Which brings us to LinkedIn, the last island of sanity in a sea of social noise. Somehow, improbably, it has remained consistently similar in tone and content since it was launched 20 years ago. And that is a truly remarkable feat.

Of course there’s some humblebragging, back-slapping, hashtagging puffery on there, but I’ll happily wade through those when they’re balanced out by politeness, positivity, support and education. LinkedIn reflects the environment it’s a part of, and most of our workplaces also contain colleagues who demonstrate the full spectrum of behaviours above.

I know how hard it is to maintain a tone as a community scales. Over the last two decades I’ve launched many communities on the internet as part of my time running a digital media company (sadly, however, none of them reached the dizzying scale of LinkedIn).

It is extremely difficult to maintain the idealistic intentions you start with as a community grows and morphs to reflect a new generation of users.

LinkedIn’s masterstroke, and the key to its success, is that it directly connects your work reputation to your public profile. This ensures the worst impulses of the internet, like trolling and name-calling, are tempered. And if the price to pay for that is to scroll past the occasional large ego, then sign me up.

A simple test of the long-term viability of any business is to ask: what would happen if it didn’t exist tomorrow? Would people actually care? Or would they just go about their normal day? I’d argue that most people would, eventually, get over the absence of most social media sites and find other ways to fill in time on a bus or train.

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But LinkedIn? It’s part of the business fabric of how professionals connect with others in the workplace, especially as a unique way to be able to search for and contact almost anyone in the world you’d like to reach out to.

In fact, when I have spare time to check any of the social media sites, my first go-to is usually LinkedIn. I actually want to read stories of people celebrating their successes, telling us about the highlight of their week or sharing something they’re proud of. It makes me feel a little bit warmer on the inside, and that’s a rarity on today’s internet.

When the alternative is getting drawn into never-ending political fights, time-sucking memes, dance routines or the 147 family photos my Aunty posted today, give me LinkedIn any day of the week.