Guys, it's OK to be on social medias

There’s a behavior I’ve often observed during a discussion about the major social medias. Some people are trying to justify why they’re using them as it would be a problem to use them.

– “I’m just using them to keep contact with people I know”

– “I don’t use them a lot”

– “I just have a read profile to follow some people”

– “I just use them for the games”

Usually, these remarks come when you’re talking about the privacy issues of these platform, their control over information and the Web, the centralization of the data, and the amount of data they’re collecting.

But guys, it’s okay, you don’t have to justify yourself.

I don’t use the major social media, because they’re too expensive to me. They ask so much personal data and their constant user behavior tracking and content promotion are a no-go for me because I prefer tools on which I have a better control. It has a cost : I’ve lost contact with some people who don’t communicate other way, I have to search for informations on alternative source since a lot of brands communicate only on these platforms, etc.

Of course, I have too some accounts on Big Tech companies and I’ve evaluated my dependency with them a couple of times. Sometimes there are compromises to do.

These platforms became unavoidable. You can’t read a news article without seeing their source is just a bunch of Twitter posts. You can’t escape the social buttons of Facebook and the others without using a content blocker that prevent their loading. You can’t escape having a Google account for your Android smartphone unless you use a de-googlised distribution or make some user-experience sacrifices. And you can’t pass a day without hearing about TikTok.

Another reason I think for these justifications is the judgment of some people regarding social medias users. Sometimes, I can see some comments that judge the social media users, and not in the good way. Shaming people is not a good way to make them aware of a situation IMHO. Offer them alternatives, such as the alternative front-end of online services if their use case is just to follow some content and not interact with. Common people are not especially aware of the diversity and the offer of these alternatives, but if they know it exists, it’s a first step.

Anyway. People, don’t be ashamed to use these social medias, there’s nothing wrong with it. The problem is what these companies are doing with your data and profiles, not you. So, don’t justify yourself during this kind of discussion, if you want to use them because of reasons, then do it. If you want to learn about possible alternatives that would be suitable for your, just ask. And if you’re a privacy advocate that prefer shaming users instead of helping them, please don’t.