Facebook- probably the worse party I ever went to..

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Headbolt

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Ok, this is a bit of a rant but I wonder, if at all, it rings any bells with anyone….


I quit Facebook last week after 3 years. It wasn’t a monumental event that caused it; rather more a case of the straw that broke the camel’s back.
On the whole, it had been an ‘ok’ experience to start with. I found it useful to keep in touch with people and make contact with those I hadn’t seen for a while..

After a bit though I started to lose faith in it- or perhaps more accurately, lose faith in those people. After all, Facebook itself is just a container and a vehicle for peoples’ thoughts (and most of the time its not even that).
I would put some of my work on there, so people could see what I did. This was helpful in one instance where I actually got a single job out of it.
Most of the time though it was meaningless ‘likes’, fake friend requests and the circular ha-ha memes (that weren’t that funny at all really).

I was beginning to realise too, that there were reasons why I had lost contact with some people- to be honest, I didn’t actually LIKE them. After a while it was becoming clear that they also held the same opinion about me too..

I discovered that on many groups it was not actually possible to post a point of view without being put in your place or flamed, unless you went with the herd and joined in the mooing chorus. The concept of mutual respect seemed to escape most.
Indeed it became clear in the end that Facebook- like all social media- exists as a platform beloved by arrogant neck-stretchers- and that is the point; to appear better, funnier, more knowledgeable and generally more cool than everyone else. It reminded me of a gaggle of geese- all cackling together in agreement whilst at the same time each one tries to look taller than the rest.

So, eventually after some tiresome spat between myself and two simian knuckle-dragging bigots, I’d had enough and left them- all of them- to it.


I feel so much better for it. I finally have my life back!
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I'm not crazy about Facebook myself. I joined writing groups hoping to get assistance, and really didn't get any. I have been very tempted to leave...until I remember that I made a memorial page for my son that passed away 11 years ago. Otherwise, I rarely visit it. My other children do have a chat that I look at, so I can see my grandkids. Otherwise, I think it's pretty worthless. I haven't gone to the trouble to learn the other social media sites lol.
 
Headbolt said:
Most of the time though it was meaningless ‘likes’, fake friend requests and the circular ha-ha memes (that weren’t that funny at all really).

I was beginning to realise too, that there were reasons why I had lost contact with some people- to be honest, I didn’t actually LIKE them. After a while it was becoming clear that they also held the same opinion about me too..

I discovered that on many groups it was not actually possible to post a point of view without being put in your place or flamed, unless you went with the herd and joined in the mooing chorus. The concept of mutual respect seemed to escape most.
Indeed it became clear in the end that Facebook- like all social media- exists as a platform beloved by arrogant neck-stretchers- and that is the point; to appear better, funnier, more knowledgeable and generally more cool than everyone else. It reminded me of a gaggle of geese- all cackling together in agreement whilst at the same time each one tries to look taller than the rest.

I'm on Facebook, have been for a while now. I like it for its usefulness and I avoid the parts I don't like. But I see what you mean - especially these points. The ones about people competing to see who is better, funnier, and cooler than the rest, and the stuff about the memes. I don't really like the majority of memes and meme culture, or a lot of internet culture for that matter.
 
Facebook is the only way I know my family are ok since they never call me. I don't call them either so that's not an excuse, I'm just not that close with anyone.
 
Finnuala said:
Facebook is the only way I know my family are ok since they never call me. I don't call them either so that's not an excuse, I'm just not that close with anyone.

Yes, I do think Facebook has it's uses and is a good way to keep in touch with family. I think my mistake was to get involved with the wider population and groups. It seems that it's very easy to get into the firing line of total strangers who have something to prove.
I actually found the whole thing pretty unnerving in the end. I have a degree of SA which didn't help so I decided that social media was not for me.
 
I joined a couple of groups years ago but I left them all pretty quickly. They were full of those angry Internet strangers, lol. Some of them are cult-like, it unnerved me how easily some people could be swayed into jumping on the pack mentality
 
Finnuala said:
I joined a couple of groups years ago but I left them all pretty quickly. They were full of those angry Internet strangers, lol. Some of them are cult-like, it unnerved me how easily some people could be swayed into jumping on the pack mentality
That's it precisely. There seems to be a sense of invulnerability and anonymity that people seem to demonstrate which tends to be born out by the things that they say and the way they behave. In a way it's enlightening because it suggests this is the way they 'really' are. The idea that people can say what they like with no consequences.

One particular aspect that I personally found very concerning was the things that were said on some public political groups. I had (naively) expected these to be a forum for reasoned debate- how wrong I was!

All in all, it seems to me that if social media platforms like Facebook show a true representation about the thoughts and attitudes of people, then I'm glad I'm staying away from it.
You mentioned 'Angry Internet strangers'- a good term for them! :)
 

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