Blog

Reasons to quit social media: your career (and your education) may benefit

November 28th, 2016

We hope everyone had a well-deserved and restful Thanksgiving weekend. It is a wonderful time to reflect on all that we are grateful for and cherish these moments with our loved ones. And of course we hope you were able to indulge in a delicious traditional Thanksgiving feast!

Speaking of a having a restful weekend, many of us use social media as a way to relax during down time. Some people use social media to help their career through networking and spreading their work via “likes” and “shares.” With the majority of Americans having a social media profile, it may be difficult to understand the opposing point of view that Cal Newport, author of the article we are sharing today, has on social media. Newport is a millennial blogger, writer and computer scientist who thinks social media is more harmful than good when it comes to work opportunities. This is a great article to help us see the other side to the social media argument, and we share it today because it is equally applicable to education opportunities. Parents and students alike, read on!

Article below published on newyorktimes.com on November 19, 2016

Written by: Cal Newport

I’m a millennial computer scientist who also writes books and runs a blog. Demographically speaking I should be a heavy social media user, but that is not the case. I’ve never had a social media account.

At the moment, this makes me an outlier, but I think many more people should follow my lead and quit these services. There are many issues with social media, from its corrosion of civic life to its cultural shallowness, but the argument I want to make here is more pragmatic: You should quit social media because it can hurt your career.

0 Shares