Are social networking sites useful?

used to have it , couldnt stand the bullshit and drama of people , so had to shut it down like 5 years ago , honestly people are not using it for 'social networking' its more or less ' gib meh attention ( 10000 likes ) for every fcking ugly duck face i pozt or fabricated current political event ( random smiley)' + people posting their personal information because facebook likes up to date what you do every minute , that info may land anyone in trouble.

 

Huge time waster! Unfortunate narcissism! Little substance! Unnecessary drama!

What I love about this forum...It is real! Real people trying to become their best selves. Awesome peeps that I know have my back!

Stay strong! Win!

 

Ok, my 2 cents. I think the social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter serve a purpose. They are tools available for communication. So i think it is a useful to keep in touch with friends. It is also helps you to be updated with important events happening in people's lives. On the flip side, they can be addictive and make you waste a lot of time without you even realizing it.

 

I posted in another thread about this.

I'll agree with @ogiv. Social networking sites do serve a purpose as tools for communication. However, how much of your time on facebook or twitter is actually spent communicating? I'd be willing to bet very little.

Email is for communicating. Texting and phone calls are for communicating. Now there are things like Facetime and Skype. Those all are infinitely better for communication in my opinion.

In my experience, Facebook made me more judgmental and I found myself comparing myself to others. "Oh, his latest status got more likes than mine. Better step up my game!"
The fact of the matter is that the likes don't matter.

Why not spend that time you would on Facebook or Twitter and build a real relationship, or work on yourself in whatever way you need to?

All the best!

-Grindel

 

Like email, texting, phone calls and facetime, why can not posting a message on facebook or tweeting be considered another form of comunication? The best form of communiation would depend on the situation and personal preference. But i concede that unlike another forms of communication, facebook provde so much more information (which can be considered pointless or useless) and would be a massive time thief... I am not much a facebook user, but i am thankful that it exists. Whatsapp groups have become a very useful form of group information. Helped me get in touch with old friends from school& family members.. who we sometimes forget in our otherwise busy lives... I personally don't understand tweeting ... So i hardly use Twitter. But i can see that many people like the twitter way of short communication.

Recently there was massive floods in my country and these social networking sites & groups heped to get information of the flood situation and safety of friends and family members across. Facebook introduced a feature called "Mark Safe" which gave an update to all friends that a person was safe. It was a huge help. But i also noticed a massive increase in rumour mongering. People forward information which they have no idea if it is true, which sometimes lead to panic. There are always two sides to a coin. But painting the whole social networking sites as useless is akin to stating that Internet is bad and need to be shut down because of prevalence of Intenet porn.

But all of you also make very valid points about the negatives of these social networking sites.

 

Just like pretty much anything in life...It is how you use it. It really is dependent on your personality. If you are the type that gets "sucked in" you should probably avoid it. If you are more balanced, a moderate amount of time on social media is fine. May all of us strike the ideal balance. Stay strong! Win!

 

One of my 'reboot' things was to delete my Facebook account. Time-wasting rubbish. It's just the kind of virtual reality nonsense I'm trying to get away from.

 

I am told that many recruiters check the LinkedIn profile before a job offer. It is getting more and more important.

 

As others said above, it is how one uses them that determines their usefulness.

Facebook/Twitter can be poisoning, but a forum like NoFap can be poisoning too if I use it badly.
For example, if I post a thread, and it is not popular, how do I react ?
I need to express myself, that's a fact, but am I doing it because I want people to read my thoughts and be compassionate, or do I need to feel like I have said something useful/important for the community ?
Am I frustrated if no-one replies to my thread ?

I think we need to define exactly what we are looking for in each Social Network, and how much time we are willing to spend on them :
- is it for help about a specific topic ? (NoFap, health, sport, computer, cooking, fashion etc.)
- is it for a professional purpose ? (advertising, communication about my activity, information about other business' activity)
- is it for staying in touch with distant relatives ?
- is it for passing/wasting time with funny videos and pictures ? (4chan, 9gag ...)

As a musician, I use it mainly for a professional purpose : keeping posted about auditions/castings, coming concerts, discovering new groups, advertising for my own concerts ...
This implies to follow the activity of most of my acquaintances, because I can be in the need of every musician I know at any moment for a specific project, and it's easier to add them as "friends" on Facebook, than having their phone number after meeting them only once ...

Here's a popular video that illustrates a bad use of Facebook :

As shown at the end of the video, I gradually hid the posting activity of people that shared very personal thoughts, and it's way better now.

 

Very true, I did not understand the point of tweeting. For me, it always takes more than 140 characters to put a point across and for tweeting, i need to learn a whole new shorthand language. More often than not, Twitter seems to be some random babbling of one's ideas. But if you need to get attention of a service company like your Internet provider, posting on Twitter or Facebook page seems to do the trick.

 

I'm just going to be blunt here (what's new? Lol)

I really hate social media, almost with a passion. At times I don't even know why. Haha! Seriously, though. I think it's just the element of escape that is attached to it, the horrible feeling that people are trying to escape their real lives. It honestly makes me cringe.

I remember when Facebook first came out. The idea of it was pretty cool. Nobody can deny that. Back then, it was ONLY about trying to get in touch with old school friends. I thought, hey, this is neat! I'm gonna contact all my old pals from primary school and secondary school, and hey, you know what!? I did just that! I found many of my childhood friends and we got back in touch. Spoke to people who I'd never think I'd speak with again, even if it was brief.

Then 2 to 3 years later, give or take..... Facebook started to get stupid and people got way too excited. It was too much, too soon for people.

It turned into a pile of shit. People harping on about their drama and personal life in their statuses, people looking for approval by posting their pictures, desperate for likes like a bunch of kids. Everyone just wants attention now. It's not REALLY about connecting with people so much now is it. It is all about social status, everyone wanting to get their emotional addictions met. Facebook is a joke. Fair enough if you're one of those who actually still use it for it's actual objective..

Don't get me started with Twitter. I honestly think it's even worse than Facebook. Instagram is much of the same trend. Most people just want a feeling of approval, attention, desperate for compliments. It's all designed to meet peoples emotional addictions on different levels. It takes people away from what is real. REAL human connection face to face, where I can actually see what you mean and how you mean, so that I can feel your actual raw energy and body language.

Since the rise of social media, people have become more numb to their actual real emotions. We've become desensitised to one anothers emotions. Many people have now become extremely shallow people, even to the point that they think it's "strange" if you don't have a Facebook account. No, mate, I'm just normal. I don't want to fit in with society's conditioning bull shit. I want to be a real life human being, not a robot.

Many say "It's about how you use it", but you know what, we as a human race were just fine communicating with each other without it were we not? We survived, and teenagers were more polite, thoughtful and intelligent before social media.

 

My point of view is not so entrenched. Having said that, I haven't tried the many different types there are out there. Facebook has come in for some comment. I do have a Facebook account, so I can comment on that at least - so here goes.

I have not experienced what you state here - becoming more numb to my actual real emotions. In fact, I find the opposite. Surely by communicating with others we become more aware of our real emotions and our sensitivity is heightened toward the feelings of others. Mind you, it depends on the calibre of your friends. I select as Facebook friends people that I respect and value. We have interesting exchanges covering a wide range of topics and emotions.

Of course, another advantage of Facebook is that people have the balls to take a selfie and identify themselves. I appreciate that NoFap is not a social networking site. But the fact remains that very few people have emerged from behind their keyboard and identified themselves here. So, I reckon that Facebook encourages us to take responsibility and to own our actions. Whereas on here, @AlltheRageBackHome, I have no idea who you really are!

I am not suggesting that Facebook

 

Grounded, yes, others have said that. I only have 8 Facebook friends. I only add people that I actually know as friends. Many seem to have hundreds or even a thousand friends. Surely, not! As for notifications I have them all turned off except a couple of close friends because I want to be there for them when they need me. Most of the people on my list don't churn out vacuous updates. It is like I said to @AlltheRageBackHome, it depends on the calibre of the friends you accept. It is a microcosm of society at large, so there will be drama queens if you decide to accept their friend requests!

It is the same with sexual triggers. I have never seen anything triggering on Facebook because my friends are not the sort that would post or link anything like that. If people use it unwisely, then they are bound to have negative experiences!

 

Some can be more useful than others, for example Twitter is invaluable for a good communication with public and LinkedIn for professional life but Facebook is mostly rubbish.