{"id":4950,"date":"2020-04-14T07:46:24","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T05:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.alainveuve.ch\/social-media-the-super-waste-of-time\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T07:32:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T05:32:28","slug":"social-media-the-super-waste-of-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alainveuve.ch\/en\/social-media-the-super-waste-of-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Social media – the super waste of time"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few years ago, I wrote a post about<\/a> how I stopped watching TV and how much time I gained for myself as a result. The impulse at the time came from my colleague S\u00f8ren Schaffstein<\/a>, who inspired me to categorically turn away from TV. At the end of last year, the same thing happened to me with social media, but this time it wasn’t S\u00f8ren’s fault. The reason was different: first I got increasingly annoyed, then I got bored. <\/p>\n

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(Reading time 5 minutes)<\/em><\/p>\n

The naive illusion<\/h3>\n

I used to be a big fan of Facebook. The discussions enriched me and I had the feeling that the world was moving closer together. It was like a global regulars’ table where everyone had a place. <\/p>\n

This kind of exchange was interesting, sometimes funny, sometimes grueling, sometimes insightful. Me and Facebook had a good time. I also used to have Instagram and Snapchat and this weird Foursquare that nobody really knew what it was supposed to do. These great gifts of the modern age took up more and more of my time. <\/p>\n

I consistently filled my private “slack time” with this; my eyes were either on the current activity or on the screen. There was nothing in between. For someone who spends their whole life looking at screens in one way or another, this was nothing to worry about at first. Gradually, very slowly, however, I became dissatisfied with it. <\/p>\n

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When opinion became sacrosanct<\/h3>\n

My attitude towards social media changed the moment I realized that opinion was becoming sacrosanct. Although I’m framing this incorrectly, it wasn’t opinion per se that became untouchable – it always had been. No, false facts wrapped in opinion became untouchable. <\/p>\n

As I’m also part of the Tesla\/electric car community, I’ve experienced this first-hand. Things that were demonstrably simply wrong were circulated as opinions and as soon as you tried to question them with facts, you were told that it was your own opinion. And that the right to one’s own opinion would certainly not be taken away!!!1l!<\/p>\n

Now it’s not that I necessarily have to be right – I think I’m quite good at just leaving things as they are.<\/p>\n

But if the battle for the upper hand in discussions becomes more important than the subject of the discussion itself, the whole discussion becomes worthless.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is not Facebook’s fault, but unfortunately a general trend. Judgements and decisions are made without knowing the facts and figures, from the very small to the very large. Donald Trump has also made lying socially acceptable and a whole army of small-minded people all over the planet have gratefully accepted this. This is our Western culture today, we often talk without knowing the facts and lie without blushing. <\/p>\n

It has never been so easy…<\/h3>\n

This is particularly paradoxical because it has never been as easy as it is today to obtain as much information as possible about a topic. Information that is important can almost no longer be kept secret. <\/p>\n

You would think that this would generally lead to differentiated views and assessments, as reality is rarely just black or white. But that’s exactly what doesn’t happen because people hardly spend any time gathering information. Probably because they don’t have it due to their permanent social media addiction. <\/p>\n

The discussions and exchanges became increasingly tedious and at some point just boring. And I asked where my time was. <\/p>\n

Goodbye Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat<\/h3>\n

So at the end of the year, I simply decided to put an end to it. The great thing is that you can put an end to something like this quite easily: You just stop it. <\/p>\n

Twitter, the secret love<\/h3>\n

However, I have remained loyal to Twitter – yes, I know, that’s social media too. Twitter just never really bored me. Twitter is something like the social media channel of intellectuals or those who would like to be. I’ve always found the absurdity and weird culture that Twitter has always brought with it exciting. <\/p>\n

Does my company have to be on TikTok?<\/h3>\n

I get asked this question all the time (for reasons I can’t fathom) and no, for God’s sake, of course the company doesn’t have to. The company has to be concerned about delivering great products, treating employees well, electing women to the board but no, please, it doesn’t have to have a sausage stand at every fairground. That doesn’t mean it can’t do that, but it won’t be the deciding factor. <\/p>\n

LinkedIn and XING are not social media and please, please, don’t become one<\/h3>\n

I often hear that a social media campaign is being run on LinkedIn. From a purely conceptual point of view, LinkedIn is probably a social media network. However, I can only advise you not to see and use it as such. <\/p>\n

LinkedIn (and Xing) is a tool for managing, using and, above all, benefiting from your network. Think of it as a working tool for business relationships. For me, it is one of the most important tools in my daily work, which as an entrepreneur has a lot to do with people. If it weren’t for LinkedIn, I would be on the phone most of the day. LinkedIn is extremely efficient. To keep it that way, it would be good if we all put a stop to the beginnings of “cat imageization”. <\/p>\n

What to do with the time?<\/h3>\n

Abstaining from Facebook & Co. has freed up a lot of time. Time that gives me more peace and serenity, more sleep and more time for my work. It’s as if a new space has opened up, waiting to be filled with ideas and projects. <\/p>\n

I can only advise everyone to carefully evaluate whether social media is worth their time. And then make a personal decision. Just like with TV. <\/p>\n

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