Category: Social Media

Thoughts on socia media, which has addicted many and alienated others.

The outrageous Microsoft behavior continues.

Microsoft persists in preventing me from making comments on posts on LinkedIn, its social media platform masquerading as a professional networking platform.

They hint strongly that this is because of my verification status. This includes posts by people I’m connected with.

I, of course, am not verified and not going to “verify.”

What does Microsoft expect to gain from such behavior? Does it expect its user victims to submit to its suggestion to be “verified?”

The last time I looked at the verification process, it required the scanning of an IC-embedded government-issued document. Who in their right mind would submit to that?

I think the answer to that is clearly that it is people who suffer from FONBOL, fear of not being on LinkedIn, perhaps believing that LinkedIn is where it all happens.

A case can be made that LinkedIn is a place where lots of phony things happen, and lots of delusional things happen. More and more, however, since so many things appear to be done online, there’s nothing special about being on LinkedIn or most anywhere else online.

On the contrary, there is an ever-increasing value to being out in the real world. This is particularly the case of freelancers who are in a captive labor pool that can’t break away from the service brokers they depend on for income.

That is a tough pill to swallow for people who have grown up staring at their computer or smartphone screens thinking that today’s the day it’s going to happen. That’s a highly optimistic dream from which people need to awaken as soon as possible if they are looking to survive.

The scales have been tipped.

The majority of posts and comments on social media platforms—that includes LinkedIn, which Microsoft purports is a business platform—are generated not by humans, but by collections of computer commands executed in silicon-based entities controlled by socially irresponsible broligarchs.

The purpose of much of this “content”is to catch the attention of algorithms that are also controlled by AI. Chuck Berry’s song about “playing with your own dingaling” comes to mind. But I digress.

The message this sends is clear, albeit arguably counterintuitive:

With so much of this nonsense occupying online venues, interaction with carbon-based entities, not online but in the real world, is more important than ever.

The first step in achieving that is to shut down your computer for a while and head for the door. The world beyond and outside of your computer or smartphone screen is huge and has lots to offer. Give it a shot.