Am I the only one who doesn't "get" social media?

[WhiteTrashCash]

One of the really weird things I have seen happen because of social media is the rise of the "Instagram model". These folks are usually women who create an account on Instagram and then post photos of themselves wearing different outfits. A lot of them make really good bank from companies who pay them to wear the companies' clothes in the photos. It's a form of "viral advertising." Also a lot of them make money by putting out a PayPal "tip jar" and people just give them cash. Strangers will literally hand over money because they put up photos of themselves. It's such a strange concept to me, but a whole lot of people make a living that way.

Is it really that much weirder that traditional modeling as a business? Personally, I think it is great for aspiring models because it allows them to directly access the industry rather than having the agents and agencies (who have a long history of shadiness and corruption) to be the gatekeepers of the modelling world and skimming out some profit for themselves along the way.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

I guess it's weird to me because I've never had anybody just walk up and hand me money for being physically attractive. Maybe it's different for other people, though.

[Psychstache]

One of the really weird things I have seen happen because of social media is the rise of the "Instagram model". These folks are usually women who create an account on Instagram and then post photos of themselves wearing different outfits. A lot of them make really good bank from companies who pay them to wear the companies' clothes in the photos. It's a form of "viral advertising." Also a lot of them make money by putting out a PayPal "tip jar" and people just give them cash. Strangers will literally hand over money because they put up photos of themselves. It's such a strange concept to me, but a whole lot of people make a living that way.

Is it really that much weirder that traditional modeling as a business? Personally, I think it is great for aspiring models because it allows them to directly access the industry rather than having the agents and agencies (who have a long history of shadiness and corruption) to be the gatekeepers of the modelling world and skimming out some profit for themselves along the way.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

I guess it's weird to me because I've never had anybody just walk up and hand me money for being physically attractive. Maybe it's different for other people, though.

I guess you are using the wrong filter ;)

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[WhiteTrashCash]

One of the really weird things I have seen happen because of social media is the rise of the "Instagram model". These folks are usually women who create an account on Instagram and then post photos of themselves wearing different outfits. A lot of them make really good bank from companies who pay them to wear the companies' clothes in the photos. It's a form of "viral advertising." Also a lot of them make money by putting out a PayPal "tip jar" and people just give them cash. Strangers will literally hand over money because they put up photos of themselves. It's such a strange concept to me, but a whole lot of people make a living that way.

Is it really that much weirder that traditional modeling as a business? Personally, I think it is great for aspiring models because it allows them to directly access the industry rather than having the agents and agencies (who have a long history of shadiness and corruption) to be the gatekeepers of the modelling world and skimming out some profit for themselves along the way.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

I guess it's weird to me because I've never had anybody just walk up and hand me money for being physically attractive. Maybe it's different for other people, though.

I guess you are using the wrong filter ;)

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

I should probably practice my duck face more.

[gggggg]

I do post to forums, and comment sometimes on youtube. FB, insta, snap and the rest, I don't use at all. I recently deleted my FB account.

[lukebuz]

After seeing the strain Facebook Obsession puts on my marriage, I will not use it out of principal.  I see the wife daily, throwing away 4-6 prime hours of her life, scrolling through the garbage dump that is Facebook.  Fuck Facebook.

[Proud Foot]

I use FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, and forums. How I use each one serves a purpose. I don't 'get' the people who are spend multiple hours a day scrolling through social media and following 'celebrities'. It has given rise to what I call Insta-moms. The people who are constantly posting about how much they love their children, what they are doing with their children, etc. when in actuality they are taking the picture and then ignoring their child while they make the post and continue scrolling through their news feed totally unaware of what the child is doing.

[Khaetra]

I will say that thanks TO social media I have been able to contact friends I have been worried about both in Texas and Louisiana.  Most of the time people will bash it (while using it!), but when emergencies like we've been witnessing happen it has become a lifeline for some.

[SunshineAZ]

I am only on facebook because it allows me to keep in touch with family that is very spread out geographically and because I am a sucker for cute animal videos.  :) However, I rarely post anything personal, only posting some of my better hummingbird/wildlife photos (maybe 20 per year), baking pics if I make something unusual like a cheesecake, and a few vacation pictures.  Also, I absolutely refuse to forward or otherwise participate in those "post this to your status", or "answer these questions" type of posts.  And I don't friend any celebrities, with the exception of Mike Rowe, because I like his posts and videos. 

I will say that facebook was an amazing tool when we had the wildfires here and a lot of people were able to connect and help each other using facebook that would have been impossible to coordinate otherwise.  Our community set up a page/group for people to use to offer help, request help moving horses and other wildlife, get help to older people, etc., it worked amazingly well and I think I would always keep facebook, just for that feature alone. 

I am not on twitter or instagram, etc., because I guess I am too old to get it.  Neither of those apps seem useful or interesting to me.

[Cwadda]

There is one reason, and only one reason, people are "addicted" to social media:

Biological fitness

Biological fitness is an evolutionary concept, and is the basis for pretty much everything that goes on in an animal's head (humans = animals).  This concept is the animal's system for deciding which behaviors to engage in, and which behaviors to avoid.

Example: you feel good after you eat a delicious meal.  The "feel good" chemicals released by your brain will make you want to replicate the behavior.  Same thing for sex, shelter, relationships, etc.

Social media "tricks" the brain into thinking you are contributing to your relationship related biologic fitness.  Getting more "likes" means your biological fitness went up (well, at least according to you animal brain's reward system).  These "likes" release feel good chemicals which encourage you to continue to chase them - just like a good meal.

What is interesting, is that the younger populations' biological fitness in relationships has ACTUALLY become intrinsically linked to social media in many cases.  This is important: social media = social life = biological fitness.  It's a little messed up if you are outside looking in, but it feels completely normal to folks whose biological fitness is now directly linked to social media.

I think the reason social media actually took off (for ordinary people) is not because of its effect on perceived biologic fitness.  In the USA, young people are not exclusively working 9-5 jobs with weekends off.  Their schedules are all over the board, and they rarely have time when their and their friend's schedules line up.  They can have a "social" experience with others they care about asycronously (not at the same time).  This is also a reason text messaging took off (but not the reason it exists the way it does nowadays).

In summary, biologic fitness was exploited by social media to get users hooked by making them think they are increasing their fitness when using the service.

I think you've hit the nail on the head. This is why I don't use Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook (I only keep my Facebook account in order to access the Buy Nothing groups, Marketplace, and Events, because this is the only way people talk about events these days). I also use Snapchat, though I limit use on it. I've deleted the Facebook app from my phone, it just breeds addictions of scrolling through meaningless info. Everything I need to do can be accessed with a desktop.

[Cwadda]

Anonymous interneting=social media. The anonymity does not change the fact that someone is utilizing social media.

So there were two parts brought up. The constant usage of it and the privacy sharing.

The constant use thing is the accessibility, cellphones and the like. jim, even if you're using a laptop you're still posting nearly two posts a day on average.

The seeming sharing of private information is probably a misconception. People share what they want the world to see. Some will find that too much and some will not share anything at all.

It is a broad... I don't want to the word tool... cultural device?... which people will use in different ways. You don't have to like it or get it or anything at all. Maybe just accept that people will use it in different ways. If it doesn't harm you or someone else then let it go man/woman/person.

This. When I post on social media (FB primarily), it's not very often personal information about me. It's more interesting articles to share and things like that. Often, it's about politics, because I follow politics fairly closely and so do many of my friends. But of course, there are people who bitch loudly and often about how people "shouldn't" be posting political stuff on FB.

Those people tend to be the ones who post tons of pictures of their kids, or of the food they are eating, or exactly where they are at the time ("mani pedis with mom!!!"). I'm not sure why they think their stuff is more legit. There are no "rules" for what you're allowed to post, as long as it doesn't contravene FB's TOS. I personally find their endless food and baby pics boring as shit. Do I complain about it, though, and post endlessly about how they "shouldn't" post that stuff? Uh, no.

So. Maybe to each his or her own?

I'm one of the ones that deletes anything on Facebook politics-related. I believe Facebook is truly the worst possible forum for political discourse. I have yet to see any productive conversation from it. Then again, I don't really post anything on FB about my life like you say above i.e. kids, jobs, food, etc. No one cares about these things, and if they do I talk to them enough on a regular basis to know what's going on in my life.

[le-weekend]

I'm writing back to this thread instead of starting my own.

Is 'cell phone addiction' really a thing?

It must be, because my office mate sits, immobilized, for long stretches of time staring down at his phone. What in the f*^%#  could possibly be that interesting?!!!??!!!!

[Pigeon]

He could be reading MMM.

[OtherJen]

Yeah, I think cell phone addiction, or at least dependency, is a thing. There are few things more annoying than being out with friends and watching them compulsively fuss with their phones.

As for social media: I use Facebook increasingly less over time, although it’s still helpful for keeping in touch with my (literally) dozens of cousins and promoting the local nonprofit organizations with which I serve my community. Instagram is fun because I like to take photos and follow accounts by my favorite state parks, knitting designers, and yarn companies. However, I don’t see the point of Twitter for most people and have no idea what Snapchat even is.

[misshathaway]

I'm one of the ones that deletes anything on Facebook politics-related. I believe Facebook is truly the worst possible forum for political discourse. I have yet to see any productive conversation from it.

My micro-local events/referral/lost dog site is on FB. Now every other post on THAT is political and often vicious. If not for that group I would not use FB at all. Even this thread is causing me to again think about whether what I get from the group is valuable enough to wade through the cruft.

[sui generis]

Maybe I am a fart or something but what is with everyone, especially women, who must bury their faces in their smart phones every single minute of the day?

I don't get the whole shred your privacy aspect of social media.  Why share intimate details of your life with total strangers?

Seems like an obsessive mental illness.

[grumbles]Now these kids need to get off my lawn!

I don't think you can assume that people (or apparently, *especially women*) are on social media when their faces are buried in their phones.  I don't use social media on my phone, but I do always have my face buried in it, selecting, rewinding and fast forwarding podcasts and playing solitaire etc when I'm not doing that.  Maybe faces buried in smart phones is a complaint, but it's a separate, even if possibly concurrent, complaint from social media use.

[jim555]

Maybe I am a fart or something but what is with everyone, especially women, who must bury their faces in their smart phones every single minute of the day?

I don't get the whole shred your privacy aspect of social media.  Why share intimate details of your life with total strangers?

Seems like an obsessive mental illness.

[grumbles]Now these kids need to get off my lawn!

I don't think you can assume that people (or apparently, *especially women*) are on social media when their faces are buried in their phones.  I don't use social media on my phone, but I do always have my face buried in it, selecting, rewinding and fast forwarding podcasts and playing solitaire etc when I'm not doing that.  Maybe faces buried in smart phones is a complaint, but it's a separate, even if possibly concurrent, complaint from social media use.

They are texting and walking or doing some other social media type activity, so it is safe to assume.  They are like phone zombies so tied up in the phone they would walk off a cliff if one was around.

[SunnyDays]

I refer to it as Anti-Social Media.  Due to the bullying, trolling and general nastiness found on many of it's forms.  Not to mention the precedence it takes over actual social interaction (ignoring real people who are present in favor of virtual interactions with whoever/whatever).  I don't use any of it.

[Orca2]

Tried facebook several years ago - found, really, I have other things to do with my time.  Luckily I didn't have much on there but it took a while to delete.  I have photos on smugmug pretty organized so if there is some trip I want to share I send a link.  Just saw that smugmug purchased flicker.