How Did Social Media Become Our New Religion?

I have found myself buried in the digital world. I have accounts on most of the currently popular "social media" websites, and many others with more narrow focuses. I use news readers, always-on email, and a fast internet connection. I get tons of interesting, yet ultimately useless information coming at me from all sides. I waste far too much time trying to keep up with it all!

There is a positive side. I've gotten back in touch with long lost friends going back over 35 years. I'm in much better contact with friends and family than I used to be. I've gained access to a world of information at my fingertips. I'm more knowledgeable and better informed than I have ever been. It is quite addicting.

So I decided I need to take a closer look at my social networking and start pruning. Has anyone noticed how their logos are everywhere you look now? It seems that every advertisement, marketing piece, video clip - has at least one of their logos included somewhere? It used to be website URLs - but now they want more. I'm not going to go into specific details about which ones I left and which ones I kept. I think that is an individual decision a person needs to make on their own without interference. The point I want to make is that we all need to pay more attention to what we are paying attention to.

The first thing I realized was that they all make it extremely easy to sign up for their services. But when is the last time anyone talked about how difficult they make it to leave once they have you? OMG! Not only did it take much longer, but I've had to confirm, verify, and justify why I wanted to leave. I've been hounded by email asking me to stay or come back. I should be able to click one button, get a confirmation message, click okay, and be done with it.

Do you know what it feels like? Not that I have any direct experience, but it feels like I have joined some kind of cult, and now that I'm no longer willing to blindly support the cult, they are making it extremely difficult for me to leave. They simply don't want me to make that choice.

I chose to leave some of my social networking behind. They made it difficult. I still don't know the effect of "linked" accounts when a link no longer exists. At least in the old days you could simply stop visiting a website if it no longer interested you. Do you want to leave a "network"? It isn't as simple as deleting a bookmark or clicking "unsubscribe" - now you have to answer to someone.

So a friendly warning to anyone who reads this. If you are interested in social networking and have not yet gotten involved, then I warn you to use extreme caution and be very selective. If you are already embedded with social media, then my warning to you is to open your eyes and make your own decisions! It is not necessary, nor is it possible, to keep up with every social networking group, company, website, (or whatever wrapper they wish to use) that you might find interesting. If you are doing it for the purpose of marketing, you are wasting even more of your time and resources.

I'm breaking the bonds!


Image courtesy of Matt Hamm.