Everyone ends up with a non-personal brand avatar that interacts with other brand avatars while life outside is entirely separate?
I understand that people "pose" online, as well as sartorially and socially offline, but this would be an entirely different ball game. What's even the point of participating after you've removed the last remaining percentage of real interaction from social media?
Oh, that we've know for fifty years. It's the acceleration of the Spectacle:
"In societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation."
I can assure you that the answer to your question leads to something that you don't want to endure.
I receive my dopamine from browsing on HN. Is this better? If I would be an AI that is able to simulate real interaction and you wouldn't know it, it wouldn't change anything. reminds me of https://xkcd.com/810/
Two things spring to mind. You're right in that we're not interacting socially, but on the other hand you have an anonymous throwaway account, so I know you're not trying to sell me your brand. So while we're not building a social repertoire, we are (hopefully) having a constructive dialogue focused on topics, not on brand personas.
HN isn't a social network for me, or if it is, it's removed from identities. I don't come here for specific people, I come here for a collective (anonymous as far as I'm concerned as I very rarely open someones profile) group of people with links and insights I for the most part find interesting.
That makes this different from a social network where the expressed purpose is connecting individuals with old and sometimes new acquaintances, which then is entirely subverted in GPs premise.
As for HONY: http://www.warscapes.com/opinion/sentimentality-critique-hum...
Those social media platforms are creating alternate realities that can become the meaning of life for some. Still better to live in this fake society than being complete nihilistic. I can't even express what I want out of life because I'm too deep in it, I don't want others to feel that void. Better numb than seeing the nothingness.
For HONY: Sociopathic guy supports people in poor situations only for personal gain. This is what I envision - this style of living is perfectly suited for human beings. Being nice because of pure egocentrism. I've thought long about a stable paradigm that enables humans to do good things and help other people - this is exactly the conclusion I've come to.
I don't judge if this is good or bad, there's no judging and no "Sigh" on my side. It just is.
Now, just giving up on Facebook if it could help you is a self-defeating action. Idealism is good, but better when used for positive action. Instead of spiteful making-a-point self-hurt.
I hope your comment isn't meant to be offensive, can't read you sentiment. I'm not a big fan of those drugs.
Anybody who denies Facebook doesn't recognize its true value for ones personal brand. It's not about your data - you shouldn't do anything remotely personal on this platform, ever. It's all about personal marketing. And for this purpose, it is the perfect tool. You can decide how people perceive you and gain social power and influence other people. If you refuse to take this chance because they sell your data, you're wasting a big opportunity. It's known for years that they don't care about privacy, and neither should you when you use those platforms. Use encrypted and decentralized communication channels if you want to communicate without being spied on.
But Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat can be used to build powerful social influence. And this can be used to gain further power - I'm not a fan of Nietzsches "Will to power" bullshit, but I'm interested in power regardless to build my personal empire (maybe based on deep insecurity and narcissim, whatever rests under the consciousness).
For all those Facebook haters: Your distaste for this platform stems from the fact that they don't value privacy and that people in general don't really care. But don't miss this opportunity just for the matter of doing "the right thing". If you're an existential nihilist like me, you recognize that all those opinions don't really matter (including yours) and are often used to find value in oneself like many vegetarians, no-facebookers, minimalists, etc. use it (I'm a vegetarian - it can be used to feel good about oneself if you prefer to give your narcisstic side those impulses. I try to avoid doing it for those reasons to overcome myself). Sigmund Freud called this the "Narcissim of small differences", don't get fooled by your unconscious side - even if you think that it's rational to avoid Facebook. Think in terms of power and how you gonna get it. I know, this certainly sounds like a sociopath, but you can do good things with this power. "Humans of New York" is a Facebook page that shows us how we can use this power for good.
Don't hate the game. It's man-made and without any purpose like our whole existence. Learn to play it if you want to master life in this society. Otherwise you just support your ego - exactly like the people who are on Facebook. You're not smarter than them. Nobody here is including me.
I just hope that people learn to value the opportunity and do a rational risk-assessment instead of using emotions of rejection because a company is selling user information. I don't support that Facebook does that, but we can still use their platform to our advantage while hiding our true personality (and therefore enforce our privacy).
edit: Maybe most people who are on Facebook see it like this - although I have the notion that most people don't reflect on this level about their Facebook and social media usage.