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I Quit Facebook

erickarjaluoto.com

101–106 of 106 posts

Re: I Quit Facebook

#101
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plus, it seems like he deactivated it instead of deleting it. Which basically is the equivalent of logging out, from the user's perspective. So all the pomp and circumstance and the quoting of Trump and Snowden seems even more ridiculous to me. Like, have the balls to fucking do it properly.

Actually, if you read the post, I reference why I temporarily deactivated—and that I’ll delete. (I also reference what I’m doing with Medium, which I hardly ever used anyway.) The question I have for you, is why the negativity? “Have the balls to fucking do it…” Seriously? Why do you feel the need to emasculate me over a personal choice to not use a social network? Some people found the post useful; others didn’t. Wh…

I did read the article, and the reason you gave was "I didn't want to be too rash". Which kind of serves my point. You wrote a 100,000 word article on quitting Facebook without even quitting it!

You're right though, and my apologies. I found your post grating and it rubbed me the wrong way. I really dislike this recent trend where everything is a Medium article. Oh your startup failed? Better post on Medium. Oh, you're firing people? Better Medium it. Oh, you're quitting social media? Better announce it everywhere. I know you recognise the irony, and mention it as such in your post. But I'm just one random man on the internet, and my vitriol is a reflection of my thoughts, not a reflection on you.

Re: I Quit Facebook

#102
post #45
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haha, well not too sure. For one, Facebook isn’t a human connection, it’s really not. You’re not really friends with someone you haven’t spoken to in 5 years. On the other hand, we’ve been attached to human connections since the begging of civilization. Not sold that would end in 10 years time.

Before Facebook, there was an entire genre of "friends reunited" stories, where people had lost contact with someone they used to be close to and recovered it after decades. That was back in the old pre-connection days where you could just lose someone's contact details, or they could move and if they didn't update you (or you were both moving) that was it forever. Now things are very different. You never have to won…

>Before Facebook, there was an entire genre of "friends reunited" stories, where people had lost contact with someone they used to be close to and recovered it after decades.

Those were more "once friends, then estranged/lost touch for decades on end, meet again, might or might not keep contact" stories than "friends re-united" stories.

Re: I Quit Facebook

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It is, it really is. Maybe we have extremely different feeds, but I mostly just see junk updates like: "walking the dogs", "just had breakfast", "just got home from work", "yay friday", "look we are at bar/party/gathering", "argh! mondays suck" Then there are some random quiz/ad/lottery things. And random pictures of people's kids/pets. I get much more human interaction out of IRC and Discord, places where you can a…

> I mostly just see junk updates See, if you're calling things like those "junk updates", I'd venture the problem is on your end. > Then there are some random quiz/ad/lottery things. Those I will agree do not count as human connections. > places where you can actually talk and not just like and comment. How is commenting not "talking"? Unless you're restricting "talk" to solely mean "synchronous discussion" which is…

>See, if you're calling things like those "junk updates", I'd venture the problem is on your end.

And I and the parent would venture the problem is in your end.

>How is commenting not "talking"? Unless you're restricting "talk" to solely mean "synchronous discussion" which is madness.

Talking implies empathy, actually listening to the other, back and forth, etc.

Merely commenting on some crappy post about ones vacations or food or pet or some political slogan and such (which is what it usually is) with at best 2-3 one sentence reply reactions is not exactly it, or it's a very low and basic form of it.

Re: I Quit Facebook

#104
post #37

Alternatively: accept the value of Messenger and access it directly via https://www.messenger.com or the Messenger app. I will never be able to understand these articles as ALL (with some exceptions) my friends are on facebook, and it is the only way I have to keep touch with all of them. This is a huge problem for people like me who travel a lot and have no other ways of getting in touch with someone.

> have no other ways of getting in touch with someone. They don't have telephones or e-mail, or even home addresses? Granted, it might not be as convenient, but people, including friends, do not cease to exist outside of facebook, or are facebook-friends friends of convenience only?

> They don't have telephones or e-mail, or even home addresses?

1. they live in different countries

2. what am I going to do with an home address?

3. people change phone, email and home address all the time unfortunately. A Facebook account is surprisingly more reliable.

> Granted, it might not be as convenient, but people, including friends, do not cease to exist outside of facebook

I could in some case contact someone who still have them on Facebook, but sometimes I just don't have any friend in common with them.

> or are facebook-friends friends of convenience only?

No, I value my friends. I just met a lot of people traveling in my life. I still meet friends I haven't seen in decades when I travel every year. This would definitely not be possible without Facebook.

I'm not just arguing for the sake of arguing. Last month alone I met two of them. In Stockholm and realized I had a Swedish friend there, that I hadn't seen since 2009. We barely talked since then, we didn't really remember what friend we had in common (Facebook helped) but we sure had a good time back then so we were super happy to meet again. In Lisbon I met with a Portuguese friend I hadn't seen since 2009 as well. If it was not for Instagram she wouldn't even have noticed that I was there. We had dinner together and it was awesome. Just felt like old times.

Re: I Quit Facebook

#105
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, if you read the post, I reference why I temporarily deactivated—and that I’ll delete. (I also reference what I’m doing with Medium, which I hardly ever used anyway.) The question I have for you, is why the negativity? “Have the balls to fucking do it…” Seriously? Why do you feel the need to emasculate me over a personal choice to not use a social network? Some people found the post useful; others didn’t. Wh…

I did read the article, and the reason you gave was "I didn't want to be too rash". Which kind of serves my point. You wrote a 100,000 word article on quitting Facebook without even quitting it! You're right though, and my apologies. I found your post grating and it rubbed me the wrong way. I really dislike this recent trend where everything is a Medium article. Oh your startup failed? Better post on Medium. Oh, you'…

I deactivated as a sort of safeguard. I had transferred all of our company/project pages to my business partner at the time of deactivating. If something went wrong that prevented him from accessing those, I wanted to have a way to get back to them.

Like I said in the post, I’ll sign in one more time in the weeks ahead, and delete the account altogether.

As for the company/project pages, it’s not as though I intend to use them again. (I did delete a few outright.) That said, I also didn’t want to leave those urls/names open for someone else to grab—and spam from.

I understand your frustration with folks posting on Medium—and turning life/work events into a type of promotion. That said, while some do this purely as a marketing ploy, I think some just want to share their experiences.

Personally, I just like writing. I enjoy thinking through an argument/idea and seeing if my thoughts hold up. That’s part of why there were so many links in the post; they served as a way for me to force more research and find the gaps in my thinking—which, typically, there are many.

I try to be honest in my posts, and share the struggles I’ve experienced. To me, this adds a cost to them. For example, in this one: http://www.erickarjaluoto.com/blog/in-pursuit-of-mental-plas... I admit to past beliefs I’m deeply embarrassed by. I know some will probably think less of me for even acknowledging such biases/stupidity, but without such admissions, I’m not sure the writing is worth much.

I’m carrying on, which perhaps also reinforces your point. That said, I read your initial comment and just felt shitty. I didn’t write this post to sell anyone anything, or trick anybody. It was just something I felt I needed to write down somewhere, and I thought others might also find the reasoning useful.

Re: I Quit Facebook

#106
post #76
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... then they will monetise it.

....then people will flock elsewhere, maybe?

Which is reasonable, given that WhatsApps social graph is your phonebook and therefore portable. This is different with facebook or facebook messenger.
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