Social Media: Count me OUT (Redux)
Reading a thread about Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter this evening. The last was not explicitly mentioned, but should have been. They're all similar flavors of the same poison.
Mid-July 2012, I jettisoned Facebook with notice to all my contacts. I'd had "enough" of a number of people in real life, their miserable behavior finally boiling over my point of no return. Yes, I know: what defines us is not necessarily others' behavior, but how we react. And I reacted in such a way that indicated "I cannot take this anymore." People do have limits, those were mine. I feel as strongly as ever about all of it, two years later almost to the day.
The truth is I'd enjoyed Facebook far too much. Posting nearly daily, a clever quip or observation. OK, on its face, but then again I'd also connected-with, caught-up-with, and subsequently pissed off and alienated any number of people the three years I'd used Facebook. And in the end, I had to ask: "Is there any net value to this activity?" Or, as another peer phrased it, "There is nothing I post that is not self-incriminating."
For the last reason, more than any other, I dumped it.
Now I post my essays here. City Data is quasi-anonymous; I'm not damn-fool enough to realize that I'm one subpoena or dedicated effort by someone skilled in social engineering away from identity discovery. But really, I'm OK with that: as I also like to say, I have secure passwords on upwards of (at last count) 240 online accounts. The passwords and usernames are mostly generated by a secure program, and stored in a difficult-to-crack database. Military-grade encryption. Rotating algorithm-based passwords that nothing and no one could "guess" under any circumstances.
All that said, though, the punchline is that if the PLA Security service (Chinese Military Intel) really wanted me cracked, and ruined, they'd figure a way in. As could NSA, FBI, or most any other government-based crew with deep pockets. Or hell: maybe someone simply sticking a gun in my face.
And I really don't care about that: under such circumstances, I'd have much bigger problems to worry about. I don't, because I'm no criminal, and why the hell would they care? I'm not as interesting as all that, in the aggregate.
But Facebook, yes: that, I could control. My slice of privacy is still mine. A couple friends looked at my sideways when I dumped it. Mostly, I dumped all of them in-person as well just to finish the job thoroughly and face-to-face. I'm down to yet again dealing with those I can handle in-person. Not managing the expectations of dozens or even a hundred people I don't know anymore, whose opinions I was somehow expected to manage, too.
That's the worst part: technology and communication that becomes "expected." Those without cellphones these days are at-best considered Luddites, eccentrics, off-the-grid nuts, out of touch and old, or simply ignorant. At worst, it becomes far more pejorative: "what, you don't WANT to be found? Why not, exactly?" Social media is clearly going the same directly. Quickly. Precipitously.
Society is transforming because of this stuff, and not necessarily in a good way. I've just said 'no' to at least part of it.
My business persona is online, and will stay that way, for career management because not doing so in my line of work is now career suicide. I'm OK with that. I work for one of the most interestingly influential tech firms in the world. I am in a somewhat-influential position within said-firm. Frankly, they hired me out of a pool of hundreds of highly-qualified applicants, who are in-turn skimmed from a pool of thousands. I am where I should be, surrounded by peers also passionate about doing the right thing for others in making IT a best-in-class experience for thousands, millions of people. I've succeeded brilliantly, and failed miserably, sometimes within the same year, at this firm. And that's good: all have been learning experiences, about both people and the tools.
I'll do my future exploration behind the scenes, though. We've got this amazing tool called 'Yammer." But Facebook? For the birds. My account is 'inactive,' though not 'deleted.' Never say never. But for now...back to a modest amount of privacy, and creating great software to improve lives. With people I actually do care about, for consumers who need my help (and the help of my tens of thousands strong peers).
Mid-July 2012, I jettisoned Facebook with notice to all my contacts. I'd had "enough" of a number of people in real life, their miserable behavior finally boiling over my point of no return. Yes, I know: what defines us is not necessarily others' behavior, but how we react. And I reacted in such a way that indicated "I cannot take this anymore." People do have limits, those were mine. I feel as strongly as ever about all of it, two years later almost to the day.
The truth is I'd enjoyed Facebook far too much. Posting nearly daily, a clever quip or observation. OK, on its face, but then again I'd also connected-with, caught-up-with, and subsequently pissed off and alienated any number of people the three years I'd used Facebook. And in the end, I had to ask: "Is there any net value to this activity?" Or, as another peer phrased it, "There is nothing I post that is not self-incriminating."
For the last reason, more than any other, I dumped it.
Now I post my essays here. City Data is quasi-anonymous; I'm not damn-fool enough to realize that I'm one subpoena or dedicated effort by someone skilled in social engineering away from identity discovery. But really, I'm OK with that: as I also like to say, I have secure passwords on upwards of (at last count) 240 online accounts. The passwords and usernames are mostly generated by a secure program, and stored in a difficult-to-crack database. Military-grade encryption. Rotating algorithm-based passwords that nothing and no one could "guess" under any circumstances.
All that said, though, the punchline is that if the PLA Security service (Chinese Military Intel) really wanted me cracked, and ruined, they'd figure a way in. As could NSA, FBI, or most any other government-based crew with deep pockets. Or hell: maybe someone simply sticking a gun in my face.
And I really don't care about that: under such circumstances, I'd have much bigger problems to worry about. I don't, because I'm no criminal, and why the hell would they care? I'm not as interesting as all that, in the aggregate.
But Facebook, yes: that, I could control. My slice of privacy is still mine. A couple friends looked at my sideways when I dumped it. Mostly, I dumped all of them in-person as well just to finish the job thoroughly and face-to-face. I'm down to yet again dealing with those I can handle in-person. Not managing the expectations of dozens or even a hundred people I don't know anymore, whose opinions I was somehow expected to manage, too.
That's the worst part: technology and communication that becomes "expected." Those without cellphones these days are at-best considered Luddites, eccentrics, off-the-grid nuts, out of touch and old, or simply ignorant. At worst, it becomes far more pejorative: "what, you don't WANT to be found? Why not, exactly?" Social media is clearly going the same directly. Quickly. Precipitously.
Society is transforming because of this stuff, and not necessarily in a good way. I've just said 'no' to at least part of it.
My business persona is online, and will stay that way, for career management because not doing so in my line of work is now career suicide. I'm OK with that. I work for one of the most interestingly influential tech firms in the world. I am in a somewhat-influential position within said-firm. Frankly, they hired me out of a pool of hundreds of highly-qualified applicants, who are in-turn skimmed from a pool of thousands. I am where I should be, surrounded by peers also passionate about doing the right thing for others in making IT a best-in-class experience for thousands, millions of people. I've succeeded brilliantly, and failed miserably, sometimes within the same year, at this firm. And that's good: all have been learning experiences, about both people and the tools.
I'll do my future exploration behind the scenes, though. We've got this amazing tool called 'Yammer." But Facebook? For the birds. My account is 'inactive,' though not 'deleted.' Never say never. But for now...back to a modest amount of privacy, and creating great software to improve lives. With people I actually do care about, for consumers who need my help (and the help of my tens of thousands strong peers).
