iyo did facebook ruin the internet?

I never take those stupid "which Doobie Brother are you?" type quizzes

ILX used to be acned with threads linking to those kinds of quizzes, but that was back in the era before FB sucked in all LOLCAT content into its vortex.

I just kept changing my answer until I was Ariel.

I have to have an account to update my employer's sites. So there's that.

i'd have deleted several years ago if not for ^^^. but i've never used it much or posted anything important, or had the app on any of my phones, so i doubt i've been deeply compromised

I do think there should be (although unlikely) a case for elder abuse where fb allowed misleading and psychologically confusing material to be targeted at aged, vulnerable demographics.

it all makes facebook's global plans - http://time.com/facebook-world-plan/ - very very crepey imo, especially in developing countries where they're potentially one of the first corporations to gain widespread access to the "market" of psychometric data there.

Fox News would finally stand w/Facebook on that one xp

the compulsive refreshing to see what's new
bingo

yeah. i got into a terrible cycle in early january - ILX, facebook, twitter, facebook, ILX, facebook, twitter, facebook, nonstop. i was going out of my fucking mind.

ugh that's how i feel right now

i replaced facebook in my life with extreme weightlifting. now i lift hundreds of pounds over my head with absolutely no problem, it's been amazing

ilx is still fun but facebook and twitter do not bring me really any happiness but i find it so hard to stop

xpost but for real marcos, if you're truly feeling like that then i know it must be awful! cutting out even just one of them can be really helpful. i recommend NOT cutting ilx not only because of how much we'd miss you (selfishly!), but also because after stepping away from the computer for a few weeks earlier this year i quickly realized that there's a rewarding way to use the internet and a toxic way, and ILX is part of the rewarding path generally. it's the fucking endless feed that drains the brain

my entire twitter feed is just retweets or retweets of retweets.

the only Facebook posts i...post...that get likes anymore are terrible dad jokes.

xpost oops, you made the same point while i was typing that, d'oh

I only started using FB more and even looking at twitter because of Pence and Trump. Was twitter ever good? It's a complete cesspool. And now I am maxed out on fb after only 1-2 years and back on ILX because it seems healthier.

early/weird twitter was ok but then media twitter happened

my entire twitter feed is just retweets or retweets of retweets.

it's really utterly bizarre to me that most twitter accounts for "normal" people are just retweets. like what's the point?

yea i think about ditching facebook all the time. inertia just probably the main reason i don't

twitter is harder bc it's used so widely in my profession

I don't understand retweeting or linking articles without your own personal commentary/content attached. What's the point? I have too many friends all linking to the same articles like they are assigning reading.

I greatly appreciate fine curators of retweets.

It's funny, I never understood this "compulsive refreshing" of fb. Or, never had that "problem". Unless you guys really mean it like it's some slot machine. "Maybe on the tenth refresh I'll actually see a post by someone who really matters! Fingers crosssed!" FB's timeline is so out of whack it's laughable. You get served days old posts from friends which should have been screaming in your face at the time they were written, but aren't, and instead show up days later? It only tells me "lol nothing matters".

While I feel I should feel strongly about quitting fb, for all the obvious reasons, in day to day use it proves to be such a broken, useless tool that it doesn't even matter if I stay on, or quit. It's worthless and literally not good or great at anything.

my feed is like 90% RTs and that's mostly so I can find them later

wouldn't a fav be more appropriate in that case?

and i've only recently started thinking about this, so my thoughts are all half-baked, but it's like at some point twitter became less participatory and more amplificatory. traditional media players started providing the content again which was then virally spread by passive participants RTing

for those who are still on facebook: what would it take for you to delete your account?

we discussed this in both of my classes this week. we brainstormed reasons for and against (we are learning argumentation, counterargument, refutation) and everyone in the room had an active account. everyone also had their own reservations. i'm not going to transcribe all the reasons, but there were ones i hadn't heard often, like "using facebook blurs the lines between what is ok and what is not ok and some people don't see the line, or they never learn where it should go" among others.

we concluded in both groups that we shouldn't have to delete our accounts. we can deactivate or limit usage, learn how to share stuff without exposing self or others, and demand better mechanisms for privacy and control over our information, including the option of a monthly fee. i thought they were pretty open minded about the discussion and I heard some pretty bad stories of bullying and abuse.

as for me personally -- or is the real issue just that facebook is too useful in certain ways (staying in touch, finding local event invitations, telling everyone you're engaged or pregnant, etc), so you wouldn't delete your account until there's a functional equivalent that you could migrate to?
this is the main issue + i am not very close with a lot of local people who i socialize with. 1) if i disappeared, they would probably not think to invite me personally as i am not a primary person on anyone's invite list 2) even if i were, that would take a lot of effort and i don't see the utility of events, esp for DIY stuff, going away. there is nowhere else to get that sort of functionality that i am aware of. moreover, i have friends who would never take the time to contact me individually at this point in their lives. too busy. blorping photos of special events and liking on facebook is something they have time for because it's quick and efficient to let someone know you care a tiny bit by liking or commenting.

blorp

just want you to know, i care a tiny bit about your word, blorp

blorp

If someone is supposedly 'unable' to take the time to write to me or call me, I'd rather they were not part of my life at all. I have little patience for anything other than close relationships and have therefore never bothered to create a Facebook account in the first place. This has not prevented me from having a social life and attending events, though once a week on average is more than enough as far as I'm concerned (YMMV, etc.). And when I bump into people I haven't seen in eons, I am almost systematically reminded, within the space of a few minutes, why we lost touch to begin with (I've no doubt they feel the same way). If I were on Facebook, chances are we'd be 'friends'…

I do think there should be (although unlikely) a case for elder abuse where fb allowed misleading and psychologically confusing material to be targeted at aged, vulnerable demographics.

they've now turned in false election ad sale data FOUR times, in response to real actual existing Seattle law that demands disclosure. the second-last time they changed the point size to 3.5 to try and make it harder to tell what they were disclosing at all. the last time they sent the first disclosure again, with a typo corrected.

Being in a stable, long-term relationship probably helps as well.

xp

but being a part of the conversation

I literally have no clue what I would even post about if I engaged in Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. like, maybe once a year I'll be playing a pick up game in basketball and a squashed mcdouble will fall out of a guy's pocket and I might have the urge to sign up for twitter and post about in those moments, but the other 364 days of the year are pretty much vanilla, so what the hell would I even talk about?

also, how many people really pay attention to liked post? I used to get into arguments with my ex when we would be out doing stuff, because she'd inevitably want to document our outing doing whatever for instagram. it always felt to me that getting likes from people a billion miles away was just as important as being in the moment and enjoying our experiencing together but we'd end up taking a bunch of 'selfies' and she'd curate the best one, but for what? we already knew our friends liked us, what the fuck is the rest for?

i understand the need to use social media for work and to stay in contact with certain people, but I can't help but be put off by the intense narcissism required to think anyone who is not actively involved in your life gives a fuck about any picture or quip you post

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/04/mark-zuckerberg-atlantic-exclusive/557489/

“Well, I certainly feel very bad, and I’m sorry that we did not do a better job of finding the Russian interference during the 2016 election,” Zuckerberg told me. “I mean, that was a huge miss.”

My FB activity is pretty minimal these days, but it has its uses, especially the what ILXors are listening to group. I don't really care what they do with my data. My biggest annoyance with FB these days is that when you refresh it shuffles around your timeline instead of keeping posts in any discernable order, which makes it impossible to know if you have missed something or not. The user experience has deteriorated greatly. I spend a much greater portion of time on twitter.

I miss those 6 months or so that friendster was fun.

Friendster at the beginning was just connecting with people and writing super positive "Stephen King hyping Dan Simmons' new book" type raves about them on their page iirc

My friend got called out by his employer (catholic education) for putting that that he was ordained at the Universal Life Church on his friendster account. The reason I put the bare minimum, different name, birthdates etc on social media.

I also try to keep my friend count under 200. If i wouldn't have coffee with you, there is no reason that I need to see your posts and for you to see mine.

yeah but everyone has different ways to measure "would i have coffee with this person" -- i don't keep people around who i find aggravating, but i like a lot of people. i'd have coffee with a wide variety of people even if i wouldn't spend much more time with them.
everyone has their own calculus and what works for one person might not work for another.

to delete my profile outright...

*The breast cancer music fundraiser I do 2x a year would need to start posting about rehearsals and other important news outside of FB
*My Fringe festival show would also need to do the same
*I'd need to be able to keep up with kickass concerts in town better than the current bot (BandsInTown), which feeds on Facebook.
*I'd probably have to be involved in an actual fistfight spurred on by a FB post and not win

so I guess not much?

Haven't been following this thread but I deactivated my account this weekend, partly for personal reasons, mostly because I found myself turning into a zombie app addict.

They don't make it easy do they? And I'm sure it says you can continue to use Messenger while deactivating your profile but as soon as I log into Messenger, I get an email saying 'Welcome Back to Facebook'. How frustrating. Also the app magically reappeared on my phone (!!??)

And then I realised I still need a Facebook account for various things we do at work. Plus I've got a bunch of Pages I run that I kind of need to maintain. So I've had to start a dummy account just so I can manage these.

Who knew it would be so complicated?

I'm not missing it too much so far, but most of the people I was chatting to on FB were people I didn't personally know but had interesting things to say about music, current affairs etc. I'm a bit worried I might miss out on that kind of discussion. But then that's what ILX is for I guess

my guess is that people are increasingly leave Facebook but migrate to Instagram, and Instagram will basically start to look more like FB

I haven't deleted my account but I have taken steps to reduce my usage:

Changing my p/w to something so long and convuluted with so many non-alphanumeric characters it's a pain to enter
Unfollowing everyone and everything

I also take the step when I do log in of reporting every ad I see as offensive regardless of what I think of it, just to see what happens.

I never had Messenger so I always look at messages on my pc, from relatives and others who want updates on my mum's health situation mainly. The only thing I post is when I'm hosting a quiz at my local (once a month or so).

iyo did facebook ruin the world

on the rare occasion that I do login, it’s in incognito mode & connected through a VPN. I guess now “Zuck” knows what VPN provider I use, though.

Been meaning to cancel fb forever. I have one friend who still consistently posts funny tirades that aren’t public. I also have a private group set up w/ my immediate family that I haven’t found a replacement for yet. It wouldn’t be difficult to convince them to sign up for another platform, but I’d have a hard time getting them to actually check it.

2018: the year Ello comes ROARING BACK

i do think its kinda funny when people say they are leaving facebook and just using instagram....as a way to stick it to facebook?

I quit FB at the height of the Farmville Craze back in 2008. Then I reluctantly rejoined in '14 to be able to easily communicate with my gf while she was away for a couple of months.

I still hate FB with a passion, but I must begrudgingly admit that work-wise, it's never been as good for me as it is right now. Work and projects coming directly out of connections made on there etc. Which basically tells me it's already way too late to ever be able to quit.

People keep trying to get me to join instagram, but I just have a sense it's a lot of yoga poses and ads.