Way back in, oh, 2007 or so, being on Facebook was a sign that you were either into cutting edge technology or an insecure person prone to oversharing. Fast forward to today, anyone who ISN’T on the network risks being seen as anti-social and just plain goofy by prospective employers. The Daily Mail reports that recruiters might think a candidate’s Facebook profile is so full of incriminating stuff that it’s been deactivated entirely. A German magazine, the article says, went so far as to note that Norwegian mass-murder Anders Brevik and suspected Aurora, Colorado gunman James Holmes weren’t on the same networks as the rest of us:
It points out that Holmes, who is accused of killing 12 people and an unborn child and wounding 58 others at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, and Breivik, who murdered 77 people with a car bomb and mass shooting, did not use Facebook and had small online footprints.
Breivik used MySpace and Holmes was reportedly on the hookup site Adult Friend Finder.
And this is what the argument boils down to: It’s the suspicion that not being on Facebook, which has become so normal among young adults, is a sign that you’re abnormal and dysfunctional, or even dangerous, ways.
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