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Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

bradfrost.com

251–260 of 401 posts

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#251
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Less Facebook == more happy More productive, less distracted, etc., sure but was FB really getting you down that much? Am I just using Facebook "wrong" in that it's not upsetting me the same way it upsets others?

Every time I'm on FB. It's pleasant, really pleasant. But, every single time I'll go on the site and to do a thing like, check on the plans for my friend's birthday party. I end up spending like 30min or so more time than I expected to just browsing aimlessly. It's not like they are putting a gun to my head but, they are using a billion dollars of research and my friends' faces to entice me into doing something I don…

Funny thing is that anyone with half a brain cell notices this if you just try to look at it even a bit. People are manipulable to do things they do not like to do. Yet any time there is a comment in HN stating that marketing may not be the best thing since sliced bread, there will be tons of messages of type "hey, just last week I saw an ad of an even I actually wanted to go, so there is nothing bad ever in people throwing ads at my face against my will". Weird. (And don't get me started on the whole damn "science" of economics being based on the (obviously unfalsifiable as per popper) assumption that people always and anywhere just maximize their utility.)

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#253
The best thing I did was uninstall the official Facebook app and replace it with Friendly. The features like having most recent posts as defaults and no ads are nice (paid feature) but I also like it because the UI feels a bit clunky so I use it less. I don't seem to have a lot of the BS anymore and notifications are off and I'm feeling better not glued to the app anymore.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#254
I deactivated my facebook account. It was more and more annoying these days.

Facebook is full of memes, trolls and pages whose sole purpose is to get more likes and comments. It's not a social network anymore.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#255
post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am honestly wondering if there is an inside joke for tech companies attempting to make the worst possible messaging app. Facebook messenger is god awful ugly, same with snapchat. Google Hangouts is ok at best (I personally have not used Google's other dozen or so messaging apps they have)

GChat used to be great - it was simple, relatively lightweight and quick. Then it was rebranded Hangouts and became a little muddled and unwieldy for a brief period when Whatsapp was ascendent which nearly overnight caused my entire group of friends to switch. You're right about the IM apps being not great. This and the poor state of desktop email clients on Windows and Linux are my pet hates

I'm sorry, but what?

I've had facebook messenger, gchat/hangouts installed on my phone for some time. I don't know if I'd call it great, but I have a hard time arguing that it doesn't immediately solve my instant messaging needs.

What exactly do you want that gchat or facebook messenger doesnt solve?

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#256
post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I quit Facebook initially because of notification spam. However I discovered something afterwards. I had less negative feelings toward family and friends. I had unconsciously been forming an opinion of them that was based on the habits Facebook was encouraging rather than their actual personality. In a sense I'm a lot happier not knowing that Great Aunt Gertrude shared that post. And most of the time Aunt Gertrude di…

I just never read the wall thingy. When I go to FB, it's either directly to the messenger or to facebook.com/ . I really only use it for the IM. I hate how it's 2017 and it doesn't have simple things like bold* or colors, that were available in AIM/MSN/Yahoo/EveryotherMessenger before (not to mention until the early 2010s, FB message was the most unreliable piece of garbage in the world. If you used Pidgin/Audium/any…

To me it resembles that condo mailbox, filled with spam and colorful leaflets I know I don't need so pick them up and dump them annoyed into the trash box provided for my convenience and everyone's right next to it. Once a week I end up on Facebook for a few seconds, check to see if someone left some important message, and if not quickly leave the screaming place. For all those needy souls of relatives and acquaintances I instructed my twitter to automatically repost on facebook, which is rare but at least gives them something to feed upon.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#257
post #2

The best thing I ever did was delete the Facebook app from my phone. I had already disabled all the notifications, but that didn't change things like deleting the app. Not being able to get to Facebook wherever you are. As silly as it sounds it was liberating. I still access Facebook from my laptop - but now that it's off of my phone, I'm accessing Facebook less and less frequently and I'm find I'm happier as a resul…

Same here, no more phone app. But I do have the basic mobile site bookmarked: https://mbasic.facebook.com Instead of getting notifications and getting pulled into the app I can visit the site when I have downtime, or have something I actually want to accomplish on FB.

Can you change feed sorting to "most recent" algo in mbasic mode?

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#258
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. I initially only uninstalled messenger (which intolerably presented me with a popup asking me to enable notifications EVERY TIME I OPENED THE APP ), then got rid of the FB app. Now even on my laptop facebook.com is pointing at localhost in /etc/hosts, which makes me edit a root file to look at it. I'm much, much happier. If it works for you, cool, but if you're dissatisfied and considering abandoning it anyway,…

I installed the Lite version of Messenger, and it's way better. (Not available in the US App Store; there are verified APKs floating around the internet.) It's just a bare-bones chat app that launches when I want it, without all the nagging about chat bubbles, their Snapchat knockoff, and whatever else.

The lite version is available in the us but it still drains your battery lol just not as horrible as the main line messenger app

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#259
post #102
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the facebook app on my phone and virtually never use it. I just really don't find myself drawn to use facebook at all. Reddit and HN on the other hand, those i'm addicted to.

Same. I keep thinking that I can rationally explain my Reddit and HN usage because they do serve some utility. But then I wonder how much I’m fooling myself with that sentiment...

I quit facebook about 5 years ago, realizing quickly there was nothing of value in seeing how fake-happy people were. You only see the highlights, so when a friend announced a divorce we, including that person's family, were surprised as the relationship had appeared so solid. This appears to be a documented reality of social media in general.

Reddit is something else, and my reddit time has taken a dive over the last year or so. It's no longer useful to me and the 'community' have become rude, antagonistic and there's always a large group on any sub, including the smaller ones, where users take a contrary argument just for the sake of appearing intelligent, which they never succeed in doing. Only thing keeping me there are the Linux subs and sometimes the hilarity of askreddit (intentional hilarity and otherwise).

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