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Comment by kacamak | Hacker News Reader

You can just not participate. You are making it sound as a do or die thing.

Facebook does not help you in getting any sucess at all.

This is just circumstantial evidence, but from my personal experience of just not participating in "playing the game" it would always result in losing friends and relationships. This was before the time of Facebook and other modern social media, but there are all kinds of social games you are expected to participate in if you want to be part of things. Perhaps I won the game by not participating and never being stressed about these things, but who knows what things would have been like if I didn't close so many doors by not playing along.

I imagine today you would be more isolated than ever before if you decide to not participate. This might not matter much in work life, but for kids in school it is huge.

Hikomori fits my mental health needs significantly and i manage to find meaning in a healthy life. Its a personal journey i find

It's certainly a trade-off: by not partaking in social media and/or popular culture, you are bound to come up empty and alone in modern day. I usually like to say, do whatever you like to do, but remember to wear the world like a loose fitting shirt and don't let it bind you.

>Facebook does not help you in getting any sucess at all.

Hold up.

https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/no-social-media-presence-...

https://www.asalesguy.com/told-coming-no-social-media-presen...

https://www.recruiter.com/i/what-if-a-candidate-has-no-socia...

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The problem is social media use is so normalized, by not having a presence you are setting yourself up to be an outlier and a riskier candidate.

Not that I have the luxury, but sounds good to me. A company that doesn't expect a social-media presence is a company I'd rather work for.

3 links. One is pure opinion saying social media is important, another saying it's not, and one is a survey saying that having social media can help or hurt your application, which explicitly contradicts it's own reporting. That adds up to nothing.

"Facebook does not help you in getting any success at all."

Young people often define 'success' basically in terms of popularity and social acceptance.

And FB/Instagram is the basis for that now, in many ways.

I think there's always been considerable pressure upon young people to 'get along' & 'have friends' i.e. in a time before they 'know who they are' - this is a serious issue for kids I think.

And even into one's 20's these days, it seems everyone is 'building their personal brand' and some may find it hard to simply opt out.

I'm glad I hit 30 by the time this inanity started, I think it's an age wherein we start to take control of our identities.

> Facebook does not help you in getting any sucess at all.

I guess it depends on how you use it and what's your success condition. In a world where all your friends use it to communicate and tighten bonds, you staying out of it means losing that experience and being left out.

Right now I have a FB account that I haven't actively used in 5 years probably and I can live just fine. But I imagine for the younger audience it's going to be a bit harder when they realize they are left out of stuff. So sometimes this is no longer about using it to get ahead, it's using it to not be left behind.

I agree with your point, but in my experience it's people 50+ that are actively using FB to maintain social networks. People under 30 seem to only maintain a ghost account and use other apps for their social networking. Your point stands regardless of the platform most popular in your social circle, however.

Yeah, i am like a social media hermit but doing fine in life. I kind of lucked out finding a wife whom I love. I care about her more than anyone in the world. I have 10 or so really close friends that i dont keep in touch with much. However when we see each other face to face (every month or so) it feels as good as ever. I dont feel left out because i'm not looking at their social media posts...

I got my own shit goin own. Thankfully i've been able to separate myself from everything. I dont think that is as 'easy' for younger folks. However, there are always going to be punkers and alt kids right? I'm sure there are some youths who dont live their lives on social media.

There have always been fads that the cool kids do. That is never going to change. You dont have to have a cool presence online.

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