While I do have FB (and constantly consider the idea of dumping it altogether), I refuse to use FB messenger, specifically once they separated from actual FB and made downloading the messenger app a requirement.
I had the messenger app at one point, and within a day I discovered that the app will randomly send unauthorized “waves” and messages to people you’re friends with. I was receiving them, as well as sending them. Fuck that. I figure it’s also one of their favorite tools for harvesting data.
Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I am certain that our cell phones are always listening to us. Don’t get me started on Alexa and that sort of thing. It’s a bit too much of a coincidence when I mention something fleeting in a discussion with someone, never looking for it online, and suddenly I am getting ads for that same thing within a matter of days. Happened at least a handful of times.
100% agree with this. There are way too many coincidences for it to be random. Thoughts on Apples privacy policies? Are they being forthright or are they just as guilty as Zuckerberg and Bezos? So far they seem the lesser of evils…
I don’t know enough about the specifics of the whole thing with Apple to make an informed comment on it. I wasn’t too surprised by the whole “eavesdropping” thing from a few weeks back though. Don’t know the details, though. Did Apple issue a statement?
I have to go around Unfollowing. Each of my three gigs are Facebook-centric. I have to check in on Facebook once every 30 minutes. Fun, right? No. Not fun.
I clean my FB fairly regularly. Usually I unfriend people I just don’t interact with so I don’t often get the “why” messages…but it happens.
When people are pissing me off like this I just hide/unfollow them. That way I don’t get their grief AND I don’t have to be the bad persons for unfriending.
Seriously, I love Facebook for a lot of reasons but the bad stuff is just SO bad!!
Unintentionally I’ve essentially not been using FB the last 6 months, since around when I got sober. It lost my interest, I guess for a lot of the same reasons. All the stuff that rose to the top were re-posts and seething sarcasm.
Before that I tried grooming my feed. Going through the clicks to say “see less like this” on anything that wasn’t people sharing original stuff about how their own lives were going. All I got were more ads that I couldn’t deselect.
When I got to almost never logging in, it was interesting. The first page of the feed were close friends and cool posts. Then the ads. Then the stupid, echo chamber reposts and garbage again. Nope.
Once I started going weeks without looking, I got buried in notifications. Not stuff to or about me. They’re basically a spammy duplicate of what’s already on my newsfeed, screaming like a desperate ex for attention. This after turning off every conceivable notification on my phone and the site aside from direct contact from others.
Last month I went in and locked down what people can post to my profile since I just don’t log in anymore. Over it.
Yup. I’ve logged out for months at a time, and that first log in is just an overload of notifications. Just so much unnecessary stuff. Slowly getting it a bit more manageable though.
Best way I’ve found to manage it is ignore it. It’s only still up for people that only reach out through there, and my patience for even that is approaching zero f—s through no fault of theirs.
I haven’t even been to our arena. I wouldn’t know. Im a college hockey snob, just a puritan like that. My joy comes from opportune moments for playful ribbing.
Besides, we drink tea out of Herb Brooks’ old hockey skates here.
All the BS on Facebook drove nuts. I got rid of alcohol and shortly after Facebook. I still have a page I just never go on it. Life in the real world is so much better.
Absolutely hate Facebook, like you say there is so much negativity. Can’t understand why people can go on there most of the time posting utter rubbish to get a few likes. I would much rather spend time with people face to face than wasting my time scrolling through all the rubbish. Just wish staying clean was as easy as getting rid of facebook
I would totally remove facebook from my social media, but there are several close friends and a few family members who I stay in touch with mostly via facebook. I am also disabled and do not get out much so it is my main contact with the outside world. Currently I am 22 days into a 30 day facebook ban.
I deleted/deactivated my account because it wasn’t adding any value, actually negatively affecting me. I also have a serious problem with how FB uses data AND the “echo chambers” it creates for their users. I think it has done a lot of damage politically to the US. That being said, I do miss the notifications when it is someone’s birthday.
To be fair, I am on Instagram, and that is owned by FB. I’m willing to be on there because what I follow (sobriety and dog blogs) do add value to my days. Social media is very dangerous. I try to be mindful of my usage.
they shit the bed a lot.
