My fear is the day when the absence of a social media presence itself makes you a suspicious character in the government, and AI’s eyes.

Do you have any reason to believe that it hasn’t already come? You’re certainly a suspicious character in the eyes of some employers for non-tech (and occasionally tech) jobs.

All US visa applicants are suspicious and disqualified by default. You have to prove otherwise.

I think it’s a lot easier to be anonymous if you keep them, but never use them for anything real. I quit using Facebook two years ago, but I didn’t stop posting the occasional picture of some event I attended.

I simply uninstalled all their apps and deleted anything that I had ever posted which wasn’t completely irrelevant. I also deleted almost every picture of myself and prohibited people from ever tagging me.

This way I look like a normal boring guy who likes board games if you glance over my profile, but you couldn’t actually get anything to use against me.

It’s very Orwellian I guess, but it means I never have to explain why I’m not on social media.

You can bet the big-tech companies are the ones suggesting what a great idea this is to government officials (ie. Regulatory Capture).

It wouldn't surprise me that if in 10 years we all will need to have a minimal social presence to do routine things like travel.