Clearly I use social media, I'm here.
I have a Twitter account, and I technically have a facebook account because I signed up ages ago, but I haven't actually used it in quite a few years - I find that knowing that other people are out having fun isn't good for me.
I use Twitter a fair bit, it's a good way to check the morning headlines.
I have a smartphone (Android, because Apple is a goddamn cult), but I resisted buying one until this past September. However, I do find it quite useful, as it means I have internet access on the go, so for instance I can check RealTimeTrains while travelling. I can also now communicate with the people I'm going to visit easily if I want to say something but it's not so urgent I need to actually call them. I do have Skype, but pretty much just to talk to my parents. My main method of communication, including with my girlfriend, is via IRC.
I have owned a Kindle for two years now, but I don't see it as a book replacement. Most books I buy in paperback, but Kindles are quite useful for things you can dip into - for instance the collected Guardian columns of David Mitchell. I also like that I can read it in the dark, for instance while waiting through boring adverts at the cinema, or on the beach at Brighton in the moonlight. That said, I mainly got it because people keep making novellas which come out as ebooks but never make it to print. I have read a few heftier stories on it, for instance
The Summer Man by SD Perry and
Absolute Power by David Baldacci. I wouldn't have read either of them if they weren't in an Amazon sale, and, now I have bought the former as a present for others (very good book), it's a hell of a tome and makes me feel less bad about how long it took me to get through it.
I get all my news online, but mostly from old media sources - BBC, Washington Post, Guardian, New York Times.
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On the subject of Kindle, like I say I have one, but I don't really use it. I do read a lot and I can see how it would be convenient but I just prefer a physical book. And, I enjoy browsing a bookshop (or second hand bookshop) and picking something up. I don't usually go looking for a particular title, I just browse until I spot something interesting. I don't feel that I can use Amazon in the same way! I certainly can't kill half an hour in a different town browsing Amazon while I wait for someone/something!
You're very right there (though Amazon physical bookshops now exist!).
Online shopping is great if you know exactly what you want, but if you don't then there's no substitute for going to a shop in person. In terms of shopping for birthdays and Christmas, I generally store up ideas over the year and buy what I can online (eg books I came across). Then in the weeks leading up to the day, I'll go out to a shopping centre (garden centre for my parents) and browse.
, but my wife has one for long train trips.
