I remember not so long ago, say, around 2010-13, when Facebook was actually kind of interesting. Back then it was a social experience. You could check in on friends, for instance, see what they’ve been up to, and get yourself some kind of semblance of social networking.
Nowadays it is nothing like this. Nowadays it’s just ads, ads, links to articles you’re not interested in, and memes – so many memes. It isn’t a social network anymore; it’s an advertising portal for brands, retailers and, increasingly, things you’ve been looking at on Google (in my case, most recently, guitars).
Basically, it sucks.
And the other night I had an epiphany – I don’t even need this in my life, let alone on my phone. Facebook has become as spammy and annoying as my email inbox, and that got deleted from my phone years ago. Yep, it was time Facebook went the same way.
I deleted the Facebook app from my phone two weeks ago, after wasting about 30 minutes trying to find something useful/interesting on there. I realised the futility of my endeavour and decided to give up and go the place where interesting things are ALWAYS guaranteed to be happening – Reddit.
Within moments, I was reading an article about how Nestle bottles millions of litres of water for free and then sells it to consumers for profit. And that did it for me.
I made a promise to myself right then to stop wasting time staring at Facebook.
If I was going to be on my phone, I told myself, it must be for something useful – learning something new, reading something interesting, or communicating with people.
Facebook is now an advertising business. Nothing more. It uses your data, which you’ve built up over the years, data that isn’t actually yours anymore and sells it to advertisers who in turn market crap to you on Facebook. That’s it. Nothing social about that – unless they start calling it social advertising, or something.
So, I deleted Facebook from my phone two weeks ago. Since then, I’ve noticed a few interesting things, some, granted are more interesting than others, but they’re all pretty significant and are noted, for your viewing pleasure, below.
Consensus Trance Be GONE!
Charles Tart coined the term, consensus trance, many moons ago and it is defined as follows: “An automated state of consciousness; actually, the normal consciousness, based on the premise that people believe what they are told to be true as opposed to what they have themselves realised to be true.”
Facebook is where most people get ALL their news from. They don’t research and read for themselves. They use Facebook’s cherry-picked articles and/or the pages or people they follow to get their news fix on a daily basis. In the long run, this causes a lot of problems.
Truth is buried. People get lazy and stop looking into things themselves. True news reporting goes down the toilet in favour of memes and other forms of millennial nonsense and everybody gets a little bit more stupid and ignorant about the world around them.
But why are we letting Facebook “choose” news for us? How is that ever a good idea? And that’s before you even consider the amount of fake news that circulates on the platform which is then consumed and believed to be fact by millions of people.
When Facebook, a corporate entity, that harvests your data and sells it on to the highest bidder, is dictating the news to millions (maybe billions of people) you know something is probably kinda wrong.
Battery Life
This one is REALLY simple: if you delete Facebook from your phone, your battery life will improve dramatically. Period.
More Reddit
This is the best thing I have discovered in my journey of not having Facebook on my phone – I use Reddit way more. I follow more subreddits, I comment more on things, I find out more interesting stuff, and I learn more.
Facebook used to be the first thing I checked when I picked up my phone, and this kind of freaked me out, as it had almost become an ingrained habit, like putting your hands out when you fall over. Once it was gone, things changed. I knew it wasn’t there, so if I did get my phone out it was actually for a good reason, which brings me to my next point…
Less Phone Time
I use my phone less. This is a weird one, but it’s true. I no longer feel the need to constantly be “checking something” – i.e. ducking out of uncomfortable situations – when I am out and about. If I’m waiting for something like a coffee or a sandwich, I’ll just stand there with my thoughts or if I’m at the doctors or garage on a long wait, I’ll read my Kindle.
Facebook had this odd pull over me, I could almost feel it burning a hole in my pocket, so I would constantly check it, but the result was always the same – nothing interesting or important EVER happens.
So why was I so keen on checking things on there all the time? I literally have no idea. But I feel a lot better now I don’t even have the option.
Less Armchair Rage
One thing I noticed a lot about Facebook is that people LOVE arguing on there. And it doesn’t matter what the subject matter is, either, it could be anything from a big of a dog to a Vice article – people just love hating on each other.
I seldom comment on anything online, but I did spend a lot of time reading crazy comment brawls on certain posts that popped up in my timeline. Why? I guess for the same reason people slow down when they drive past an accident – morbid curiosity.
Arguing on Facebook is akin to shouting at the moon; it’s 100% pointless, especially when you’re arguing with someone you don’t know that lives hundreds of miles away from you. I’ve never been one for a slagging match on Facebook but I often found myself getting angry about just how insensitive, hurtful, and ignorant people can actually be on something that calls itself a social network.
And for what? Literally nothing. The worst I have seen is on so-called charity pages, where my fiancé was abused by someone for simply posting a picture of our dog in the bath! This – and a myriad of other things – made my mind up about Facebook once and for all – it’s simply not worth my time, attention, or mental energy.
If I want an altercation with a complete stranger, I’ll go to a pub in Liverpool in a Man United shirt.
Less Exposure To Adverts
I hate adverts. I hate the fact that now, wherever I go online, adverts follow me based on my Google and Facebook searches and queries. It’s like being followed around by an invisible sales person that’s constantly tapping you on the shoulder.
You can’t ever truly escape this if you use the web – unless you get an ad blocker, that is – but you can lessen your exposure by ditching Facebook. In the long term, this will save you a lot of money as you will not be tempted to splurge money on things you don’t really need.
I’ve bought so many things via Facebook when, after a night out, I’ve sat down on the sofa and browsed my newsfeed. I’m talking shoes, amps, vape mods, subscriptions, films, clothes and, in one instance, a KITCHEN TABLE!
Ad retargeting is REAL and its effects are MASSIVE. This is why it is now everywhere. And Facebook is one of the biggest advert platforms on the planet, so if you’re on there, you’re exposed. And if like me, you like drunk-buying things, well… you might want to think about deleting Facebook from your phone.
You're NOT Missing Out on ANYTHING
People, including myself, operate under the idea that they will be missing out on something if they delete Facebook. This is not true, in fact, it’s so far from being true it’s kind of funny.
Open Facebook right now, what’s the first thing you see? Is it an update from a friend, or is it some kind of news and/or advert or sponsored post? I bet there’s some friend activity there, but the meat will be adverts or some kind of sponsored post.
You are not missing out on anything. And even when you are, it is normally a shared post from some Z-List celebrity you’ve never heard of about something you couldn’t care less about. Or a meme. Or celebrity worship. Or a video that’s kind of funny but not really that funny.
by rgoodwin via Featured Articles
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