I’m 14, and I quit social media after discovering what was posted about me

Re:I’m 14, and I quit social media after discovering what wa... by beamatronic on Wednesday March 20, 2019 @11:36AM (#19443230)

To your point about strangers: There are two basic ways to use social media: public to the world and friends only. I feel like the first is a non starter, do you feel the same about the second use-case?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:I’m 14, and I quit social media after discovering what wa... by ravenstine on Wednesday March 20, 2019 @12:13PM (#19443634)

Not necessarily. It'd be one thing if these "friends" were people the child might actually know in real life, and whom have a meaningful relationship to the parents.

The problem starts for me with the fact that most of the "friends" people have on sites like Facebook are not actual friends, but acquaintances they might not have seen or talked to again for years. Most of the my "friends" on Facebook have hundreds of "friends", sometimes thousands. For all intents and purposes, most of those people are strangers.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:I’m 14, and I quit social media after discovering what wa... by philpem on Wednesday March 20, 2019 @12:34PM (#19443861)

This redefinition of "friend" is one of my big pet peeves of social media -- not one specific site, but in general.

It feels like it massively cheapens actual friendships.

"Followers" isn't much better. Different word, similar implications.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:I’m 14, and I quit social media after discovering what wa... by _jal on Wednesday March 20, 2019 @11:50AM (#19443385)

Your description of the second omits participants: FB and their hundreds of "partners".

Of course their participation is much different than what you're thinking of, but those unknown databases should be part of the calculation.

[ Parent | on HN ]