at the most useless mind-numbing crap, and I hate social media in general and I've deleted most of my accounts/apps. I could go on and on about how much it's damaged society and the new generations, but one thing I find the saddest is how it's broken up the ways families function. I've noticed recently that families don't connect the way they used to, the interactions they have, say at the dinner table or at gatherings, are always interrupted with phone usage. Hell I've been guilty of this, sometimes at dinner I'd be scrolling through my phone even when I had plenty of other times to do so. And that just shows a bigger societal problem imo, that you're increasingly isolated from your closest connections, so you get addicted to fake ones like on social media, and you get so sucked into its culture that you become a completely different person and you can't connect or relate to anything else. It really is no exaggeration to say that phones and social media are incredibly dangerous. Hell I feel like picking up a book or painting something just writing about it lmao

No. 925998

File: 1632910382419.jpeg (410.58 KB, 1242x1287, 293740E5-8F96-4551-84F5-33DC3A…)

deleted facebook 7 months ago permanently after the following series of my incidents:

>partners’ ex gf adds my IRL friends on facebook (she lives abroad)

>she steals a photo i took of my partner reposts it to her own fb and tags him in it, as if though she took the photo
>compares me to a child serial killer
>compares herself to me, stating that she makes more money, is more intelligent and has a more loving partner
>compares herself and my partner to Charles and Camilla, as if i’m the evil Diana and is standing in the way of their ‘destiny’
>sends my friends voice rants about how she and my partner are still ‘in love’ to my friends, and that i’m narcissist
>LARPs as a homewrecker, refers to herself as a ‘temptress’
>posts threats to ‘beat my ass’
>posts that I’M obsessed with HER and loses it when someone tells her it’s the other way round
>declares that i am her ‘enemy’
>sets her profile picture caption to ‘lol anon why you looking at my profile’
>only reason i saw it is because she added my friends and they sent it to me.
>don’t respond to her behaviour, ask my friends to block her
>is mad that i asked MY OWN friends to block her
>throws a tantrum in my partners inbox after one of my friends who she attempted to isolate me from reality checks her
>i also was told that any time someone who isn’t even vaguely related to me criticizes her she starts ranting about how i’m an abusing my partner even when i’m not even the subject of the criticism

also i know that this is none of my business but apparently she still has photos of them together on her facebook publicly even though they broke up 7 years ago.

i pity her for maintaining an obsession with an ex for almost a decade, it’s just tragic. i hope she gets the help she needs

No. 926004

My high functioning 30yo autistic brother has never ever used social media and i'm so fucking grateful for it, todays troons are literally preying on vulnerable autists and they could have gotten him too. He's instead obsessed with nature and has an encyclopedic knowledge about a shit ton of critters and plants… still unemployed but at least he's fun to talk to and doesn't pretend to be a dainty sexy anime girl. Seeing him makes me avoid social media more, he's just so wholesome with his nature sperging

No. 926034


No. 926054

>>925998
Oof that’s so bad nonnie, I’m glad you removed her power. She’s just projecting and clearly does need medical attention

No. 926055

>>925998
please tell me you didn't mention your bf blocking her on everything only because it was very obvious he did it.

No. 926076

>>926055
my bf just denied she was doing any of it and said i took her actions ‘out of context’ even though she’s obviously an insecure psychopath

No. 926077

>>926054
yeah me too. i felt so much more in control and like a weight had been lifted after i deleted.

i used to make new accounts every 2 months with a different name to get away from her but she had all my friends added so she would find them via mutuals eventually. she then said i was making multiple accounts to stalk her even though i never once used them to interact with her

deleting was really a last resort

No. 926080

>>926076
Wow, so your bf gaslights you and ignores your feelings instead of dealing with the problem head on. What a catch.

No. 926084

>>926080
i’ve long made my peace with it

No. 926087

i can't get behind any social media aside from using tumblr to look at cute pictures. it's a pain in the ass as a zoomer though because everyone i know has instagram or twitter at minimum and they think there's something wrong with you if you aren't on there or, god forbid, don't want to be

No. 926338

>Are you anti social media? Why?
Not entirely, and I do lurk socials, I'm just not fond of people grifting off it when they have no remarkable talent whatsoever. It used to be you had to have some level of charisma and now all you need is a video of your plastic surgerized face under a filter doing a tiktok dance. Pathetic state it's in, some people who started off with internet fame or have maintained it are not without talent or personality and it's a shame they're overshadowed by the vapid cunts who make a living off mostly their looks. Social media has permitted us to let our guard down and completely destroyed and forced a reinvention of the PR system. As an aspiring PR person social media is humanity's own worst enemy with its encouragement of mob mentality, and has pushed division between people rather than allowed them to think critically. It's unfortunate because we've forgotten in the climate of social media, how vulnerable humanity is and how easily they make mistakes, while being wrapped up in our own selfishness and lack of awareness of our own actions. Some cancellations are just retarded and pointless for the reason that time has passed and the culture has changed significantly, not talking things like rape or assault, talking someone who said a "slur" ten years ago.

>Do you hate social media?

From a personal perspective I hate using my real name on social media. It's the fact that accountability has been so heavily embedded into culture now that you cannot separate online personals from real ones and people will hold you to the burning wick of a candle for something you said when you were sixteen. For that reason I've adamantly avoided using my full real name on SNS for years. I do hate the aspect of social media that punishes and demands mandates from those who use it. Like the moment you gain any kind of fame the floodgates to hell open and everything you've done in your life is wrong. Every decision is put under scrutiny when you start, rather than as you progress.

Do you preffer anonymous websites and imageboards?
At times, yes, at other times, no. I prefer to use aliases, and many sites still accommodate them, but a lot are trying to strip away and converge the identities of a real and online persona. While part of my online persona is not exaggerated, some of it is. Playing myself up for show and for edginess points won't land me any real life favors in the industry I want to be in, and unfortunately if my online track record were revealed I'd probably be excommunicated from this life. If it were all revealed id kill myself.

Do you protect your image and data online? How?
I used to not take precautions at all so theres likely crap floating about of me in years past, but in the last few, due to harassments I've dealt with I've gotten more secretive in larger spaces. Much more stingy about posting or sharing my face on alias accounts, especially if I do not know the people I am talking to or the space discusses topics that are of a sensitive or potentially libelous interest (gossip). Much less specific about my personal life than I used to be and hinge more on generalities. Having the problem with oversharing ive had it's been betrayal time and again. Don't really use vpns, but I'm more cautious about what I put out in spaces where my identity could be compromised. I trust LC way too much though and have said admittedly somethings here that would make me want to die if anyone who didn't know I posted here saw them.

>What are your go-to accounts and emails, do you have any hidden ones?

I have a multitude of gmails and yahoo accounts, half of this is to be able to hoard more space for files on gdrive, but also to cover the bases for all the types of accounts I need. so each email kind of represents a different facet. yes I'm aware of googles data collection, but the company that terrifies me the most that I refuse to use is Facebook. Absolutely no Facebook. Instagram now owned by Facebook makes me extremely annoyed that I have a burner there now. I've never really been that scared of big data collection from google since I wouldn't consider myself to be doing anything illegally malicious same with yahoo. No point in signing up for proton mail or any of the more anonymous counterparts unless I feel endangered.

>Does your job, career choice or field of study require social media and how do you manage that?

Since I mentioned I want to work in media, of course it will. I plan to try and be as sparse as possible if I'm dragged into having social media. For a long while the attention whore part of me wanted to be famous and still sometimes craves validation, but I've realized I cannot take the heat that comes with it. For that reason I'd rather be someone else's brand and reputation manager. I'm good at fudging my way out of mistakes and laying lower on social media, or using private accounts and quiet methods of hiding my lesser thoughts. Cant say the same for a lot of others. The psychology behind the changing perspective of reputation is what inspired me to want to do press in the first place. I may hate the current state of culture demanding everyone be cancelled over slights (coming from a bitch who loves gossip) and that one mistake cements you as irreparable, but it fascinates me how we got to this point. As much as I hate social media I have to thank it in some capacity for showing peoples true colors, but in others I want to beat it violently into the ground with a hammer for making us so sensitive.

No. 926362

>>925998
I would be pissed as hell, must’ve taken restraint to just ignore her while she was doing that shit to you

No. 926363

Ignoring imageboards, I only have a facebook account because the Messenger is usually where job/school related news travel the fastest, but I never use their endless-scroll timeline. But I honestly don't consider imageboards to be much better as they're just as endless in content, especially something as active as 4chan, which means they're also just as addictive. I don't know if I'd be more likely to use mainstream social media if I cut imageboards out of my life.

No. 926385

>>926084
Dump him please, holy shit

No. 926390

>>926338
>From a personal perspective I hate using my real name on social media. It's the fact that accountability has been so heavily embedded into culture now that you cannot separate online personals from real ones and people will hold you to the burning wick of a candle for something you said when you were sixteen. For that reason I've adamantly avoided using my full real name on SNS for years. I do hate the aspect of social media that punishes and demands mandates from those who use it.
This is the weirdest thing for me about nu-social media. Proto-/early social media like classmates.com and Facebook need real names, but they were more of a pure network-building sites originally, with maybe a few personal photos. People using their real names on twitter to shitpost and engage with political content (and even like coomer art) gives me a panic attack. It gets to the point where people will tell you, you're not allowed to say anything in a matter because you don't have your real name and face attached so you're not risking enough to participate in online conversations. And plenty of young people are born into this and don't even question it.

No. 926431

>>926385

I did. After thinking about our future

It’s unlikely but what if this woman came after our potential offspring? It’s not unheard of for women to lash out at children as revenge. The news could push her instability over the threshold into actual violence

No. 926432

>>926390
my personal and my online life are semi separate and they should remain that way until such time as I decide what I want to do. the only people posting shitposts under their real names that make sense are celebrities or public figures who are in the spotlight already, but random kids or twenty somes not realizing how bad it is for their professional life. I was once on that train and I quickly hopped off when I saw how it was affecting my peers

unfortunate cuz there's some stuff I've done that I've posted to the internet under aliases and would love to use but I'm scared it'll come back to bite me and I'll be recognized, guess I should never post anything anywhere ever then

No. 926492

>Are you anti social media?
no

No. 926510

>Are you anti social media? Why?
Not really, I think they can be useful and dangerous in the same position but shouldn't be necessary in life.

>Do you hate social media?

While I do not hate their concept, in fact I like having a small space where I can shitpost with friends, I hate the new take on social media: now everyone wants to be famous, no matter their talent or things they have to say and the fact that they're so common now, our whole society depends on them (I've seen baby toys shaped like a vlogging camera and ring light, gross).
Brands trying to be edgy or funny tweeting dead memes, teens doing dangerous or gross things on camera just for the sake of it and I know that thing used to be common in the 90s and 00s too but they didn't have much fans telling them "please more!!" so they weren't encouraged to repeat it, the dramas on youtube, the story times video no one asks for but makes some ones feel important, people believing they're some shit just because the algorithm blesses them with new followers sometimes, literally the For The Clout and FOMO concepts scare me so much, I hate it. I want spaces like the old forum communities and that's it. I also hate how now people can search up your name on social media to review job applications, I don't do anything wrong so I have no real fear for it, but it rubs me in the wrong way knowing that my boss could see me shitposting about eating some fictional character's ass when it is not his goddamn business. It feels like your mom reading your diary and then confronting you about it when you come home from school. Fuck it.
Also fuck people who believe that unfriending them means that you hate them or some shit and take it personally. I just clicked a button, shut your trap.

>Do you preffer anonymous websites and imageboards?

Yes and no. I like some anon spaces where I can talk to people and no one perceives me but at the same time I would like even some minimalistic profile to make friends…
I loved Tumblr back then since I could customized all of my page code and posts and anything, plus I could have multiple accounts and now I like twitter because it's fast, I can shitpost, I can talk to people easily, engage in small talk but that's it.

>What are your go-to accounts and emails, do you have any hidden ones?

I have three main accounts and two spam ones. I am not making a mail with my name and last name ever.

>Does your job, career choice or field of study require social mefia and how do you manage that?

I'm an artist, so yeah, sadly.
If it wasn't for my clients, I would've already deleted my facebook since it uses my real name and I hate how everything can be linked to me so people associate me-person as me-online presence. People really believe I'm a furry just because I draw furry shit lol
Plus, I hate instagram. It's shit, it has no features aside horribly cropping your pictures so you're left with cut pictures and photos that look like shit but hey, everyone is on there now, at least people looking for art.
I prefer twitter where I can choose my name and even post the more extreme stuff, since that shit gets me more money and people.
Aside from this, I have a distinct portfolio on Artstation where I just upload my best works and its free from commissioned work so I can pretend to be a professional.
Less-personal accounts can let me larp easily.

No. 927219

File: 1633030690002.jpg (32.65 KB, 570x319, 1625767085838.jpg)

>haven't used social media in many years
>decide to make an ''anonymous'' instagram
>follow really embarrassing fetish accounts and interact with them
>my mom who knows i never use social media suddenly starts asking me if i have IG
>tell her ''no, you know i'm against social media, why would you ask that?''
>she gets kinda weird and starts mumbling ''oh i don't know''
>time passes and she keeps asking me if i have ig like once a week
>realize her tone of voice is kinda weird whenever she asks

Realized my mom has been getting my fetish bullshit suggested for her to follow. I had posted one faceless pic, where my hair would be recognizable. I feel like some ancient boomer for not knowing this could happen. Never touching social media again. I kept getting suggestions to follow my mom as well, over and over despite rejecting the suggestion.

No. 931214

>>927219
yeah instagram has absolutely no notion of privacy it’s disgusting. i literally got suggested my old employer from 3 years ago, and i assume i was suggested to her. fucked up his instagram literally trawled through my emails and shit

No. 1005715

I can't browse social media for that long anymore because after a few minutes I get enraged and start to hate people because of all the stupid posts. Even on Tumblr I try to keep my dashboard to people who post pretty pictures but some annoying cringe stuff always makes it's way on there. Forums, blogs, and similar sites don't have this effect on me though.

No. 1005750

>>927219
they will use your phone number and email connections to suggest your account/content to people without asking, all social media does this.

No. 1005805

>>1005750
I once made a social media account (don't remember on what platform) with a new throwaway emailaddress, no phonenumber and a fake name and I STILL got people I know suggested. Freaked the fuck out of me, have never created a social media account again.

No. 1005889

On the desktop version of instagram you can disable your account from being suggested to other people. Don't know how effective it really can be but recently heard of it and checked it off from all my accounts.

I have a (private) spam account on instagram where I originally was alone. Then my best friends started finding it through their recommendations, and from the user and pic they knew it was me (it wasn't obvious, they've just known me for 10+ years) now only three of my closest friends follow it and I'll keep it that way. I love having a spam where I just post random bullshit that only caters to me. I also keep changing the url and pic, and no one besides my 3 friends and another person I rejected have found it/tried following me.
Even if I like this little corner, I think about completely disappearing from social media really often. Might deactivate everything for a while again in 2022 and see where I go from there.
Recently removed all notifications for all social media and it's so fucking annoying how every few times I open the app or log on desktop they try to prompt me to turn on notifications.

No. 1006240

File: 1640588996695.jpeg (8 KB, 247x204, proxy-image.jpeg)

I wish i could go off the grid on social media completely. Being a NEET leaves me with few options for entertainment, so i often make and delete accounts when the schizo kicks in and i start getting paranoid.
If any anons have tips for dealing with that or just weaning off social media from my life forever, i'd be glad to hear.

No. 1006254

>>1005715
tumblr is getting worse and worse, recently it blacklisted a bunch of tags only for iphone users, including something as simple and general as the word "girl", the lengths of censorship they (and for some reason apple in tandem) are going to is ridiculous and have gotten worse and worse since the porn ban

No. 1006264

I have never had any social media accounts. My mom was very against them, and I carried that into my adulthood. I only ever used anonymous imageboards. I was always very happy with my zero social media policy until recently. I’ve started feeling very alone and left out. I feel like I have drifted apart from friends because social media is the main way to keep in touch nowadays. So I’m starting to reconsider. Should I take the plunge and create an insta or whatever normies use to socialize?

No. 1006274

>>1006264
dont do it not worthy of your time, its a waste

No. 1006275

>>1006264
I will go the opposite way and say maybe it would be good if you got some sort of lowkey account for keeping in touch, a private ig honestly sounds ideal for that (well, better than an email lmao). Don't have your face for the pfp maybe as a precaution.

No. 1006290

>>1006264
Do they keep in touch through social media nowadays because of covid?

Social media is designed make you addicted, personally I don't think the risk of lots of time waste and the impact it (potentially) has on the mental health is a risk worth taking. Once you start it's difficult to go back. But I'm saying this from the fortunate position of being able to stay in touch with my friends without social media (despite them having it)

No. 1006298

i had a tumblr from the years 2009-2018 and never used any other social media, i mean sure ive had accounts on instagram and twitter but i just followed people to look at pretty pictures and art sometimes i dont really consider that being an active user since the accounts are completely blank and i dont interact with any posts
i have schizoid personality disorder and tumblr was the only comfortable social media website for me to post and not feel like its something personal, tumblr was cool in its peak but i was a lot younger back then and i have a lot less of a tolerance for human interaction now, i can also handle image boards like here and 4chan since its anonymous but i hate the idea of a personal social media account and posting shit about my life online while not completely anonymous

No. 1006302

>>1006275
This is what I was thinking. A private IG with no pictures of myself and minimal pics in general. So then I would see what people are up to in real life and be able to comment, and maybe talk through DMs? I’m not really sure how it works.
>>1006274
>>1006290
COVID has definitely made it hard, but ever since high school I have had a really difficult time keeping in touch with old friends and making new ones. It used to be we all texted each other non-stop and that led to hanging out in real life, but that’s not the case anymore. It seems like the ones with social media keep in touch that way. I recently did an internship and all my cohorts exchanged instagrams and I fear they will keep in touch that way and I won’t be able to. The only people I talk to and see now are my immediate family and my boyfriend, and I’ve been really missing having close female friends.

No. 1006312

>>1006298
I used to be a silent lurker in my first twitter account and honestly I kinda miss that. I don't use twitter anymore but not interacting with anyone works best for me, IF I had to make one maybe I'll create a separate account for talking so I can nuke it anytime if I regret something. I still keep the same rule for anything else (I don't touch the community section in anilist, etc.)

No. 1006314

File: 1640599697470.png (320.62 KB, 828x1026, image0.png)

I got rid of almost everything in the last 6 months. The only way to contact me is through text, discord, or messenger. I feel fucking realived. I honestly lost my interest ages ago but I can only contact people thru certain apps so too bad I guess. I've deleted all my games off my phone. So the main place I go to is lolcow lol. My biggest downside is that I don't sell my art or showcase it anymore. I suppose I could make an etsy but at the same time I just feel "Eh fuck it"

No. 1006342

>Are you anti social media? Why?
I find it kind of pathetic when people post about shitty photos as if anyone cares lol, and especially when they barely have any followers and they're acting like they're some big celeb. Just the thought of posting shit about yourself online linked to your real identity is beyond my understanding.

>Do you hate social media?

Mostly, yes.

>Do you preffer anonymous websites and imageboards?

Yes

>Do you protect your image and data online? How?

There's no trace of me online. I don't have social media, except private accounts that aren't linked to anyone I know. Sometimes I envy how people find friends on social media but oh well. People I've dated or met have found having no social media weird. My last bf was very active on every platform and it was cringe that my mom could just watch his tiktoks and shit.

>What are your go-to accounts and emails, do you have any hidden ones?

Private instagrams and tiktok, I delete them periodically because I get tired of how stupid it all is.

>Does your job, career choice or field of study require social mefia and how do you manage that?

What the fuck kind of job requires you to have social media?

No. 1006343

I have no social media and I panic whenever I see something about myself online, but at the same time I want to make an Instagram and fake that I'm some rich, fashionable woman for meaningless praise and admiration.

No. 1006347

I only use IG and FB but barely post on them. I just kinda use the messaging system there and leave it at that, so i dont have to give out my phone number. It's easier imo, but i'm hoping to stop posting at all on social media

No. 1006388

Maybe I’m just wearing rose-colored nostalgia glasses, but I feel like LJ and Xanga and MySpace used to be kind of fun. Social media now is just depressing. I felt less connected to people, so I just got rid of it.

I teach, and seeing how social media addiction is warping my students’ brains is harrowing. Some of them don’t have any hobbies at all—just doom-scrolling and oversharing online.

>>1006342
I’ve been required to have an active LinkedIn account, and to use it, for two jobs. I know it’s not the same, but some horny moids love to treat it like it’s FB or a dating site all the same kek.

No. 1006415

>>1006388
>I’ve been required to have an active LinkedIn account, and to use it, for two jobs
Ah okay, I freelance for a company and they made their full time employees change their profile picture to a company branded one and repost stuff.

By active you mean you have to post things? Repost their stuff? Just like/comment?

No. 1006485

>>1006415
Yeah, and I was in sales (never again) so I had a premium account. Just so we could pester C-suite people with InMail. It was horrible lol. We were encouraged to connect with each other and repost company wins and stuff too. It was lame. I’m never working in tech or sales again.

No. 1007723

I deleted things like Facebook in 2017. I recently had a friend who is involved in a Facebook community that pretends to be boomers, so I made one for the lols. Got banned within the hour and now my IP address is permanently banned kek. Trolling aside, I hate social media in the form of blasting your face, and tying your identity to the shit you talk about. Not to mention the crippling mental health issues you get from comparing your shit life to someone else's carefully curated highlight reel. I much prefer anonymous forms, like Reddit (even though all the based subreddits are gone now), and a couple of other websites where I have a following. It's a lot more validating having a following because people engage with the words and thoughts you share, rather than finding validation through how you look, or the persona you have attached to it. However, I talk about a lot of controversial shit, so I may one day delete those too just as a precaution. Being doxxed could ruin my life and I have only gotten away with it for the past few years due to being a complete NEET.

No. 1007752

File: 1640732067402.jpeg (38.86 KB, 540x520, tumblr_765f14ed6c1f05e9b549c49…)

Sage for A-log

Oh god… I really hate social media with a burning passion and if I bring it up with my friends they just say I shouldn't use it then. The initial reason most people hated it were because of things like flex/FOMO culture and influencers, but that's not even the worst of it.

Firstly, the fact our data is being sold to actual gubments and is something no one is concerned about is alarming. My identity is a product you sell. I don't post much anymore but even I have some data left to scrub, doxxing people is really not that hard but thank god I'm boring as hell. Also did you guys know every photo in the Meta socmed app is fed into AI machine learning. So it will try to identify what you are posting. And it does save your facial data. But phones do this too so we're all fucked really.

Secondly, the sheer amount of ads on these damn apps. It's just a new platform for consoomer culture. Content creation is DEAD. Influencers are just corporate shills with no talent or personality but get salty when people bring up the fact they're literally walking billboards and not a real model, kek.

Thirdly, the commodification of sex and sex work. The fact people are thinking this is healthy is concerning. And actual kids are exposed to this and frying they brains from coomer culture and eventually resorting to sex work because it's empowering. No. You're doing it because the economy and society is sick.

I wish I could live off the grid but even someone like me who is averse to social media is pretty reliant on the Internet. It doesn't feel like an addiction but the sheer amount of time we spend online definitely shows a codependent pattern.

No. 1007755

>>1007752
Yes it's horrible and how even smart people don't care or aren't aware is alarming.

Any tips on scrubbing all data about yourself from the internet? Probably can't get rid of it all but I'm terrified of shit I've posted even anonymously on other accounts with VPNs coming back to haunt me. Who knows how advanced tech will be in the future and maybe EVERYTHING you've ever posted no matter through how many security layers, will be able to be linked to you.

No. 1007761

>>1007755
well in that case I hope LC nukes before that happens because I've written a lot of shit here

No. 1007764

>>1007761
I fear even sites that have been nuked will be linked to us. Like a Roko's Basilisk thing. I've done much worse than shitpost on an imageboard due to being anonymous.

No. 1007767

>>1007755
I don't care anymore, I don't even fucking bother.

No. 1007768

>>1007755

NTA but I sometimes google my name or old email addresses. Go through google images. There's usually something that I've missed and because I'm retarded I tended to use the same password for everything, so I usually have no problem signing into something to yeet the account. Now if I google my name there's virtually nothing on there except for a researchgate account I can't access because I no longer have my uni email address, but that one doesn't give me anxiety so much. I want to change my name anyway and always have, and now that I have no friends or family it's the perfect opportunity to kek.

No. 1007778

>>1007752
Easily solved by getting a dumbphone. Also using a laptop (paid in ncash) with vitual machine + firefox privacy offshoot + connected to public internet, just for shitposting. And another laptop/tablet/etc just for offical stuff like banking.

No. 1007779

>>1007752
i feel this a lot. i made an ig account just to seem approachable to people in uni, then had to make a facebook account because my dorm has a facebook group. i used to use twitter and tumblr for years, but eventually stopped. now i found out that if you want to make a twitter account, you have to give them your phone number. it's insane. i also hate influencer shit, all the ads and how it ruins your attention span (tiktok and youtube shorts, i'm looking at you). my degree always makes people say that i should work in marketing or something, but i'm so repulsed by the idea of churning out snazzy lines for some company to look good on the internet.

>It doesn't feel like an addiction but the sheer amount of time we spend online definitely shows a codependent pattern.

you and me both, nonna. it sucks because it's convenient and i wouldn't want to live without netflix and shit, also online shopping. during the height of corona i wouldn't even go out to buy shampoo or moisturizer, i just ordered everything in bulk from my local drug store and had it shipped to my house.

No. 1007781

>>1007778
The good news is, I don't have a phone atm, but a brick won't do, no one in the country I live in uses SMS and I mostly call people from overseas. But I do need to buy a phone that runs WhatsApp and Messenger eventually for work. No one uses any alternatives such as Telegram or Signal. Any recommendations?

No. 1007798

>>1007778
I know I should be doing all this but it's just so convenient to have everything on one phone and laptop.

God I get so much anxiety over this. I wish we could just be in stuck in 2004-esque internet/tech world forever.

No. 1007817

>>1007779
Insta and yt requires your number now too. Big brother is getting too bold.

No. 1007818

>>1007752
It disturbs me how little people care about the data mining Tiktok does. At the start there was concern about it with some countries banning or threatening to ban it but somehow everyone just seemed to forget and now they download it like there's nothing wrong. Yes other social media platforms collect a lot of information but Tiktok is even worse.

No. 1007819

>>1007818
Tiktok is fucking awful. I THINK about something and get tiktoks about it. How??

At this point I'm only on it to support a friend that does tiktoks.

No. 1008019

>>1007818
Kek people don't even realize it (or maybe they just choose to stay ignorant) but it's literally how China is spying on all of us while destroying the last of our attention spans which is why I'm not using that bloody app but at least I'm too old for it anyways.

No. 1008054

how do you get an old facebook account you no longer have access to deleted?
i don't have access to the email i used to sign up for it either. it's a completely automated and impossible process that kind of makes me want to bang my head against a wall. was never really big on social media and i don't have any dead accounts to purge except for this one. driving me absolutely nuts.

No. 1008100

>>1008054
better make peace with the fact that your Facebook account will outlive you

No. 1008142

Someone said to me that social media is making Australians think more and more like Americans and I can't unhear it, it explains all the dumb shit that surprised me during the pandemic and more. I didn't even think there was a big difference between us until I noticed the change.

They don't even need to invade us to Afghanistan us, we're going to Afghanistan ourselves.

No. 1013196

>>605663
Never in my entire life have I used social media. Ok I liked myspace when I was in highschool but quickly got turned off by it. I could sense Facebook would suck the real soul out of me if I had to get on there and perform like a monkey fo points so I stayed the hell away. I like Instagram and Tumblr to strictly follow photographers and artists … Maybe a celebrity or two.. but that's it. I have real boiling rage at social media, for ruining culture.. the ways people express themselves now. Nobody used to listen to me when I said fb would become a pit of vipers.

No. 1013254

I hate social media more than anything, but the one thing I do like about it is being able to share my art and make connections to people. I haven't touched social media in years, I just don't like how soulless everything is nowadays. I do however think Tumblr is the least evil of all of these and I frequently think about going back to it. It didn't seem nearly as insidious as other websites and apps do, but it's kinda dead.

No. 1186968

File: 1652902899873.jpg (656.81 KB, 828x688, 1636139288031.jpg)

I think I have increasingly paranoia and shame about sharing things with others, but I'm slowly getting over it. So I'm thinking of opening an instagram for my art. I tried discord servers but even if people are nice I don't really like interacting. I feel stupid, no one needs to know what I actually believe in.

No. 1186976

I contemplate committing "social media suicide" a lot but I can't actually bring myself to go into my accounts and wipe everything, kek

>>1186968
I feel like there just needs to be a revival of the idea of ethics and etiquette but for the internet. Like, if you're a public facing person don't use an old Twitter account with racial slurs from ten years ago, or delete those posts, this should be common sense.

No. 1186982

>>1186976
I did it few months ago when I was feeling very low, expected to regret it later but I didn't. Very liberating, would recommend.

No. 1186983

>>1186976
I have never had twitter or made racist posts online, wut. Why are you saying this to me kek

No. 1186990

I want to delete my socials (and I have deleted some of them) but like a lot of anons I’m in a creative field, which does kind of require some amount of marketing yourself. It’s frustrating.

No. 1187323

File: 1652927487673.jpg (453.37 KB, 1242x1242, 1650469386198.jpg)

Two years ago my Insta was hacked and I never looked back. I'm only active on relatively anonymous social media like Twitter, Reddit, and private FB groups (e.g. fandom shitposting). It works for me just fine.

No. 1187449

I fluctuate between deleting and reviving my instagram and twitter pages, but I think this time they're gone for good and I have no desire to reactivate. I also took a big step and deleted my old facebook (it has posts and photos and comments from 2009-onwards and it mostly just feels like an awkward graveyard of bad memories and people I don't care about). I made a fresh fb account and only added people I've spoken to within the past year, and I'll just use that for major life event updates for my relatives/invites etc.

No. 1187462

I deleted and deactivated almost all my accounts except for twitter. And I'm barely active on twitter because I deleted a previous account created a new one, and bately follow anyone. But I feel like I'm spending more time there and on lc compared to when I had more accounts because I divide the same amount of time between less websites. But it feels less like a waste because I actually interact with others on these sites.

No. 1187848

>>924767
I know this post is 7 months old but this is extremely accurate and exactly how I feel about social media. Thanks for sharing nonna.

No. 1191914

Feels good to read an ebook rather than scroll on twitter and instagram on the toilet. Next step is to stop taking my phone everywhere with me.

No. 1192084

blogpost but this was a nice writing prompt

I don't have social media because if I have it long enough, I end up sperging out, writing TMI, and then deleting in a fit of shame. I can't help it. If I have the text input long enough, I'm going to shit it up with something. So it's just less mental overhead to not have it. I was an obsessive SM user for a long time and I've had accounts on all the usual platforms, but I gradually faded out and quit all of them over the last three years.

It sucks currently bc I moved to a new city where I don't know anyone and I want to make a local friend. People here do that via FB events, but I really don't want to invest time in befriending people who use social media. The last thing I want to do is rejoin that hellsite and break my streak just to suffer some mouthbreather hawking an MLM at a meetup. I'm also not a mom which is an entirely other issue.

I'm also super fucking bad at keeping abreast of happenings in my friends lives. I hate appearing nosy or triggering tough conversations, so I avoid asking about big life things in general. Without SM, I usually miss the important life events they passively share with the world, and since I'm not like immediate family or whatever, I'm not important enough to inform personally. My not having SM is a chore to my peers. Any time I'm in a group of mutual friends, I need things that I missed explained to me. I'm inconvenient to know, despite being ridiculously easy to get in touch with.

No. 1192671

I’m choosing to post this here because it’s tengentially related: what do you guys think about people posting photos of their kids online? I knew a pedophile so every time I see a pic of a kid I think “aww thats so sweet but also please never put your child’s photo online”, but then I feel stupid because it’s like damn, kids can’t just exist?? But then again pedos go online to compile folders of innocent pics of kids they like which they can’t really do in real life. BUT pedos do also take pics of random kids in public anyway. And even if your average mom isn’t uploading her family photos, there’s still stock photos/advertisements both online and in physical copies. So ultimately I just don’t know, but I think if I had a kid I would definitely not post their photos, even just amongst family members.

No. 1192682

I think having no social media is smart. I know this is petty and borderline schizo but I don't like the idea of people just being able to google me and keep tabs on me. It's not their business.

No. 1192684

>>1192671
I think posting appropriate photos of your kids online is fine on your (private) social media. Pedophiles have much easier methods of collecting and gathering photos of children and unfortunately I don’t think it’s a solvable issue. In general, the average parents best defense is just teaching your children good social media etiquette and having a transparent (albeit tough) convo about predators and grooming, creating a healthy environment for your child to share things with you, and making sure your child is appropriately dressed in public. Also not dumping every bit of your child’s info on fb. There’s an entire Russian forum just full of millions of photos of kids based upon age/looks/basically any weirdly specific category you can find and that makes me feel pretty sick in itself, but the odds of us being able to change that are just improbable.

I have a family member who is a junkie and has nauseated us with the photos she used to post of her kids on facebook—totally public and just full of half naked and bathtub pics of them. While as family and friends we know she didn’t mean anything by it, it’s just her blatant ignorance and disregard for her own childrens safety that pissed us off. She got her kids taken away several times if that says anything. I think some women are a level of paranoid that is crazy though, like women who think anyone looking at their child in target is pedo and/ or human trafficker etc. We can be vigilant for our kids without being Soren Hayes level of “oh my god he took the babies diaper off he’s going to fuck it” sort of thing.

No. 1192685

>>1192682
its not schizo its leverage. good for us

No. 1192691

>>1192084
>Without SM, I usually miss the important life events they passively share with the world, and since I'm not like immediate family or whatever, I'm not important enough to inform personally.
people are honestly so entitled lol. imagine expecting other people keep up with your dumb ass picture blog

No. 1198074

>>924767
>>1187848

Agreed. This is an excellent post.

I quit social media at the beginning of 2017. The anxiety it provoked wasn't worth it. It wasn't just the overstimulation of too much information and opinions, it was this weird feeling that I was constantly being judged or watched by followers. I felt irritated when I wasn't getting attention, but at the same time I would feel irritated when I did receive attention. The situation was irrational, unreasonable, and clouded by distorted thinking on my part. Like >>924767 said, I don't think human communication has evolved for the scale of the internet, or its speed. It weirds me out when I hang out with people my age and they can't maintain focus on a project or a conversation, and they expect to get what they want immediately. (Granted, not everyone my age is like this but it's enough to be noticeable). It took time, but after I deleted social media I started to be more mindful about things. What I was doing, what I was saying, what was going on around me. Despite the fact I do things deliberately and slowly, I still have plenty of time in my day because it's devoid of social media.

I don't know what social media is going to be like 5 years from now, but I have trouble imagining it to be any less of a train-wreck than it is now.

No. 1198114

This is probably gonna sound stupid but how do I get over purging cool pictures of me. Should I print them and hang them up ?

No. 1198128

>>1198114
Tbh, it's not a bad idea. You can keep an album. I think you will reflect on your pics on the future and it will be cool! That's what our parents and grandparents used to do isn't it?

No. 1198129

I didn't delete but I stopped using my Twitter accounts around 2017. I was addicted to it from 2010 to 2016. 6 years of my life wasted on Twitter. I didn't go back to school partially because I didn't want to miss anything on twitter. Also, I used to use Instagram as a place of inspiration, but I realized much quicker that IG made me feel like absolute crap. Seeing all the cool stuff people were posting made me depressed about my life. Oddly enough, Pinterest doesn't make me feel that way and I still love Pinterest. I do use IG for my choice of career, but I do not scroll my feed or explore at all.

No. 1199471

>>1198114
If it's on facebook you can set them as visible only to you so they will still be there maybe? Printing is a good idea, or saving in some cloud service.

No. 1200326

On topic of artists with a small following and an online/offline presence, how much anxiety do you get over an account you have a mostly anonymous presence on (save a select few irl who know your username) affecting your real life? For me, I like to keep my presence to a minimal, but in the age of the internet where you have to censor or modify everything (mild swearing, mild blood, bad anatomy tutorials) it gets annoying. I wish to take comissions for extra money, but hesitate.

No. 1200363

>>1198114
I need to do this. Get an external HD and keep them there. I want to remove all my media posts from the last 10 years too.

No. 1200365

>>1200326
I'm sort of in the same boat. I want to take commissions, but I don't want the general public to know my (somewhat unique) name. People are so insane online nowadays, what if someone decides to slander me because they misread a post or something equally stupid, you know? I also want to sell my works, but I would want to do it anonymously… not have my name on the package, no address on the return slip, none of that. Not sure what to do.

No. 1200367

>>1199471
I wouldn't save on the cloud, what if it gets leaked later down the road? I agree with >>1200363, get an external hard drive and save them there. Or a USB flash drive, those are very durable and have gotten super cheap over the years. You can get 256GB drives for like $30 now.

No. 1200386

I really don't get how people are so comfortable using social media the way they do. The thought of someone man I barely know or don't know at all looking at pictures of me and having information about my life disgusts me beyond belief. I feel like everyone who uses social media to share their life must be quite mentally ill.

No. 1200494

>>1198074
Late but
>I felt irritated when I wasn't getting attention, but at the same time I would feel irritated when I did receive attention.
is so true. A few years ago I participated in a few meme subreddits, and whenever I posted something I made I had horrible anxiety. Glad I stopped.

No. 1200500

>>1200386
Posting pictures of yourself has been normalized for the past two decades, it sucks so bad.
>>1200365
I hear if you make a paypal business account, your name doesn't show for the customer.

No. 1210677

Yes! Normalize NOT posting yourself all over the goddamn internet.

I fucking loathe TikTok. It’s full of talentless retards at best, and at worst it grooms and brainwashes young people in ways I find deeply horrific. I think it’s irreparably destroyed gen z much like Facebook has irreparably destroyed boomers.

I think using Twitter literally makes you a stupider, shittier person. Even if I would normally agree with someone about everything, being a twitterfag would probably warp them into the worst strawman stereotype of whatever they support.

Ironically tumblr of all things being taken over by radfems has redeemed it slightly. At least it’s still easy to be anonymous.

No. 1340465

File: 1663221002069.jpeg (26.82 KB, 640x487, received_1026213224697148.jpeg)

I reactivated my instagram because of some childish and stupid need for attention for my selfies and "aesthetic photos" (i.e. because I wanted people to think my life is better than it is). as soon as I reposted on it someone I thought was my friend unfollowed and softblocked me. it's retarded but it genuinely reduced me to tears and had me spiralling for days. I deleted the account again but I really played myself here. I could have happily lived without knowing that she disliked me that much.

No. 1340468

>>1340465
was she an online friend? sounds stuck up

No. 1340470

>>1340465
why the fuck did she do that

No. 1340492

Ive all but removed images of myself on the internet. My instagram is private and has no posts, I’ve stopped doing insta stories. I have no Facebook, twitter, tiktok. I mostly just use any social media now to connect with friends, my job has a lot of people moving all over the world. I only use snap for one friend and never post to it. I’m just tired of it all and want to delete insta and snap too. I have linkedin but only for professional reasons and I never use it, will probably nuke it when I remember. My day doesn’t feel wasted when I avoid social media, but I might be slowly replacing it with lolcur so I’ll have to analyze this.

No. 1340511

>>1340468
nope but she is a terminally online person who thinks she's the face of ~academic twitter~ in my city kek

>>1340470
she's been hanging around with a bpd psycho who doesn't like me because I won't stand for her shit. so I guess this person has been lying about me. I am just hurt because I thought she maybe had more of her wits about her. she had known me for years irl before she ever met this bpd narc

No. 1340538

>>1340511
>terminally online person who thinks she's the face of ~academic twitter~ in my city
KEK

No. 1341636

I'm currently not on any site that has me sign up etc. but I'm thinking of going back and using instagram because my friends only use it and communication is becoming slightly hard because they apparently don't check their messages as often. If I have to reopen an account I might just use it as an actual archive system for things but I don't know I don't actually want to use it

No. 1341638

Be me on Facebook
Like for Jun Heon Love for Eminem
Wtf
News article pops up. “Britney Spears Christina Aguilera Instagram post” or something
Ohhh
I was browsing celebricow thread.

No. 1341653

>>605663
I absolutely despise social media. The overwhelming majority of people are too unintelligent to be given unfettered access to the internet, and the current state of society really shows this. Mass communication qua social media was absolutely a mistake. Anonymous imageboards are, by far, superior for myriad reasons. To name only one, imageboards don't do weird behaviorist shit to condition you into needing your next "like" or whatever. Social media does

No. 1341741

>>1341653
Same, how the most basic social media platforms work is already fucked In my opinion. The development of trends and Up-and downvote features as well as the requirement to make yourself recognizable substantially takes away from the free flow of the discourse and its potential. It causes extremely problematic dynamics but no one wants to talk about the meta stuff because people are dumb and reflecting on this is not entertaining enough to them so they tend to seek their next little dopamine rushes and check back if someone liked their shitty hot take about x currently polarizing topic instead, rinse and repeat. It wouldn’t be an issue at all if all of that shit stayed in those online spaces, but it doesn’t. It seeps into the rest of the world and influences trends and political developments, even affecting the lifes of people who aren’t online at all or as much. Anonymous spaces are not immune to trend developments and stupid dynamics but if they have stable rules and moderation they provide a way better ground for and are actually stimulating unfiltered constructive discourse due to posts being judged by their content alone. I could doom about why social media is a curse forever. It’s a mess and I wish there would be more anon spaces or at least more non-profit oriented anon spaces with stable rules and a bit of moderation like no racebait rule on here. its absolutely necessary as almost all non profit platforms who didn’t want to do this due to muh free speech got flooded and claimed by stormfags and the likes the second they saw they can shill their shit ideologies there without getting banned.
>>1210677
I swear this shit kills your attention span. Also
>being a twitterfag would probably warp them into the worst strawman stereotype of whatever they support.
Sad but true, Twitters algorithm and trend dynamics is literally fostering the development of echo chambers and radicalization from the way it works at it’s core. It’s like looking at an artificial caricature of humanity where half of it is bots and marketing, an absolute cesspit. I truly believe we have to educate more about these problems as it will most likely become more relevant in our lives.

No. 1341775

>>1341741
samefag adding to my post that social media is only useful for niche hobbies or art, almost everything that involves actual irl politics turns into a toxic sludge the second it becomes of interest.
>Do you protect your image and data online? How?
I don’t give as many fucks about that nowadays as I used to because I’m tired and boring and probably not very marketable and being profiled and having your metadata commercialized is hard to avoid nowadays. idgaf if someone knows which anime pictures I like but I always had the habit of using different aliases and mails for different accounts and refraining from using services that requires legitimate identifiable data that I do not absolutely need. Sorry that I sperg about this so much but it’s a topic that really bothers me. everytime I hear someone say “why should you be concerned with privacy when you have nothing to hide” I just want to facepalm and die because its not about that and such a dangerous and misleading take.
>Does your job, career choice or field of study require social media and how do you manage that?
No and I would complain the hell out of it if it did.

No. 1341874

I stopped posting shit on instagram like a year ago and it feels so good. I no longer feel obligated to take a hundred selfies every time I do my makeup or wear something cute. I no longer feel like I have to take photos of everything whenever I go out and do something fun. I just live in the moment and don't feel "invisible" by not documenting it online to a bunch of strangers.

It's now to the point where it feels really weird and narcissistic for me to post a selfie lol. And if someone likes it, it feels creepy.

No. 1341882

>>1341775
The problem with privacy is that you don't necessarily know what you need to hide until after you need to have hidden it. For example, I'm glad I never posted about my expensive hobbies under my real name, because my health, job prospects, and finances went to shit. I don't indulge in them any more, except to do commissions and sell stuff, but I know people would still judge me for it, as if I could have seen the future, or a few hundred dollars per year saved could have made a real difference. People would judge me, then go buy a $100 game or $50 makeup palette without a hint of irony.

No. 1342053

>>1341882
that's why you hide everything, from everyone you don't fully trust

No. 1342433

I hate how social media made people passive aggressive and scared of confrontation in daily life. Instead of posting your neighbors yard on Tiktok with an angry caption just go and ask them to clean it up. If people are hogging the tennis court in the park ask them when they’ll be done instead of writing a Reddit post to complain with a sneaky phone picture attached. Not everything needs to be posted online.

No. 1342439

Lolcow went down and I really thought my internet addiction was over, rip. I just don't like social media that much to begin with

No. 1343092

File: 1663595060132.jpg (68.26 KB, 850x693, sample-c45b957ee37b0da9cbf40af…)

I'm 28 with a pretty heavy offline job and every now and then I post my art online, I have notifications turned off on all mobiles apps so I only check Messenger and Whatsapp when I'm making the choice to because a few years back notifications and the pressure of needing to always be avaliable really ate away at me. I'm still social, meet with friends and have a loving relationship with my partner, but I keep things heavily offline. The only thing that is sometimes a bit awkward is when I post on art social media, I can't just say "Sorry I've been inactive for a year, my mother got cancer again" or, "Sorry I haven't posted much, I got really sick" so my general "I know I'm inactive" posts probably look flaky and vague but I don't want to air all my life and personal stuff online. I did as a teenager and it was so unhealthy.

No. 1343175

>>1342439
kek same here anon. but of course i checked like 3 times a day to see if the site was back up

No. 1343577

several years ago i ran an account on instagram that got me a little bit of attention but completely consumed my life. i made a lot of friends through it but now that i dont post anymore, they seem uninterested in hanging out or catching up because i no longer have clout or get dressed up. i also don't really have an interest in hearing them complain about how they arent getting enough likes on their posts when we do talk
it's funny how when you divest from social media, your whole perspective on posting changes. i feel so much better now for sure.

No. 1345935

I am literally disgusted I knew tiktok was morally bankrupt but I had no idea it went as far as exposoing their own staff to CSA materials in order to better "moderate the platform". It's literally evolved into my free cams for teens and users that acknowledge that fact are suspended instantly where those engaged in the behaviour continue to be victimised by disgusting old men for profit. Video related.

No. 1346702

>>1345935
All social media does that, how else would they moderate a platform with hundreds of millions of users?

No. 1348000

I'm on the verge of leaving all servers and unfollowing practically everyone who isn't family or an IRL friend. It's been chewing at me for a few days now for how much the instant-ness of social media affects my mental wellbeing. I don't want to be so connected this way. I want to use messages to briefly talk to a friend once a week at most and make plans to hang out, that's it.
I've condensed my Discord following down to 4 servers, one is just my own I may reset for me, my boyfriend, and our local friends to share things and just keep it as that.
How do you release that last part of your online friendships? Why is it so hard? I'll miss them for how many years I've known them for, but I understand these friendships are getting nowhere. No plans to meet, too expensive to do it with more than half the friends I have, so what's the point? I want to focus on real life. They are people I use to escape reality and I do not want that anymore. I want to go outside more. The friends I've made and meeting my boyfriend is helping me do more things, and he struggles with a social media presence too and it's great we're working on this together.
I've been too connected online since I was in middle school, it started on MySpace and random forums. At this point I'm tired.
I've told many people in my life I use social media as a diary, where I post and do minimal interaction with my friends, but even with that it still affects me a bit because I have a bit of a following; ~800 people on all social media with a follower count combined.
I only want to use the internet now to collect data and interesting information and watch random videos and look at funny images and listen to music and download games to play and use programs for productivity, but that's it. I want to go back to the old days.
Thankfully my job doesn't use social media, but I do have a side gig as a musician where we do local touring and the places use social media to promote us, but I might set aside time to promote us in real life, like hang up flyers at local businesses and light poles.

No. 1348049

I used to vent on here that I hated having a discord for college and regretted not making a separate one for close friends. Since then I graduated and deactivated my discord, created a new one with 3 other friends added, I'm on 5 servers. I make it a point to only socialize with others on servers and I'm glad no one from college is asking me about if I have a job or want to take me out on a date since I was in STEM. 90% of my friends on my previous discord were shitty men who'd message me to waste my time.

>Are you anti social media? Why?

I'm not. I like looking at memes and people's input on things.
>Do you hate social media?
Having social media without tweaks (like ublock element blocking) makes social media shitty. On Twitter I block the recommended accounts or the trending tab. I treat most sites like a dumpster. I have close to 28k accounts blocked across all apps I use. I find using it extremely fun once you create your own personal filter.
>Do you prefer anonymous websites and image-boards?
No. I mostly use lolcow as a place to see the opposing end of discussions but it's extremely isolating not knowing who you truly are talking to. I like forming friendships on games but I don't use this site's friend finder just because of the amount of anons from crystal.cafe / trannies from 4chan. I don't really do well talking to others with imageboard speak through messaging.
>Do you protect your image and data online? How?
I make it a habit to never vent on an account attached to my name or internet aliases. I see it as exposing your weaknesses. Other than that I don't have any of my accounts on private, but I don't tell too many people about them.
>What are your go-to accounts and emails, do you have any hidden ones?
Tiktok, Twitter, Tumblr, Discord. I don't use Instagram because it's an advertising shitshow kek
>Does your job, career choice or field of study require social media and how do you manage that?
Not really. I use Slack and post vacation photos in designated channels.

No. 1348083

The only social media I have is LinkedIn which would be the first result if I google my very unique name. I hate it and I wish there was a way to only appear in Linkedin's search. I already had it set so that only LinkedIn users can view my profile and set it so I don't appear in Google search, but the privacy protection obviously didn't work since I found out I still appear in Google and anyone can view my profile.

No. 1348286

>>1348083
Have you tried sending Google a request to remove your listing? US has a law for the right to be forgotten. Might help you get it taken down.

No. 1348584

>>1348286
NTA but isn't the law EU exclusive?

No. 1351715

>>1346702
>All social media does that, how else would they moderate a platform with hundreds of millions of users?
I genuinely don't understand what point you're responding to with this reply sorry anon. But I'll start with by not by showing CSA material to their moderators? I don't need to be shown CP to know it when I do come across it and remove it accordingly. I also fail to comprehend how they managed to instantly ban a fully clothed teen who's just answering a question pertaining to the problem that exists outside of her account, but not manage to ban another teen with thousands more interactions/stickers actually engaging in a cam show. Literally pole dancing for a live audience. Of course they can't sanitise the whole platform, but it just goes to show who's moderating that God forsaken place and where their priorities (or lack thereof) are. Also ngl I meant to vent about this in the tiktok hate thread woops.

No. 1352897

I am not active on social media but I fear I have to because I want to work in marketing. I just find a lot of the things posted really stupid and unnecessary and only follow meme or history pages because I don't care about influencers, brands or other people's life. I only care about people, who will tell me directly what happens in their life. Posting about your private life seems so stupid - like who cares? And the sincerity on instagram is dead since years. I also refuse to download TikTok, it just seems like a waste of time to wait until the content is shown and half of the people there only do videos to show how "attractive" they are in a few seconds, even if the video is about a murder case. I also deleted instagram almost 1 and a half years ago off my phone and because of that I am online like every 2 months

No. 1366274

>>1348000
Updating; I have successfully stopped myself from posting more often on social media, but I've now circulated to here and other chan adjacent sites. I downloaded an app that sets timers for the apps and websites I visit. It seems to be doing a better job keeping me off the internet for longer especially since it can target specific websites for me to limit myself on browsing. I give myself 30 minutes a day to browse on lolcow so might as well make the most of it.
I've been journaling more too which I love, better than updating a private Twitter for my 5 friends to see.

No. 1452076

nonnies help me stay strong. I am feeling attention-starved and want to set up a twitter account again because it was the only place where people enjoyed my shitposts and I miss posting selfies online (basically a whole bunch of reasons that just boil down to vanity). how do I keep myself away? struggling with comparison on social media/struggling with online "friendships" has genuinely made me suicidal in the past but for some reason telling myself that isn't enough to keep me away

No. 1452108

>>1452076
Do you not have irl friends?

No. 1452493

>>1452108
yes but I'm not going to spam them with random shitposts and selfies am I, because who does that?

No. 1452621

>>1452076
Read the cyberstalking and snooping threads.

No. 1452734

>>1452621
THIS
If this doesn’t put you off from flaunting your ass on the internet I don’t know what will do. Or look into what women who got stalked and had shit they wanted to keep private leaked have to say.

No. 1456061

>>1452621
NTA but I'm similar to this anon and I love cyberstalking. I just believe I'm not interesting or mentally ill enough for someone to try to dig deeper into my information, most of my info I can find under my name is outdated anyways. Even still, I feel immune from being trolled or becoming a cow. I just like saying random shit and regurgitating random trivia.
I'm already pretty offline, but I haven't gotten far enough to deleting my social media accounts, they're mostly there for archival purposes. Maybe i should just download my data and back it up to one of my 4 cloud drives if i want the nostalgia

No. 1456065

>>1452076
Actually seek therapy. Wanting validation from random strangers in a scenario you know will make you suicidal is not healthy,

No. 1456080

>>1456061
>I just believe I'm not interesting or mentally ill enough for someone to try to dig deeper into my information
Apologies for coming across as unhinged maybe but sometimes when I catch a random stranger name, for example in situations like when I see their phone/laptop screen in public transport or so, I can spend a few hours just digging through everything I can find about them later at home. I have zero intention to do anything bad with it, I just cant resist a temptation to dig into a strangers life like that, no matter how normie and mundane they wouldn't be. The odds may be lower but still, you not being cowish enough doesn't mean no one ever will be interested in digging

No. 1456135

>>1456061
don't ever think like that lmao. i've been cyberstalked by someone for almost two entire years straight at this point. i do nothing but write fanfic and post stupid tweets but whoever it is (some retard Brazilian, that's all i know) somehow managed to find my full name despite me not having it attached to ANYTHING and doxed me in the comments of my ao3 of all things. only threatening to go to the police stopped them from doing it out in the open and now they settle for privately quote retweeting everything i tweet or do from a private account, which has been going on for close to a year now. funny too because i'm lucky since it's relatively mild, even though they've shown they know my full name and have implied they know my location (again, i don't know how, and i thought i was good with opsec). do not ever think you aren't interesting enough or that you're 'too private' for someone to find things out about you.

No. 1456136

>>1456135
samefag as well but i'm not one of those retarded pro/antishippers. i write normal fluffy fanfic, so it's not even that i'm mentally ill or that they get kicks out of doing it because i react. i also have very little social media (dead insta, a letterboxd account, no facebook etc) in fact it was when i DIDN'T react for too long that they went for the dox. people just really are bonkers and if you're into cyberstalking, you should know how bonkers people can be even if you aren't yourself

No. 1466073

>>1366274
Nonna, this and your previous message sound so similar to my situation. Though I'm not proceeding as far as you are, especially as I see this message of yours being from 3 months ago - I hope you're doing great wherever you are!
I've been glued to online things for almost 20 years, which makes detaching from social media so hard. I hate to see people not keeping in contact unless you are present there. I'm starting to think am I desperate enough to put up some paper letter ad on some local market for penpals but I don't want any scrotes' attention. Feels sad.
Something good has come from limiting online presence: I've reconnected with my family, and I aim to keep in contact with them more now on.

No. 1528754

>>1456135
>do not ever think you aren't interesting enough or that you're 'too private' for someone to find things out about you.
True. Sometimes I'll stalk people's social media they have linked on their Tumblr for a while until I get bored of them and find the next person. I don't do anything with it like ohter anons have said and I never save any info I find. I just get curious.

No. 1839225

It's a new year, I deleted some accounts. I have one email and the following accounts: pinterest (deactivated), discord (deactivated), reddit, and amino. I keep milling on whether I should delete my discord and amino since they are both used for a specific online community that I've grown out of. I only discovered imageboards about a year ago, I didn't post anywhere online until then. I like being mostly anonymous and not having to censor myself.

On another note, I think I want to start posting ~ anonymously ~ online on maybe a little blog, just as something to do. I wasn't around for the time on the internet where small spaces for fandoms, personal websites, forums, etc. were abundant. Maybe I could set up my own website but I'm pretty technologically illiterate.

No. 1839504

>>1839225
websites are pretty easy. you can do a lot with html alone and you can copy a lot of code from websites like www.w3schools.com.

No. 1839628

File: 1704426826695.png (1.34 MB, 630x849, tree.png)

Haven't had any social media at all in like a decade. I don't think there's any trace at all of me online and i only wished i was never part of it in the first place.

I was extremely against it from the start. I thought facebook was for retards when it was just starting out but eventually got convinced by friends after much peer pressure to join and i regreted it. I cringe thinking about my time as a user but i did let it fuck with my head and i was caught reacting and posting retarded bullshit that made me mad and eventually realized how much it was changing me.

Social media turns people into lolcows, i've seen the most sensible smart people i knew transitioning into histrionic buffons just from overexposure to social media, it is designed for that, it WILL bypass your defense mechanism and self control eventually and i wanted no more part in it.

Even people who have the normie profile where they don't post anything and never change their status and profile pictures are fucking getting wrecked just by browsing and lurking. Its a disease.

No. 1840342

Are you anti social media? Why?
Yes. I think it's bad to have all your life publicly documented.
Do you hate social media?
Honestly, yeah. It gave normies a reason to be online. When it first got popular, I was really excited because I thought I could find more friends. Quite the opposite. Normies just want to start drama and cancel people. I just want to enjoy my fandoms.

Do you prefer anonymous websites and imageboards?

I do! I like using the internet for my niche interests bc I'm aspergers. I love learning and I want to find more friends to bond over my interests with.
Do you protect your image and data online? How?
My family expects me to have a facebook, but I don't use it. I almost never log on and I log out when I'm done.
What are your go-to accounts and emails, do you have any hidden ones?
There's a spam email address I use to sign up for things.
Does your job, career choice or field of study require social media and how do you manage that?
It doesn't. Thank god.

No. 1848561

I’m addicted and I hate it. I know I have nothing IRL and I’m just watching other people live life and I can’t. I feel like an overgrown child in an adult’s body. It’s driving me insane

No. 1848570

>>1848561
That's cringe

No. 1848587

>>1848561
Then delete it you fucking retard. Why do people enjoy being miserable

No. 1848638

>>1848561
if you can manage to stay off social media completely for 2-3 days it loses a massive amount of appeal, happens very quickly. even if you go back it won't feel the same and you'll stay off longer and longer until you rarely check it if ever. good luck.

No. 1848797

>>1848561
Whenever you feel the urge to browse social media pick up a pencil and a piece of paper and start drawing. You’ll thank me later when you end up being the next Kim Jung-gi.

If you don’t feel like drawing just do anything else. Literally anything else is better than scrolling on social media. Even watching longform slop on YouTube (I’m talking about those mass-produced video essays talking about inane shit) is better than going on Twitter or Instagram. You will eventually fill your days with something else when you realize the massive amount of time that gets freed up once you leave these platforms. I’ve wasted almost an entire day on Twitter today after a week of not going there and I can definitely feel the impact it had on my well being, and each time it happens I realize I could’ve completed the tasks I’ve been putting off for several days. Don’t be like this and think about the opportunity cost that comes from wasting hours on social media daily over a long enough period of time. You can always decide to stop.

No. 1848905

>>1848587
I delete it and then I create another account. And I delete and create an new account. it’s a cycle for me, I know it and I hate it

>>1848570
I know

>>1848797
That’s my new years goals. So far, it’s nothing but lines and boxes. I’m much worse at faces than I thought

No. 1849045

Aside from a twitter for following artists and a discord I use as a group chat with irl friends I only have an IG. I originally made it to post my outfits and art but very quickly I got sucked into the performative aspects of social media. I never really cared about likes but I was too much of a perfectionist to upload a sketch I wasn't 100% happy with, or a selfie that wasn't perfectly posed and lit with a nice background and impeccable styling.
It made my hobbies feel more like a job than for fun, and I'd get so anxious over making something "perfect" I almost stopped altogether. I keep the account just so I can link it to normies and they won't think I'm an antisocial freak but I don't even have the app installed anymore. I've lost friends, even real life ones, since going offline. But then I realize that most of those I've lost were the types to just sit there and scroll IG or make tiktoks together (which I did to appease my friends but god I fucking hated it) so not much of value was lost anyways. Imageboards have always felt way more welcoming to me for some reason anyways

No. 1849086

>>1848797
i've wasted weeks of my life on twitter because I had nothing else to fill my time, peak NEET

No. 1851553

File: 1705154783153.jpg (286.4 KB, 1920x1280, woman-coding-on-laptop.jpg)

i realized that after using the unhook extension for yt + greyscaling my computer + a github yt shorts extension block + filling my time with good hobbies = i cannot stand even looking at youtube titles and thumbnails after not looking at them for so long, and also how little i truly actually care about the youtubers that were very much a big part of my life as a teen or as of now i'm close to saying goodbye to lolcow (except for the book recommendations thread) and instead just actually opening up about everything to my actual friends and making plans to hangout, but 100% lolcow is damn addicting to my hate watching and i have to work on that part of nyself that projects so fucking hard

I think the main reason why i am so ok with parting or avoiding social media is because i always filled my time with hobbies/knowledge i care about, also journalling for 3 pages every day helped a lot, dedicated long walk times, defaulting to airplane mode, minimalism and general self love

tips for people itt that want to quit
1) you'll make it more difficult to quit if you believe to be abnormal e.g. i thought talking to strangers was hard but its as easily saying "hi" and then listening then saying whatever, because you'll never see them again, or coding or math or anything under the sun, you will unconsciously make it hard for yourself if you do believe its hard yourself
2) fill time with actual good hobbies, no consumerist hobbies, hobbies with actual production and result which has to be there
3) dont be strict and vague about your time on the social media, troubleshooting for quick problems like reddit or YouTube is fine and warranted, anything for pleasure should be given a time slot beforehand (yesterday, or the morning of) of'x' minutes (even hours if its that bad) of 'x' social media what matters is that its slotted in and afterward you cannot check that site again
4) i highly recommend fumio sasaki's goodbye things, the julia Cameron's artists way and cal Newport's digital minimalism for further help (use annas-archive.org)

No. 1851633

>>1851553
not really a socmed addict since i'm not on any platforms but i didn't even know that you can grayscale your pc! i just did that, thank you for the tip, nonna.

if you don't mind me asking, what hobbies did you pick up? everyone always recommends artsy hobbies but i'm genuinely bad at stuff like this. i like stuff like jigsaw puzzles, building legos and putting together furniture, but anything artistic or handicrafts is a nightmare for me. i even took several courses when i wanted to learn crocheting/knitting and pottery and the instructors are always disturbed because i seem to have the opposite of talent and i don't get better with practice at all.

No. 1851706

>>1851633
NTA but I like puzzles and some none artsy hobbies are
>Sudoku
>Word Search’s
>games like professor Layton or brain age
>walks, running, hikes
>I really enjoy having a bird feeder and getting to bird watch everyday, it also gets me outside to fill it since they wait on the fence for me in the morning. The bird watching is technically a hobby and I have learned more about my local wild life. Kek
>weight lifting or stretching to podcasts, audiobooks, or music.
>they make puzzle board games like crime crisis and other murder or detective based games.
>origami is kind of artistic but it’s really just instructions measuring and paper folding. The repetition is soothing.
>wood working or whittling.
>window or yard gardening.
>cooking and learning new recipes. Or picking up baking. Cooking and baking is just chemistry etc it also makes more sense when you understand the science.

No. 1851777

>>1851706
thank you for the suggestions!! i love baking and i wanna try and challenge myself more starting this year, namely by trying to get into baking fancy cakes with layers and baking with yeast. there are a ton of cooking and baking courses available at my local community college so i might pick up some courses there.

sadly i live right in the middle of the city so i don't have a garden, but i just saw that there are bird feeders for windows and windowsills available. i'm gonna have to do some research of them..

No. 1851858

I use Snapchat and maybe Goodreads sometimes for social, I deleted Facebook years ago and insta during covid, and I don’t use tiktok. I’m 25 and I do use technology etc but just absolutely cannot stand overly plugged in, social media attention-needy people. My old social circle was full of them. I can’t tell you how much less of a consumer I am without insta, and how much less my BDD bothers me. It’s so weird how everyone from age 13-35 just has to put their lives online it seems like. I feel like we all know tiktok is the worst of the worst, but Instagram was really really bad for me and I will never go back no matter how many people try to goad me into it.

No. 1851962

i love not having "classic" social media. i deleted my facebook and instagram a few years ago. i still browse pinterest and old reddit, but i don't really consider them to be social media in the classic sense because they're not attached to my name or image and especially since i can control/curate my experience and block ads.

i do sometimes get a bit of FOMO, feel a bit lonely, and occasionally feel a bit odd when i'm asked about not having social media, but then i'm so relieved by not having to deal with the petty, obsessive nonsense driven by social media. i don't think it's healthy to to have constant voyeuristic access to the personal information about each other social media presents to us. without social media, lolcows would likely be few and far between.

i think social media also encourages a lot of muddied and passive engagement that doesn't actually satisfy our human social needs. "liking" a post or viewing a story isn't really social interaction but we act like it is because it sparks off a little bit of dopamine in our brains. similarly, there's also the parasocial relationships that come into play on platforms like twitch and youtube. i think this is partially why so many young millennials and zoomers struggle with social anxiety and direct communication.

as i've grown older, i don't really feel a desire to share with people outside of my small, trusted circle. i've come to really understand the value of real life connection/interaction and protecting my mental peace. i really love not having products constantly shilled at me via ads and sponsorships. i love not having to see inflammatory content that exists solely as clickbait. i love not having updates from people who are no longer pertinent to my life in anyway beamed into my eyes and taking up valuable brain space.

i think the internet will always serve a utilitarian purpose, but i see social media falling off for the most part in the future. it will be perceived as a zany product of its time. i think there's already a trend of moving towards privacy-oriented products and i think that will continue especially as AI and data scraping continue to play more prominent roles in tech.

No. 1851984

>>1851962
I use Pinterest too. I don't have a following or follow others on there. I have a blank instagram/tiktok account to save and browse inspiration accounts etc. But I haven't had an active social media since around 2015. I think my body dysmorphia and social anxiety and simply ground level self esteem made me purge them all. But sometimes I do wish I had some kind of platform

No. 1852015

I only ever use Instagram since 2021 because Facebook blocked my account because I dared to log in anywhere else than home (which is bullshit IP tracking) and they didn't validate me sending my ID to verify my identity and asked for other documents to confirm my identity instead, which they can keep up to a year (which is downright fucking creepy) so I decided not to comply because fuck that shit. I had a phase where I migrated to Twitter for six to nine months because I used to use it to criticize the Eurovision song contest, which was hilarious, but I hated the negativity of the platform in general. I don't use anything else than IG and WhatsApp to communicate with my family, friends, colleagues etc.
Otherwise I entertain myself watching YouTube on my TV screen, I sometimes crochet while watching things, or I play on my Switch lite. It doesn't bother me anymore to not have Facebook or Twitter feeds to check because nothing really new happens anyhow to the people I know. If it did, they'd call or write me, and they usually do if that's the case.
I wanna pick up more reading and finally empty my on hold stack of books, maybe go back to a reading on my way to work in the public transport and same to get back home, as well as go back for a weekly swim as well and some yoga.

No. 1852076

>>1851984
used to use Pinterest a lot for image searches but not anymore since its fucked completely by AI

No. 1852200

>>1851984
>>1852076
i only use pinterest with my friend because we write rp together so we make boards for our ocs and ships but i never interact with anyone there so it never seemed like another socmed platform for me. then again, my friend can scroll it for hours while i scroll for five minutes, get bored and do something else.

No. 1852537

just the simple act of removing the instagram icon from my home screen has made such a difference. i also archived all my posts and privated my account. i'm in the process of archiving all my 15 years worth of facebook posts, but i have to do a lot of it manually so it takes forever. i have so many photos and memories on there i can't bring myself to delete it, but i probably should. it's insane how much content i put out there about myself. the cringiest shit. and no one ever even liked it or cared lmfao. why did i keep it up for so long?!

No. 1852550

>>1852537
You can download everything from your Facebook account in one big zip file.

No. 1906885

I love not using social media but i'm forever haunted by my facebook account.
I never really want to say my surname because i'm scared that people would look it up and see what was going on when i was a depressed middle school student, i can't even access it to delete it, i hate it.

No. 1906898

>>1906885
Do you have a common surname? Do you still look the same?

No. 1906933

>>1906898
no my surname is not common, the only hope is that people add one letter to mispell it but then again they can search the correct one too, happened in the past and yes i didn't really change physically, same haircut too but i want to keep it…

No. 1906936

>>1906933
Change your name
Or have you tried contacting Facebook? They might have to ask for your personal info but if you convince them they might help

No. 1906941

>>1906936
>Change your name
I've seriously considered changing my surname because of facebook kek, it's funny because i had real life stalkers in the past but having anyone that knows me nowdays find out about that cringe is worse to me, but i don't think my country would let me change it so easily in general.
>contacting Facebook
I've never done anything like that before but i thought to look into it, i'd be willing to give some information if it meant that they would get rid of that content but i don't think they would delete posts or photos of me others posted? God i hate it so much, wish it was more strict with minors at least

No. 1906950

Social media is one of the reasons why internet has gone boring. I loathe social media users, they strike me as attention seeking cattle.

No. 1906976

>>1906950
Attention seeking yes, but I'd advise dropping the cattle affectation because you aren't on a separate plane from them and you yourself aren't any different

No. 1907250

>>1906976
Shit advise.

No. 1907563

>>1851962
This post gave me so much comfort for some reason, I hope you are right that it will eventually fall off because I hate what social media.
I need to copy this and read it when I have moments of FOMO to remind myself not to go back lol

No. 1907637

I gave in and used Facebook for the first time in years. It's insane how much worse it is, and it wasn't amazing before. Back when I left it was generally pretty good about showing me content from my friends in the general order it was posted. Now it's like 90% ads, posts driven by AdSense or some shit, and divisive political content. No other media format on this planet has exposed me to more advertisements than this shit and it's also blatantly demonstrating to me that nobody I know actually bothers posting anything anymore making the site worthless.

No. 1907644

i made an alt-account for discord to be edgier and stuff, i don't want the internet strangers to find out that i can be edgy and aggressive, that's not me on my main account.

No. 1907722

instagram completely removed the deactivation button from settings. the only way i could deactivate my account was because someone posted the link on reddit. i thought i was being stupid and couldn’t find it, but multiple people had the same problem. this is so predatory and gross. i hate how once you reactivate your account you have to wait a fucking week to deactivate again. there needs to be more laws regarding social media

No. 1910847

>Are you anti social media? Why?
I am anti social media. I think social media ruined the world wide web. I think social media breeds a very specific type of person: closed-minded, ignorant, obsessive, and factitious. During Web 1.0, the internet functioned as a unique place in the real world, where one could visit, explore, and leave whenever one desired. Now, it feels like the internet is an omnipresent facet of the real world: an inescapable extension of reality that distorts truth. I don't like the fact that the internet is coalesced around ~4 major social media networks: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok. They act as severe echo chambers for the worst groups of people, and actively contribute to ongoing social decay. The social media brainrot has affected all age demographics.
>Do you hate social media?
Yes, I hate social media. It is antithetical to my worldview. I dislike that people feel so free to discuss & disclose intimate & private parts of themselves. I want everyone to be farther apart, less neurotically open, and more polite to one another.
>Do you prefer anonymous websites and imageboards?
I like the anonymous website and imageboard lay out, but I also enjoy a proper forum dedicated to one thing. I like small forum websites centred around one topic or activity because sometimes it's fun to get to know different users instead of just being anonymous all the time, but at the same time only getting to know the online persona which I believe should be separate from the real life identity. I really hate that a lot of forum websites require an email login now: I miss the days when you could just create a username and password and then boom, you're in. Some websites even request your phone number at this point, which I find very annoying. I dislike the fact that many websites will turn around and sell your data to data farms for a small profit, which at best is a major inconvenience for the user and at worst, can endanger the user.
>Do you protect your image and data online? How?
I have never knowingly uploaded an image of my face onto the internet. My friends and family all know not to post photographs where my face is visible. I can't stop every photo of me from being posted online, but I try my hardest to never use my photograph under any circumstance. I also do not use my real name for anything besides Paypal. Even for minor things like Uber, Amazon, etc., I'll only use the initials of my name or a common alias. I don't have an uncommon name, but I'd still rather be known as Jane Doe to anybody outside my immediate circle. Trying to tell these things to people will often get a strange look from them, but I think in the era of non-privacy we have to be extremely vigilant in regards to what we put out into the world. I have two phone numbers as well, one is dedicated for my personal life, like friends and family, and the other is a number I'll only use in the context of online things or for one-offs. For example, if I want to give my number to someone I meet on a date, I'll give them my burner number until I can trust them enough to give them my personal number. I find it bizarre that so many people nonchalantly advertise their entire person onto the vast and wild internet.
>What are your go-to accounts and emails, do you have any hidden ones?
The only social media I use regularly is Tumblr and Discord. I don't mind Tumblr because I've been on there since 2012 and I have a pretty popular blog, plus I like the Tumblr culture for the most part. I like Discord as well to communicate with online friends just because I think it's the most versatile messaging app on the market right now. I dislike that Discord has somewhat superseded website-based forums because I worry about the longevity of a Discord as a platform and hate to think of all the great knowledge that will be lost when servers close. For emails I use a wide variety; for important communication I still prefer snail mail and I have a PO box to protect my housing information.
>Does your job, career choice or field of study require social media and how do you manage that?
No, and I refuse to use LinkedIn or anything like that on principle. I find it disingenuous to pretend to be a worker bee when I'm not one at heart. I have a few websites that I own and operate, some where I sell things, and even then I don't use my real name or information. I have an eBay store and a Fiverr account, but for both of those I use fake images of myself and fake names. I don't see the point in uploading a real photograph of myself when I can easily assume the "identity" of an AI-generated facial model.

No. 1910848

im thinking of nuking my entire instagram account. my “friends” havent contacted me in years on it so whats the point. its so fake and shallow. i have 500+ followers but noone bothers to message me. only one online friend but i have her number so theres not even a need for it. ive had it since i was a teen and stopped posting years ago. i miss how freely i posted when i first got the app. now i cant post anything without worrying if its perfect enough or if i look ugly. i dont even see things i like anymore just fucking reels. i follow hundreds of art accounts yet insta tells me im caught up. there is no way im caught up with hundreds of accounts. im positive instagram just puts that there so they can suggest me more bullshit.

No. 1910855

>>1910848
Delete Instagram. If you feel bad about losing any connection with your old friends, just create a private story visible to only the people you want to stay connected with an advertise your Discord or a burner email that they can contact you with. Keep the story up for a week or you can just privately message the people you were in contact with to explain. I feel like Instagram is such a mental drain. It was getting popular when I was in middle school and I remember being so confused and off put by the whole idea of posting a picture of myself online, so I never started an account. Lo and behold I was one of the few people in my secondary school to not develop insane self-esteem issues or be dragged into juvenile social media drama.

No. 1910864

I hate instagram reels so much it makes me hate myself watching that garbage. I don't even give a shit about anything on there but I'm mindlessly scrolling.
Just when I was able to cut tiktok out of my life, everyone started using reels and sending me reels and now I feel obligated to respond/look at them, send more to other people just to keep up social obligation.
I hate ig reels

No. 1910875

samefag >>1910848

>Are you anti social media? Why?

it was fun as a novelty thing, but now it’s gone too far. i am very against it seeing how it has affected people in real life, and myself. social media in its state now is too predatory
>Do you hate social media?
i like how i can stay connected to people from around the world and make new friends, but i hate the algorithms, the ads, short form content, and the mindless scrolling. i hate the culture around it too. i feel pressured to have that perfect picture, to look fun and sociable, to not be a loser
>Do you preffer anonymous websites and imageboards?
highly. even though lolcow has some problems it’s amazing a place like this exists. no ads, no bullshit algorithms and actual people
>Do you protect your image and data online? How?
as a teen no, i would regularly share my face on discord and tiktok for attention. i used to be really ugly and was bullied for my looks in real life. everything changed when i went through puberty, learned to apply makeup, and used filters. people started to call me pretty and follow me and i got addicted to it. i was in a online fashion community and would post my makeup and outfits. innocent enough i guess, but moids would send me weird sexual messages. i brushed it off at the time, but now i’m realizing how severe it was. nowadays those creepy moids don’t even have to harass you for nudes, they can just use ai for their own wicked benefits. i regret it all. i am trying to be more anonymous now
>What are your go-to accounts and emails, do you have any hidden ones?
i spent too much time on my personal insta. i have a hidden account on twitter with no followers to post art and blogs. i like it alot because the algorithm is easier to control than insta and i don’t get short form content unless i seek it out
>Does your job, career choice or field of study require social mefia and how do you manage that?
no thank the lord
>>1910855
>I was in middle school and I remember being so confused and off put by the whole idea of posting a picture of myself online
that was me at first, also in middle school. i first got the app because my friends did. i wouldn’t post my face. i would post my drawings, random things i did that day. it was like a digital journal and it was fun. then my classmates made fun of my account. i posted selfies like they did and tried to get validation. years later i am like this. i regret all of it. i think i will post my phone number just for close friends

No. 1911264

What do you think about the discussion about banning smartphones and social media for kids? I saw that Florida have been considering it, and it's also making rounds in the UK.

No. 1911268

>>1911264
Excellent idea in theory but seems difficult to pull of in practice. And I don't want to go to an internet where I need to sign in with a personal online ID before I'm allowed to use it to prove I'm 13/16/18+

No. 1911272

>>1911264
I'm at the point now where I believe that if we are to have social media, then it should be government-run and dependent on one's real-life identity. I believe that if we are to have social media networks, they should be just that: social. No multi-media corporations, no content farms, nothing besides uploading a picture you took, typing a status, messaging far away friends or family. I'm not for ID-proofing the internet at large, but I do think social media networks need more government supervision. I'm not talking Great Firewall levels, but I think if a person wants to use social media networks to say fucked up evil shit that they should be held accountable in an easily traceable way.

No. 1911274

>>1907637
this is how I felt when I went back on instagram. It used to be just the people I follow in my feed and now it's a bunch of random pages and ads and I hate it.
What I really hate is businesses that use facebook or instagram as their primary business web front or primary way of contacting them basically forcing you to get on social media to associate with them.

No. 1911282

>>1911274
This is one of my biggest pet peeves. If you're business only has a Facebook page, or even worse: an Instagram page, I will not be doing business with you. With the dozens of great website builders we have now, and how inexpensive it is to hire someone else to design a website, I really don't think it's too much to ask for a proper site to host your business information. When I used to do bake sales, I made up a little website on Carrd (I even got some art commissioned of me baking stuff to feature on the page!) and when I told people about my bake sales they'd always ask for my Instagram. When they found out I had my own website, they were always super impressed and I'd think "damn do people really not know how to build websites anymore?" It's weird that as Web 2.0 has progressed, it seems like a lot of digital natives are unaware of basic internet tools and website creation. Too many "small businesses" run off of social media which I think is a very stupid business strategy.

No. 1911291

>>1911272
It would feel a lot more simple. No ads. I have also noticed that I have joined so many groups on Facebook that I'm just reading stupid shit all the time, rather than seeing the posts of my friends and family which is why I actually got Facebook again in the first place.

No. 1911295

>>1911291
As social media networks moved from being a place of socializing with friends to a place to be advertised to in the mid 2010s, a lot of those networks became perverted by media conglomerates. I think social media has devastated the news industry entirely. Instead of genuine, fair, and informative reporting we have articles titled with extremely click-baity captions meant to grab our attention, and then the article itself is designed to enrage us so we keep reading to see the ads on the side of the screen, and then the recommended articles after we're done are all just an echo chamber for whatever ideology that news conglomerate is trying to promote. So much bullshit happened because of social media, but I think the devolution of news is a major thing not many people seem to talk about.

No. 1911546

>>1911274
Unfortunately, this is what got me to cave and remake an instagram recently. I don't post anymore; I only lurk so I can see posts from businesses and about events happening in my city. Instagram asked me to take a photo of myself when I remade though which I found concerning and almost didn't go through with it before I read online you can just photograph a Barbie doll and they'll approve you. It definitely is worse than it was when I had initially left it though. The majority of posts Instagram shows me are not from the accounts I follow and most of the events are not even close to my region.

No. 1912113

>>1911546
I hate this trend of websites asking for your actual information just to make an account . As if having to put in my phone number wasn’t bad enough

No. 1912445

there's a massive worldwide outage right now for facebook, ig, google – people are saying a cyber attack

No. 1912550

>>1912445
It ended pretty soon after it started tbh

No. 1923932

Now that the US has passed legislation to ban TikTok in the future, what are your thoughts?

No. 1924286

>>1912445
It almost felt like the old internet has returned for a moment.

No. 1925010

>>1923932
I hate the precedent it's set but I hope they ban Tiktok ASAP and demonetize any content heavily featuring children, like family vloggers. Kids are being exposed to torture, porn, and snuff videos on autoplay. They don't need to go looking for that shit, their parents put an ipad in front of their toddler's face with a Cocomelon playlist and someone will have edited the middle of the video to be graphic dog rape or whatever trannies are into these days. The constant shilling of plastic surgeons, whether it's for gendie uwu surgeries or regular plastic surgery, is fucking up kids' self-esteem and perception of beauty. Social media has destroyed kids' self-preservation instincts and respect for privacy, whether it's other people's or their own, so they can't tell the difference between filming Starbucks employees making drinks and filming themselves walking home after getting Starbucks. The pressure to share every facet of their existence online is destroying their mental health. Kids are being pressured into buying items that are completely inappropriate for their age, like retinol, because it's trending. Bullying is worse than ever now that kids can't even escape their bullies away from school.
Getting rid of Tiktok won't solve the problem, but it will absolutely slow down the rate at which this shit happens. Social media is a disease, but Tiktok is fucking smallpox. I can guarantee that whatever other shit site they all migrate to will be an improvement.

No. 1928485

>>1925010
Minors just need to be banned from the internet, period. The internet isn't the same thing it was 20 years ago. But lazy ass parents will fight to keep their "free" babysitter.



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