Everyone decries the loss of privacy, the rise of extremism, and the state of internet surveillance these days. If you use Facebook, you are making it all worse.
Facebook exists to extract information from and about you, and sell that information to others. Some of it is sold to advertisers, some to other even less savory characters. So what do you get out of it?
Facebook exists “to connect users,” regardless of their misbehavior, immorality, or destructiveness.
Crap
You get very little for it. You give up your privacy, you give up your individuality, and Facebook gets all sorts of billions of dollars.
You do get free access to … something. Access to what? Connections to people you know or you think that think like you. But the cost is too high.
Time and Life
Facebook is a giant time sink. It perpetuates FOMO which makes people depressed. It harbors and even promotes extremism. Facebook’s “algorithms exploit the human brain’s attraction to divisiveness.”
Not Worth It
The effort and time needed to participate in Facebook? No, thanks, I’d rather live a real life.
But, But
“But, but, but,” you say, “how would I stay in touch with my friends without Facebook?” Let me tell you a little secret: People have kept in contact with friends and connections for hundreds of years before Facebook existed. There are a zillion ways. There other ways, other platforms, other technologies, some new, some old.
Alternates
If you think there is no other way to stay in touch than by using Facebook, then I must tell you that you have a big problem. A very big problem.
Waste
Facebook’s income, as of December 31, 2019, was over 70 Billion dollars. How much of that did you get from using it? Zero I bet.
Every time you use Facebook, you are adding to the billions of dollars that Facebook is earning. Earnings from you. And, yet, you get nothing for it.
When you stop using Facebook you accomplish many things. Firstly, you diminish their income. After all, Facebook’s income comes from advertising, and the fewer people they have using their product, the less information they can sell.
Secondly, you diminish the amount of advertising directed at you. Thirdly, you diminish the amount of propaganda and misinformation you are subject to. Fourthly, you begin to see other sources of information and socialization; you become less dependant on Facebook. And so on.
Give It Up
You were able to stop smoking, you were able to cut out drugs. You can cut out Facebook. Delete your account. Get out and live a real life.
Your take on Facebook? Let me know here.
The photo of a garden thermometer was taken in September, 2020.
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