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Social Media is turning decent folk into detached, unaware ignoramuses who no longer know how to connect with one another, amazing experiences are being missed, and the joy of living is getting overtaken by the need to share everything. Attention spans are minimal, quality is minimal, real life connection is minimal. I'm all for minimalism but they're doing it wrong.

I see the irony of writing on this subject, especially given my viewpoint. I also see the irony in the fact I first got to thinking about this following something in my Twitter feed. But, I believe I am one of few first-version-millennials who rarely have a phone or screen in sight during a normal day, and no-one in our home has their phone within easy reach after 6pm.

I experimented with social media as a business tool extensively, and quickly saw the error of my ways, and the ridiculous amount of time I was spending not doing anything that was actually contributing to me or my work, but that's just me and my own business model.

In one of those strange quirks of timing and serendipity, as I write this, news is breaking that the same may well be said for other business, it really depends what business you are in. Certainly high-street hospitality chain J D Wetherspoon are under no illusions that social media is some kind of essential marketing tool: 

"We are going against conventional wisdom that these platforms are a vital component of a successful business," said Mr Tim Martin , Chairman of J D Wetherspoon

"We were also concerned that pub managers were being side-tracked from the real job of serving customers," he said. "I don't believe that closing these accounts will affect our business whatsoever."

The chairman said that it had consulted its pub managers before making the move, and "90-to-95% felt using social media was not helping the business".

Social Media for business is a full-time, full-on occupation for many organisations, but what are they actually gaining? It is fairly simple for a small company to calculate return on investment, but many have failed to do this, and have simply jumped on a very fickle band wagon. 

I personally sit with Dr. Cal Newport (check out his TEDx Talk on quitting social media) on this subject: Social Media is entertainment, it is not a vital tool for your life or your business, but may quite contentedly drain both if you let it.
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Unless, of course, your business is social media.