Not if they live in a different time zone. Most of my family are in Canada and Singapore and I'd run up a pretty hefty phone bill if I were to phone each one individually every time a birthday or celebratory life event rolled around.
I use Facebook as a communication tool for large groups. WhatsApp is more like small groups or one on one and doesn't tell me when their birthdays are. I keep the politics crap confined to Twitter and that's mostly because people post political tweets on this site which I feel compelled to follow up on.
No. You don't. There are things such as texting in which you can keep up on the family. Best yet, call them. I gave up Facebook (the only SM site I was on, except forums such as this) in 2016 and don't miss it a bit. I still keep up with my family, more so now, just by calling or texting.
My bad, I did not see the above before posting my previous reply. Something like what you have would, indeed, be easier through SM.
Good for you. As for me, I'd rather have an "illusionary" connection than none at all.
I never got into social media in the form of sites like Facebook, but even then I can see the value in them and I have to ask what makes you think connections on these platforms are illusory? I'd expect more people to be in contact with each other on such a site just because it's designed to make that easier. That's not necessarily a bad thing. I know I at least have different levels of interaction with different people. Social media sites provide a convenient way to to keep in touch with those you otherwise might not communicate with often. When it comes to those you keep in close contact with, it's a very high resolution form of communication. It's definitely helpful to have the option to be kept up to date with people's lives in nearly real time. It's kind of like living with them.
I didn't mean to imply that you shouldn't be on social media, more that if you don't want to be (I didn't want to be anymore) that you shouldn't fear feeling isolated or "falling off the face of the earth" if you do. I still think a lot of it is a cesspit.
Yeah that wasn't really directed at you so much as the vague, gesturing-broadly-with-arms-flailing-wildly-in-all-directions everyone who does so. I've commented on it before and was "corrected" because GTPlanet is different from Facebook et al, but it can be different and yet still be counted under the term.
This may be getting seriously off topic considering what thread we are in, but I find there are practical and meaningful differences, and they are part of the reason I'm willing to participate on GTP but not conventional social media. The biggest among them being the anonymousness of it and the moderation. Moderators keep things from getting out of hand (thank you to all of them) and the discussion environment healthy. And the anonymity mitigates harassment, which itself allows conversation to be more open, which is a part of the reason I left social media in the first place. I don't think anyone on this board would enjoy being doxxed, but that's the basic setup for most social media.
I don't understand how anything said above would exclude GTPlanet from categorization as social media.
Yes, it is indeed social media, but it is a SM platform that is very, very niche, thus not seen by millions, as is the guitar forum I belong to.
Same for me, I use it pretty much only for Messenger to keep touch with long distance family members and friends, and for the Marketplace, which I've used a few times to buy vintage games/consoles. A lot less crackheads and scammers than on Craigslist.
