December 2004: I joined LinkedIn with a dream of meaningful connections, collaboration, and professional growth. Two decades later, I can’t help but wonder: Am I wasting my life on LinkedIn?
1000+ new followers last year. Countless posts. Several business pages. Great? Um. How much of this actually matters? The rabbit hole linkedin: a mix of Facebook, political noise, shameless self-promotion, relentless marketing pitches, and the occasional headhunter sliding into your inbox.
Is it LinkedIn that’s changed or us? We wanted collaboration, but we settle for content. We wanted substance, but we scroll through fluff.
Maybe I’m asking too much. Or maybe we’re all just using this platform wrong.
Sure, there are meaningful connections and a few opportunities here and there. But when I look at the hours poured into this platform, I have to ask myself: Is this really worth it? Are we creating something, or just feeding the machine? What keeps us coming back? Hope? Fear of missing out? Habit?
To my dear (active) network: What do you think? Are we using this platform to build something meaningful, or are we just scrolling our lives away?
Why are we f* here? What keeps you here?