Despite ongoing promises to shore up the platform from illegal activity and threatening behaviors, another release of documents has revealed that Facebook did little to stop the human rights abuses that it was helping to propagate.
Thank you for this article with specific facts about Facebook's disgusting & illegal practices of women/sex-trafficking.
I think the reason more people haven't protested against them in the streets, is because of the "it doesn't directly affect me" excuse. I think it's a mental barrier that protects us from really terrible stuff affecting us. In reality, it's a really terrible coping mechanism, & cop out. I think Facebook somehow acts like a drug, & we're all addicts. I think it's the idea of posting something & getting "likes", which is social acceptance, even love, to us. We all crave being liked, respected & loved. Facebook exploits that basic need.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal probably did affect every one of us. How many of us left FB though? I wrote a long goodbye letter to my friends & acquaintances, but never posted it.
Instead, I used FB less & less. I go for a week without logging on. When I do, I'm hit with pictures of my "friends" doing the most fun things ever, shown in their ear to ear grins & multiple pictures. I notice that I wasn't invited to said most fun event ever, & it depresses me. I try to make myself angry to get over it, & sometimes it works. But, I don't think that a "social" app that's supposed to connect us, is supposed to play with my feelings so badly. I understand how it's making people angry though, & making unstable people pick up guns & kill the people in those most fun ever pictures. That's NOT normal & must be stopped.
Facebook & Mark Zuckerberg are a cancer across this world, but especially in the USA. I hate him as much as TFG, because of the issues FB's caused, but also because it allowed right wing Qanon, White Supremacists & the scum of the Earth to have a platform. It allowed TFG to win in 2016. To me, that's my last straw.
I'm a pretty introverted person, so it's hard for me to call someone up or see them one on one. That's where FB was so good, bridging that gap in social awkwardness. A comment or 2 on a post is easy. Would we all get together for something IRL? Maybe.
But the Pandemic changed all that. I've been mostly home since early 2020. I've learned to enjoy my own company. I've found other ways of reaching out to people on Meetup. And interestingly, when I have gone out & had a good time, I haven't felt the need to compulsively post it to Facebook. At the beginning, I thought I would, but I feel more at peace with my unposted life. I don't want Zuck mining my info & profiting off of me, anymore.
So this time, I'm really going to do it. Pull the plug & delete Facebook. For real. For my sanity, my emotional health, & for the good of the planet.
Everyone who isn't on facebook for business should seriously consider deleting their account. And don't get sucked in to a rebranding scam. Since deleting my account about a year ago, I suffer a lot less depression; I actually get art made in the studio; my face seems to be turned to the sun rather than a screen. I know, that sounds dramatic, but it is absolutely true. The darkness that comes with facebook is palpable. (I was on facebook since 2007, yes, it was hard, but so was staying in for a year and we survived that didn't we?).
Thank you for this article with specific facts about Facebook's disgusting & illegal practices of women/sex-trafficking.
I think the reason more people haven't protested against them in the streets, is because of the "it doesn't directly affect me" excuse. I think it's a mental barrier that protects us from really terrible stuff affecting us. In reality, it's a really terrible coping mechanism, & cop out. I think Facebook somehow acts like a drug, & we're all addicts. I think it's the idea of posting something & getting "likes", which is social acceptance, even love, to us. We all crave being liked, respected & loved. Facebook exploits that basic need.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal probably did affect every one of us. How many of us left FB though? I wrote a long goodbye letter to my friends & acquaintances, but never posted it.
Instead, I used FB less & less. I go for a week without logging on. When I do, I'm hit with pictures of my "friends" doing the most fun things ever, shown in their ear to ear grins & multiple pictures. I notice that I wasn't invited to said most fun event ever, & it depresses me. I try to make myself angry to get over it, & sometimes it works. But, I don't think that a "social" app that's supposed to connect us, is supposed to play with my feelings so badly. I understand how it's making people angry though, & making unstable people pick up guns & kill the people in those most fun ever pictures. That's NOT normal & must be stopped.
Facebook & Mark Zuckerberg are a cancer across this world, but especially in the USA. I hate him as much as TFG, because of the issues FB's caused, but also because it allowed right wing Qanon, White Supremacists & the scum of the Earth to have a platform. It allowed TFG to win in 2016. To me, that's my last straw.
I'm a pretty introverted person, so it's hard for me to call someone up or see them one on one. That's where FB was so good, bridging that gap in social awkwardness. A comment or 2 on a post is easy. Would we all get together for something IRL? Maybe.
But the Pandemic changed all that. I've been mostly home since early 2020. I've learned to enjoy my own company. I've found other ways of reaching out to people on Meetup. And interestingly, when I have gone out & had a good time, I haven't felt the need to compulsively post it to Facebook. At the beginning, I thought I would, but I feel more at peace with my unposted life. I don't want Zuck mining my info & profiting off of me, anymore.
So this time, I'm really going to do it. Pull the plug & delete Facebook. For real. For my sanity, my emotional health, & for the good of the planet.
Everyone who isn't on facebook for business should seriously consider deleting their account. And don't get sucked in to a rebranding scam. Since deleting my account about a year ago, I suffer a lot less depression; I actually get art made in the studio; my face seems to be turned to the sun rather than a screen. I know, that sounds dramatic, but it is absolutely true. The darkness that comes with facebook is palpable. (I was on facebook since 2007, yes, it was hard, but so was staying in for a year and we survived that didn't we?).
Yet another reason I'm still fine with my decision to buy a Zune over an iPod!