He was hyperbolic but there most definitely is a ton of pressure to use Facebook and other forms of social media, especially if you are young. In some cases, people perceive the absence of a Facebook account as a red flag and even a sign of weirdness, or as an outright lie (similar to giving a fake phone number).
>People don't need lots of friends. They don't need 100s of possibly useful people on a website they have to maintain and update in order to "fit in".
I can guarantee that if you have the gregarious personality type that suits this type of lifestyle, having a large network of acquaintances that are conveniently accessible in a single location can indeed improve the quality of your life in a significant way. This is especially true for people who travel a lot or those who are in a university setting. It's not so much about social capital or social climbing but rather the simple availability of making plans and doing fun things with other people that would not happen without the specific dynamics made possible by Facebook.
"pressure to use Facebook and other forms of social media, especially if you are young"
How young? Data I've seen say that teenagers prefer Snapchat and think Facebook is for old people. The pressure is not the same across all age groups. That tells me that it's a generational / trend-based problem. And because of that, the pressure you speak of doesn't necessitate that we must use Facebook or <insert a similar social media platform>.
"having a large network of acquaintances that are conveniently accessible in a single location can indeed improve the quality of your life in a significant way"
Seemingly, but is that really the case? Can you speak of anyone specifically who sees a net benefit from the type of large network you're talking about?
I imagine most people with a gregarious lifestyle also suffer from stalking, harassment, identity-theft, and many other problems that result in them not even having personal social media accounts.
For people who have a large cast of fans to announce news to (musicians, celebrities, companies), social media can definitely help. But I wonder if we're certain of the net benefit, once you factor in all of the negative consequences (a few of which I just mentioned above).
There are other ways for those people to broadcast information to a large number of people without having to depend on Mark Zuckerberg or <insert another "hero">
>People don't need lots of friends. They don't need 100s of possibly useful people on a website they have to maintain and update in order to "fit in".
I can guarantee that if you have the gregarious personality type that suits this type of lifestyle, having a large network of acquaintances that are conveniently accessible in a single location can indeed improve the quality of your life in a significant way. This is especially true for people who travel a lot or those who are in a university setting. It's not so much about social capital or social climbing but rather the simple availability of making plans and doing fun things with other people that would not happen without the specific dynamics made possible by Facebook.