Public Service Announcement: The Facebook Logout

[mdlbear]

The Facebook Logout — We're really over Facebook. Here's their sample post text:

I’m logging out of Instagram/Facebook from November 10-13 as part of a user strike to hold Facebook accountable for the harms it is causing our society and around the world. From Covid-19 disinformation to inciting violence against marginalized communities to ignoring the mental health impact of Instagram on teens, enough is enough. We make or break Facebook and its platforms because they make money from our engagement and our data. Let’s use our power. Join me. thefblogout.com #TheLogout #theFBlogout

Seems like a good idea. Easy for me because I post on FB very rarely, though there are a few communities I sort of keep up with. ("Sort of" because between FB's algorithms and just plain bandwidth -- I'd say "firehose" but it's more like a sewer -- there's no way I could read everything even if I wanted to.)

My main social medium is right here.

NaBloPoMo stats:
   2255 words in 5 posts this month (average 451/post)
    159 words in 1 post today
      3 days with no posts

Comments

[lilysea]

For me, Facebook is essential / a life-line

it lets me stay in touch with geographically-local friends who aren't on any other social media and who rarely check their emails

it has let me rehome unwanted items like books/furniture/clothes through Buy Nothing

through Buy Nothing I have also met local people who are willing to do me small favours [things like picking up mail from the local Post Office if the Postie ignores the Authority to Leave] which are vital for me as a chronically ill/Disabled person

it also keeps me up to date on local community issues in my suburb via
[suburb] community notices and chat group

and also via my local council's Facebook group

[mdlbear]

I understand. There aren't any good alternatives -- in some cases there aren't even any bad alternatives -- so I use it when I have to and resent having to. I feel much the same way about Amazon, which I probably spend more time on than I do on Facebook despite what they've done to small bookstores and the way they treat their warehouse workers.

So after a purely symbolic three-day "strike" I'll log back in to Facebook and try to catch up with my grief support group and my many friends and relatives who don't use Dreamwidth.

[madfilkentist]

I barely use Facebook, and I have a different set of complaints about it, so this doesn't affect me.

My main complaint is that its "echo chamber" effect makes people increasingly intolerant of disagreement. It turns people nasty if they don't guard against it. A major reason is that people can share posts with essentially no effort, feeding confirmation biases. On Dreamwidth, people have to write their own words or at least copy and paste. That requires at least a little thought. I think it's the major reason Dreamwidth is a much more pleasant place.

[cellio]

For bonus points, don't log back in afterward. Algorithm-free original content like you find on Dreamwidth is harder to create but so, so much more satisfying to consume. Or at least I've found it so.

[mdlbear]

I find it so as well. Unfortunately there are a couple of groups and a few people who aren't anywhere else. I've set up email notification, and I'm very selective about what I log in to read.