It’s Time to Dismantle the Technopoly
In the fall of 2016—the year in which the proportion of online adults using social media reached eighty per cent—I published an Op-Ed in the Times that questioned the popular conception that you need to cultivate a strong social-media brand to succeed in the job market. “I think this behavior is misguided,” I wrote. “In a capitalist economy, the market rewards things that are rare and valuable. Social media use is decidedly not rare or valuable.” I suggested that knowledge workers instead spend time developing useful skills, with the goal of distinguishing themselves in their chosen fields. The article took off, driven by a provocative title added by my editors: “Quit Social Media. Your Career May Depend on It.” For a brief period, it even topped the paper’s most-e-mailed list.
The backlash soon followed. The CBC invited me on a national radio program to discuss the essay; I was surprised,