THE ONLY BLACK GUY IN THE OFFICE
Dear Co-Workers, Please Don’t Follow Me on Social Media
It’s not you, it’s me
Update 6/7/22: Level has a new home. You can read this article and other new articles by visiting LEVELMAN.com.
If you’ve been consistently reading this column, you may have noticed that I draw some heavy boundaries when it comes to my career. For instance, my co-workers can miss me with chats about politics. Same for Afrocentric art. And dating a co-worker is a big no-no. Those boundaries extend to my digital life, too. As an example, I prefer that co-workers don’t follow me on social media, and vice versa.
The reasoning, though, might not be what you expect.
Of course, there’s the classic dilemma of how much of your life outside of the office to show your colleagues. I’m not an online oversharer anyway — more of an IRL kind of guy — so that’s not a huge deal to me. But keeping professional associates disconnected from my social media accounts has more to do with etiquette and personal tolerance. Allow me to explain.
At a previous job — back when I was younger and a little bit more carefree — I thought following co-workers was harmless, even polite. Within my first month there, I was following co-workers on Twitter, Instagram, and…
