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What should you think about when using Facebook?

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Re: What should you think about when using Facebook?

#81
post #41
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whatsapp adopted Signal's security mechanism last year. https://whispersystems.org/blog/whatsapp-complete/

That's good. But FB ownership is black clouds in the sky...

Well I don't see why FB would put so much work into this and then go back on it later. But if they ever do you can be sure it will be big news.

Re: What should you think about when using Facebook?

#82
post #4

I treat everything I do on Facebook as public and permanent information. With that mindset the experience is rather pleasant.

Not public, privately own by facebook (and partners and clients) and aggregated with everything that is actually public and every other privately own data they could gather. Then used to target you in every possible ways.

I get most of the personal data concerns, but what exactly is the issue with targeted ads?

Re: What should you think about when using Facebook?

#83
post #79

The funny thing is, these are exactly the things I think about while on facebook. By being online for almost two decades I've developed a 6th sense for sketchy services and the whole UI of Facebook screams "SCAM!". The periodically reoccurring messages harassing you into uploading a picture of yourself, the prompt to denounce people who you believe are using a fake name or the vaguely described privacy settings don't…

It's interesting how annoying Facebook becomes when you don't come back for a while; push notifications on your phone, if you have the app installed, and emails about what you missed.

Re: What should you think about when using Facebook?

#84

This is an excellent blog post, though it made me sick reading it. I recently made the switch. I went from trying to limit how much I log in (to once or twice a week), to actually not logging in. I've been cold-turkey for two months (except for a couple of times when I had a very specific reason to check something). I thought it would be difficult. Turns out it's not so hard, and it's the fear of reduced social conta…

Strange; I've done the opposite. I engage with Facebook now more than ever.

I'm 38 years old. I plan events with friends, I get to see their children grow up, new jobs, comfort them when they lose a parent..

There's never been a platform so emotionally engaging. It makes me feel in sync with their lives, even when I haven't seen them in a while.

It's such an amazing platform.

Re: What should you think about when using Facebook?

#85

Related: Now Facebook has been pushing the Moments app to share photos. I don't want to use it but a lot of people around me do. Can anyone recommend an alternative photo sharing app?

Google Photos works well.

That's true, I'm currently using them. But of course Google comes with their own set of privacy concerns as well.

Re: What should you think about when using Facebook?

#86
post #84

This is an excellent blog post, though it made me sick reading it. I recently made the switch. I went from trying to limit how much I log in (to once or twice a week), to actually not logging in. I've been cold-turkey for two months (except for a couple of times when I had a very specific reason to check something). I thought it would be difficult. Turns out it's not so hard, and it's the fear of reduced social conta…

Strange; I've done the opposite. I engage with Facebook now more than ever. I'm 38 years old. I plan events with friends, I get to see their children grow up, new jobs, comfort them when they lose a parent.. There's never been a platform so emotionally engaging. It makes me feel in sync with their lives, even when I haven't seen them in a while. It's such an amazing platform.

I think Facebook is the ultimate realization of the American concept of "friendship" (maybe not your specific case) contrasted to the German version of friendship. In Germany, to call someone your friend, it is a great honor, it means something, it is an investment. Here in the states, "everyone is friends!" Yet it feels so superficial. Now we can just check in on them a couple times a day on their posts without the huge investment. It's perfectly American.

Also I am sad to see your thought is being down-voted.

Re: What should you think about when using Facebook?

#88

This is an excellent blog post, though it made me sick reading it. I recently made the switch. I went from trying to limit how much I log in (to once or twice a week), to actually not logging in. I've been cold-turkey for two months (except for a couple of times when I had a very specific reason to check something). I thought it would be difficult. Turns out it's not so hard, and it's the fear of reduced social conta…

>"I thought it would be difficult. Turns out it's not so hard, and it's the fear of reduced social contact (or dopamine withdrawal more likely) that was stopping me."

Agreed. People fear they will socially ostracized if the leave Facebook. My experience has been the opposite. I found that FB is a good excuse to be socially lazy. Going to actual social events and meeting new people and having spontaneous conversations is far more gratifying and important. It's easy to delude yourself that you are getting your "social fix" via your FB feed and sending and accepting "friend requests."

There was a time when if you were in a public place waiting for a friend, you would strike up a conversation with a person next to you. Now if you are in say a bar waiting for your friend to show up most people are more likely to use that time to look FB on their phones, rather than interact with unknown people around them. I find this kind of sad.

Re: What should you think about when using Facebook?

#90
post #21

Can someone make a browser plugin that will send fake data to facebook? Instead of hiding your own behavior, might as well poison their database.

A few of us were joking about poisoning the location tracking database of site along a similar vein. Have an app masking your location to some place in the pacific ocean to any app running in the background asking for location (without the user's intent of using it).

Why stop there? Create a service that will spoof GPS coordinates, check you in, and post generic photos of fun places to be, so you can outsource your social bragging through automation.
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