Week 1B: Some Thoughts on Social Media

Let me share my journey with social media in a more personal way.

Man, I've been on this wild social media ride since the beginning! It's wild to think back to Myspace days when I was just connecting with my high school buddies - you know, the same people I'd see in the hallways every day anyway. Then life happened, and we all scattered to different colleges. Briefly, everyone got on this platform called Orkut (remember that?) before Facebook swooped in and changed the game completely. That's when things got really interesting - suddenly people realized they could monetize.

I had this real eye-opening moment a few years back when I watched "The Social Dilemma." I turned off all my notifications. I told myself "I'm gonna check my phone when I want to, not when my phone tells me to." I know I'm lucky though - I didn't get my first cell phone until I was 19, so I've got a different relationship with tech than kids these days. It's way harder for them to set those boundaries when they've never known a world without smartphones.

These days, I keep it pretty simple. I hop on X when I want to figure out what's going on with the economy (most of the time that just leaves me more confused!), and I check Instagram occasionally to catch up with friends and respond to their messages. It works for me - I'm not letting social media run my life, but I'm still getting the best out of it.

But here's what I can't ignore - if you're running a business today, you can't just opt out of social media. It's like trying to run a shop without electricity!. And the "algorithms" - they're like the new gods, they can take someone from total obscurity to viral sensation overnight, or completely tank a thriving business if they change the wrong settings.