I never was with the LinkedIn game early on because I never cared about getting into the competitive fields like tech or whatever. I was also just a kid, 18–20 years old. But after having graduated in two years with liberal arts degrees and giving the finger to the prospect of law school, I’m stuck with navigating the working world as a wannabe teacher.
Honestly, why does LinkedIn feel so fucking fake and sad? I see so many young adults under the age of 22 building LinkedIn profiles, starting public speaking journeys, making their own podcasts or doing internships and all this shit and it just feels so… sad to me. People bring up the prospect of “networking” in order to get a job but it’s exactly that: connections only done for the purpose of finding a job. It’s all fake as shit. But why do people seem to enjoy the prospect of it?
I once went to a career fair and felt so overstimulated and uncomfortable with all these businesses around and these white dudes wearing polos with their company’s logo on it. I can recount only one good experience: when I talked to a girl I had met through a shared school activity and she recognized me as the kid who wore the Youngboy shirt. Yeah, that felt genuine, but I bet everything else that girl encountered for the rest of the time was fake niceties. Why? Do people genuinely enjoy this stuff? Or is it a fake pastiche put on for the purpose of upward mobility?
When I was 17 and still in high school, my friend had already begun a LinkedIn. He had already begun spouting all of this pro-capitalist rhetoric too, saying I wouldn’t understand because his family hadn’t developed generational wealth in the States yet. He went on to gain prestigious scholarships guided by the dream of being able to rebuild his father’s country, but what the hell, is that how it’s gonna happen? Will all of these kids be able to make the big bucks in order to do something wonderful for their communities? Or are they misguided? I’m asking more in relation to young adults of immigrant/minority backgrounds rather than white people, because oftentimes these kids of color don’t have the pre-established connections to get high-paying (or perhaps livable) jobs.
Also, do all these kids genuinely enjoy networking, as he seemed to? Or do they secretly hate it and only feel compelled to do it to chase the prospect of upward mobility, or better yet, because they have to work twice as hard for half the amount acceptance? I’ve noticed that colleges try their best to make all the career shit as accessible as possible to younger people (especially all the Gen Z TikTok pandering fuckshit), but why is it to me that it all seems stupid? Should I have just sucked it up and went? Maybe tried to catch onto the vibe and have fun the way school organizations and fraternities try to make it all fun (typically, by gamifying it)? Or was I right to stay behind and just do my damn work in my dorm while staring at a blank wall?
Take into consideration I am a white man with my own sets of privileges when it comes to finding jobs (but now that I’m aiming towards being a teacher, those grand prospects are kinda being shut out). Yet I can’t help but think these students of color, in all their efforts, are chasing an American dream that isn’t real. I recently saw a LinkedIn post of a girl who has her own non-profit, talking about how immigrants can develop the opportunities of chasing maybe not THE American Dream, but THEIR OWN American Dream. There is no possible way she is not pandering towards higher-ups by saying this. There’s no way she could possibly use that term in a way that feels even the slightest bit genuine to her, right? Unless it’s been drilled into her head by her parents or the white people around her.
Must these students of color chase these dehumanizing things? What about the neurodivergent students of color, who can’t bear the idea of this false socialization when they already have to mask so much in everyday life? I’m sorry, I fucking hate LinkedIn, I fucking hate this fake shit, it’s all so depressing. There’s got to be a way out for everyone, right? Maybe if we band together to ensure we survive? Friends helping friends, communities helping communities? Then again, what about the old act of moving one’s family out of “the hood”? Is chasing after being a lawyer really going to do that?