Social networks - ways to use them
This text on ways to use social networks was written for four groups of people:
1 – People who feel that using social networks doesn't make them satisfied or happy. On the contrary, they often feel that it makes them anxious, dissatisfied and unhappy. 2 – People who would like to continue using social media, but having a different experience: healthier, more interesting, satisfying and positive. 3 – People who are not yet aware of the existence of non-commercial social networks, which work in a very different way to what they have experienced over the last two decades. 4 – People who, having entered adolescence, still don't use a social network.
Here are some relevant topics for a satisfactory, interesting, healthy and safe use of social networks.
What to post? With your post you are accessing and using the time and attention of your friends and contacts – these are their precious resources. So ideally, your post should be interesting – in your opinion, but also in theirs (after all, you're writing for them – not in an offline diary). And all the better if what you write is something that expresses your thoughts and/or feelings about something: an experience, an event, a piece of news, a website, a movie, a record, a book, etc., as this will make your post unique (and not just a re-share). (Note: many commercial social networks ask you in the post box: “What are you thinking/doing right now?”. These questions are asked for users to answer, generating a continuous flow of personal data for the social network. You don't have to do this – only post what you find interesting and appropriate – and when you feel like it. Can't think of anything interesting to post today? Then you can wait until tomorrow to see if anything interesting comes up).
Public or private posts? Generally, social networks allow you to choose to post publicly or privately. So, evaluate what you're thinking of posting to decide between one type or the other. Public post – one that you believe is or may be of public interest. Private post – one that you think is not of public interest – and will therefore only be seen by your friends and contacts (including members of specific contact lists that you create).
Note 1: In both cases (public or private post), if you use a commercial social network, remember that personal information you post will be compiled in your “advertising target” profile – and may also be passed on or sold to partner companies. Note 2: Personal information that you post in public posts, on any type of network, can be used by scammers to target you, your family or friends (if your profile has your real name and can be identified as yours). (One way to protect yourself against this is to not post personal or sensitive information in public posts and/or to use an account under a pseudonym). If you use a commercial social network, your posts could also be used to train the network's artificial intelligence (AI) (find out how to disable this, if possible).
How is your relationship with likes? Likes on posts make some people anxious. It's understandable: commercial social networks use them as a kind of “success metric” – and to boost the visibility of posts. Can this be solved? Of course. If you think this is an artificial and bizarre way of measuring the quality of a post, you can simply use a non-commercial social network that allows you to disable likes on all your posts or only on the specific posts where you want to do so. (You can do the same for comments on posts).
How often should I post? You're on a social network – you're expected to post. But, as we've already said, with your post you're accessing and using the time and attention of your friends and contacts. If you intend to participate in your social network on a daily basis, think about how many posts you think it would be reasonable to make per day. (Remember that your friends will also see the posts of other contacts, in addition to yours). These are questions you can ask yourself to decide on this “reasonable number” (of daily posts): How many posts would I like to see per day? How much time per day would I like to spend replying (interacting) to posts and direct messages? How much (total) time per day would I like to spend on social media?
Which people to connect with? To decide this, look at a person's public posts and assess whether, on the whole, you find them interesting – whether you think you would really enjoy seeing that kind of post every day on your timeline. And, always observe how you feel and think about the posts of people who are already your contacts. When you no longer find someone's posts interesting, just unfollow them (or use some network feature, such as filters, so that those posts no longer appear in your timeline).
How much time a day do you spend on social media? Think about how much time a day you think it would be good and reasonable to spend on social media. Then balance this time with the various other important daily activities – among them: study/work, face-to-face conversations, physical exercise, a good and healthy diet, 7 to 8 hours of good sleep, interesting offline activities (experiences) (which you can then share with your friends on social networks if you wish), and, importantly, moments of silence and boredom (to facilitate the emergence of your own ideas and reflections – which are unlikely to appear while your attention is devoted to screens). Once you've decided how much time to spend on the web, see how you think it's most interesting to organize this time. (On days when you don't need to be connected all the time, I find this interesting: put it all into a single block of time. This way, you ensure that your focus and attention are well employed in both your offline and online activities, without generating mutual interference and fragmentation in your attention. If you decide to do this, depending on the times you choose to access the web, you can choose to do so only on your laptop and not on your cell phone). (Try to disconnect at least 30 minutes before going to bed, so as not to disturb the start of your sleep).
How many people do you connect with? What kind of experience would you like to have on social networks? If your idea is to connect with people whose posts you intend to read (and interact with), then this will tie in with the total amount of time you intend to spend on social media each day. See how many contacts you have now (from whom you receive posts), look at how much time (on average) you already spend on social media every day and estimate what that number of people would be (and their respective correspondence in time spent on social media). (Do you think the number and names of your friends and contacts should be public information? If you don't think so, some non-commercial social networks allow you to hide this information).
How do you keep your social network account safe? To prevent your account from being hacked by crooks, a) use a strong and unique password for your account (a password with at least 21 random characters: lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers and special characters – store the password in a password manager); b) enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on your account and associate an app of this type with your account. Some open source software that are often highly rated: 2FA app (Aegis); password managers (KeePassXC (for PCs), KeePassDX (for Android phones), Bitwarden).
Which social networks to use?
There are several social networks with different characteristics. You can use more than one of them if you think you can connect with different people and/or groups that interest you. Note, however, that there are two very different types: commercial social networks and non-commercial social networks.
If you want to use a social network where you don't see posts from influencers/sellers, don't see bank advertisements (or any other kind of advertisement), don't have a timeline that pushes things at you that you didn't ask for, that doesn't collect, classify and sell your personal data, then you can use a non-commercial social network.
[November, 2024] Updated: November 10, 2024