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Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

bradfrost.com

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Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#331

Post by brotoss »

hasbroslasher wrote: post #133
taylodl wrote: 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…

Up until last year, I chalked up the "I deleted my Facebook" phenomenon to hipsterdom or some pathology where people think the can "cure" "addiction" by quitting whatever unhealthy behavior pattern they exhibit for a week or month and then coming back. Last month I deactivated my Facebook and have yet to turn it back on. In the months prior I started finding alternative sources of news: NYT, Pitchfork, HN, various su…

You can still use Facebook Messenger with a deactivated Facebook account in case you didn't know

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#333

Post by mbillie1 »

tgb wrote: post #103
mbillie1 wrote: post #36

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,…

Actual question: what's the point of Messenger if you don't have notifications enabled?

In my experience, since Messenger / Hangouts / etc all support persisted, named chats, people start treating them like chatrooms rather than like text messages. I don't want notifications for a chat room (where there's a flurry of conversation that may or may not be directed at me), and in general since I work remote I try to keep the "things that make my phone buzz" list to the bare-minimum, since that list will always include "production outage" which might make me stop mid-step while heading to lunch and turn back around.

Additionally, FB messenger does not allow you to disable "read receipts," it always shows the other party when you have opened a message. Buzzing my pocket and then telling the other person I read their message feels very intrusive to me.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#335

Post by vocatus_gate »

cchurch wrote: post #84
kotrunga wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. Full deletion, and it's been amazing.

Same. This sounds drastic to people who are in the habit of Facebooking, but I still have friends and a social life and the hours of mindlessly scrolling through low-info-density posts, likes, links, and whatnot is all gone.

Honest question, what do you do for event planning? Literally the only reason I still have FB is because my friend group uses it heavily for coordinating hikes, camping trips, etc. I'd love to delete it if it weren't for that.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#336

Post by sofaofthedamned »

beager wrote: post #127
justaschmoe wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similarly simply logging out of Facebook on Chrome and only accessing it through incognito or another browser has been great. Added benefit: (a little) less tracking. First week or so was string of surprising moments where I would suddenly find myself at the FB login screen having mindlessly tried to navigate there.

I deactivated on January 1, still find myself typing `f` in the address bar in a new tab. They've done a very good job of getting in the brain stem.

I still find that after being off Facebook for five years. Luckily the football team I hate the most has a URL that begins with f, so I started visiting that. Cured it in a week...

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#337

Post by mbillie1 »

debaserab2 wrote: post #255
smcl wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

It's not that I want some additional feature, I actually want fewer features. The ability to name group chats and persist them leads people to treat them like chat rooms. The ability to send animated gifs means people send them. These apps very quickly turned from "alternative to text-messaging" to "full-blown chat room that wants push notifications each time anyone sends a message," and I don't want an app to ask me to enable notifications each time I open it.

I realize there are per-thread mute settings, but the whole experience of using these things is highly intrusive. At least with text messaging (or calling) we still have, to some extent, the social expectation that it is known to be intrusive, so people (in my social group at least) are less likely to text for frivolous reasons.

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#339

Post by rkachowski »

taylodl wrote: 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…

I feel like this kind of activity really triggers some kind of primal social drive in the brain to the point where it is actively unhealthy. I've also struggled with crazy Facebook compulsions, to the point where I've also had to delete the app, and I force myself to use the terrible mobile web UI to make the experience as painful as possible.

I didn't actively touch Facebook throughout August, and I really feel my general outlook has improved. I'm also more social with people in real life, and not getting my saccharine hits from little snippets of conversation or internet point validation.

Now I'm rarely active with it and feeling better for it. I still reluctantly have to use the messenger for communication with certain people, and login for access to other websites that rely on facebook (e.g. Goodreads).

It really is good advice

Re: Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch

#340

Post by wambotron »

I don't find it difficult to be a casual user. I've disabled all email and notifications from them. I look at it maybe once every 2 weeks. There's nothing really ever on it aside from a band mentioning they're touring again. All the other stuff is just noise. Photos of babies, photos of people at landmarks, shared news articles and outrageous comments.

That's why I only look every couple weeks, though. There's nothing worth looking at on the site. I probably should delete it, to be honest. I never post and I rarely find something worth looking at.

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