[madaxe_again]

I don’t think it will be banned - the commercial incentives are just too strong, and states have bought into the idea that it is a security tool - rather than the security risk it actually is. It radicalises, it damages, it makes the remote and irrelevant seem imminent and proximal, the lone voices seem prevalent - but from a governance perspective, it allows surveillance of an increasingly disgruntled population, and relinquishing that control, that direct feed into the ids of millions, is not something any government is about to do.

No, I foresee a future in which social media is mandatory - if not in law, at least in practice. I use none, as I found it turned me into a performer rather than a person, and even now sometimes find myself at an impasse where I am not able to do x, y, z because I do not have a social media presence. For instance, I was refused entry to the US for refusing to divulge my social media handles - because I have none. I was last night refused entrance to a bar because I wouldn’t share my instagram handle - because I have none. I had to go for a physical interview last year for a residency permit where I live, because I would not share my Facebook handle - because I have none. I got residency, but I was presented with additional hurdles for not being a user.

If you want out, the only way is to forgo much of modern life - and this will only become more and more apparent.

I’ve taken to writing physical letters. If I can’t be bothered, what I had to say evidently wasn’t important in the first place.

[majjam]

Im astonished you weren’t admitted to a bar because you don’t have an instagram account. What was the reasoning there if you don’t mind sharing a bit more?

[madaxe_again]

Band doing a gig - they only wanted people there who would film and share on social media. No great loss, as I hate being surrounded by present but absent people, watching something right in front of them on a tiny screen rather than with their own eyes.