Social media: the good, the bad and the ugly

A few months ago, I deleted my Twitter account and significantly improved my mental health. I do not miss the constant stream of mostly useless tweets at all. I have not signed up to Facebook and cannot see any reason to do so. Unfortunately, LinkedIn seems to be becoming a social media site rather than a professional networking site with routine stages in professional life trumpeted as if they were research breakthroughs. Luckily, I am old enough for none of this to matter in my career but I do worry about the effect on younger academics.

I have got SO much out of social media, so many good connections/networks, jobs, opportunities to work on papers, feedback, encouragement, all sorts. The media narrative is consistently one of addiction and despair.... :-(