Facebook wants your children's mind • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook wants your children's mind

#91

Post by onboardram » Mon, Dec 11, 2017, 4:07 AM UTC

himalayan_yak wrote: post #89

gfiorav wrote: post #5

Jeez I quit Facebook like 6 years ago and never looked back. What’s the real need here? Old buddies you barely know of? Let them go. Just drop FB, it’s not that important, and 70% of people are clearly (by reading all the “I quit Facebook drama posts”) over attached to it.

I think lots of HN readers here are missing perspectives from Facebook users in 'third' world countries, where there aren't a lots of alternatives for information sharing and discovery . As someone who grew up in one of those countries, I found Facebook incredibly useful to find alumni of my high school in US universities and ask them questions on how they got here (LinkedIn was not a thing then). There weren't, and…

I am personally from one of those third-world countries (India) and in my experience, it's easier to stop using Facebook here since the social fabric is already strong enough that you don't really need Facebook to be able to stay in connection with people. I quit Facebook half a decade years ago when I was 16 and haven't had to use it again.

People used to have social connections before Facebook came around and the methods to form and maintain those connections aren't dead yet since there is a large portion of population who never started using Facebook (my parents, for instance.

Re: Facebook wants your children's mind

#92

Post by gt_ » Mon, Dec 11, 2017, 4:10 AM UTC

acjohnson55 wrote: post #20

gfiorav wrote: post #5

Jeez I quit Facebook like 6 years ago and never looked back. What’s the real need here? Old buddies you barely know of? Let them go. Just drop FB, it’s not that important, and 70% of people are clearly (by reading all the “I quit Facebook drama posts”) over attached to it.

I personally use it quite a bit for keeping these relationships alive. I think Facebook is a great tool for that. I have contentious debates over ideas with people I know, but more importantly, with people a couple links away from me. It's been an extremely helpful bridge out of the filter bubble I'd probably otherwise inhabit. Of course, I'm not at all sure the benefits I've gotten have any resemblance to most peopl…

I do not understand why, but since quitting Facebook 6 months ago, I have experienced being better in touch with many friends. More of them reach out to me directly and the conversations feel more meaningful. Of course, this is only anecdote but it has been pretty surprising. I did leave Messenger on my phone, and I’m not sure if I will want to remove it, largely because I did move a year ago and am about to move again.

Re: Facebook wants your children's mind

#93

Post by Spivak » Mon, Dec 11, 2017, 4:34 AM UTC

trophycase wrote: post #56

Fice wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sole purpose of existence of a corporation is to make money, and it would be strange to expect them to be nice and not use every opportunity for profit. Thus, enforcing ethics is a consumer responsibility: if you believe that something is bad, don't use it.

Except real people work at these places and make decisions to do shitty things.

Sure, but all you've proven is that people respond to incentives and that money is a strong one. Trying to assign moral value to the actions of a project manager who is under pressure for Q3 ad revenue is a fools errand.

Re: Facebook wants your children's mind

#94

Post by rock_hard » Mon, Dec 11, 2017, 4:34 AM UTC

beeskneecaps wrote: post #82

mattfrommars wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My reason to use Facebook is to communicate with local businesses. They are not responsive on emails and calling them seem to much a hassle. I use it for purely 'commercial' purpose and not remotely close of gaining information about what's going on on the world. One other reason for me just 'having' it oppose to using it, it I just moved into a new city. It's, I think, a good way to have them added on the platform t…

I would check out this app called “the telephone”. They say it was invented in 1876 and that local businesses answer them. When I use the app, I receive near instant feedback. There is even full-duplex voice recognition.

I hate phone calls!

It’s worse than any notification I have ever gotten.

Additionally the only calls I get these days are spam anyways :(

It baffles me that we ever thought it’s acceptable for any person to just call you whenever they pleased...it’s such a intrusive and awkward medium.

I would never go back to that and 100% happy with Facebook, email, etc

Re: Facebook wants your children's mind

#95

Post by acjohnson55 » Mon, Dec 11, 2017, 4:49 AM UTC

damal wrote: post #67

Erik816 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Contentious public debates with people I barely know is exactly why I use Facebook less than I used to.

It's far better concentrating that effort on something constructive like reading a book or taking part in a creative hobby. Social media is a time suck... I would go so far as describing it as a scourge on humanity.

Would you consider participating in HN forums to be social media? I think it quite literally is that.

Re: Facebook wants your children's mind

#96

Post by zeep » Mon, Dec 11, 2017, 5:04 AM UTC

didn't children already move to something else? Amazon and Google also wants your children...

Re: Facebook wants your children's mind

#97

Post by 000000000000001 » Mon, Dec 11, 2017, 5:09 AM UTC

Don't trust facebook. There are so many reasons to not use it, but this imho is the greatest.

Of all the productive and happy people I have known, none use facebook.

Of all the miserable and lost people I know, most of them do.

Re: Facebook wants your children's mind

#98

Post by Nydhal » Mon, Dec 11, 2017, 5:09 AM UTC

gfiorav wrote: post #5

Jeez I quit Facebook like 6 years ago and never looked back. What’s the real need here? Old buddies you barely know of? Let them go. Just drop FB, it’s not that important, and 70% of people are clearly (by reading all the “I quit Facebook drama posts”) over attached to it.

Live very far away from parents, family and friends. They don't use other options. Not worth it to convince them all to switch.

Re: Facebook wants your children's mind

#99

Post by joejerryronnie » Mon, Dec 11, 2017, 5:10 AM UTC

gfiorav wrote: post #5

Jeez I quit Facebook like 6 years ago and never looked back. What’s the real need here? Old buddies you barely know of? Let them go. Just drop FB, it’s not that important, and 70% of people are clearly (by reading all the “I quit Facebook drama posts”) over attached to it.

I haven't logged into my facebook account in at least five years and I don't miss it one bit. The thing that pushed me over the edge was when I received an enthusiastic happy birthday from a girl I went to high school with. She was a couple of years older than me and I realized she had never spoken a single word to me in real life. For some reason this seemed so wrong and twisted and ended up being the straw that broke the social media camel's back for me. If I want to speak with someone, I just reach out directly now.

Re: Facebook wants your children's mind

#100

Post by philonoist » Mon, Dec 11, 2017, 5:15 AM UTC

My question after reading all the comments here is, is there any alternative? or is there really a choice?

If I have to build a social networking site, say - FriendBook, what features would you like in it?

So is the case with WhatsApp.

Privacy, if not now, will be unsustainable part of business model later. Look at Apple Ping[0].

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes_Ping