What's your LinkedIn????

 A little while ago I was at a MUN conference when someone randomly came up to me. He started making small talk, but I could instantly feel the fake energy radiating off of him. Obviously, I had to match it,  as one of the biggest aspects of Model UN deals with having to suppress your real personality and appear friendly and connected to everyone. This fake conversation, which I thought would end normally, had an ending that was a first for me. He pulled out his phone, and I expected maybe what's your Instagram or let's make a group chat with people from the committee. Instead, he opened up the LinkedIn app, stuck his phone at me, and asked me to type in my LinkedIn. I couldn't help but break character and make a face when he asked. Regardless, he persisted, so I had to.

My facial reaction


From there, I watched him gallivant around to the rest of the committee and repeat the same process, collecting each person's LinkedIn like Pokémon. As Pinker states, language has turned into a "social currency," making new conversations faker than ever. With LinkedIn, these social interactions have gained their "real value," with people farming the mythical 500+ connections club.

Rather than viewing new people as potential friends or meaningful experiences, people have started placing valuations on each person as a +1 connection. Each new interaction in a professional setting has never felt as hollow as it does now, with every person reduced down to a number.

Comments

  1. Sanskriti MathurMarch 14, 2026 at 2:51 PM

    I really like your humorous tone throughout this blog post, especially with your detail about collecting LinkedIns like Pokemon. there's also a sense of humor behind the fact that as high schoolers many of us dont even have LinkedIn, let alone hundreds of connections on it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. LANGonardo Da VinciMarch 14, 2026 at 3:19 PM

    I just wanna say that this sounds like a very original experience. I have never once heard of anyone asking others for their linkedin accounts. Anyways, I really liked how you used a personal experience to exemplify Pinker's argument that language has turned into a "social currency". It strengthens his point beacuse it shows how prevalent the idea is in the world.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Abhinav JainMarch 15, 2026 at 9:33 AM

    This post is very well-written, the flow is immaculate and the experience is recounted in a very immersive way. You used excellent word choice such as with the word 'gallivant' and your comparison to Pokemon was perfect. Nice job Advik

    ReplyDelete
  4. Aditya SheelvanthMarch 15, 2026 at 10:50 PM

    This highlights how professional networking can sometimes feel more like collecting numbers than building real relationships. It raises an interesting question about whether platforms like LinkedIn encourage genuine connections or just performative interactions.

    ReplyDelete

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