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Steve Wozniak Says People Should Get Off Facebook Permanently

gizmodo.com

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Re: Steve Wozniak Says People Should Get Off Facebook Permanently

#11

Post by dangus »

Angostura wrote: post #7
mrkstu wrote: post #5

While a great idea the problem of course is there isn’t a ready replacement for what Facebook provides. Where would families migrate to for communication/collaboration/community? The closest free alternative is of course Instagram, owned by Facebook. Who can build a privacy oriented alternative that charges and also gains a sufficient network effect?

For families? Our uses a mixture of e-mail, text/iMessage, iCloud photos and Dropbox

It's rather unrealistic to consider those alternatives enough to replace everything all the features contained within Facebook can accomplish.

Facebook has discussion forums, rich messaging, groups and events, classifieds, image and video editing/enhancement, and many more features all bundled into one platform. You'd probably need 15 other websites and services to replace it.

If we just had truly protective privacy laws and standards we could just use Facebook and enjoy what it is capable of doing without guilt.

Re: Steve Wozniak Says People Should Get Off Facebook Permanently

#12

Post by bilbo0s »

mrkstu wrote: post #5

While a great idea the problem of course is there isn’t a ready replacement for what Facebook provides. Where would families migrate to for communication/collaboration/community? The closest free alternative is of course Instagram, owned by Facebook. Who can build a privacy oriented alternative that charges and also gains a sufficient network effect?

I don't have a Facebook, never have, so take any opinion I give with a grain of salt. That said, a lot of us really need to come to the realization that these are social networks. They are not called private networks. So even if you pay, it is highly unlikely that you would get privacy.

And please everyone, if only for the protection of your own privacy, consider thoughtfully whether a company promising "Private" "Social" networks makes any sense? Like dish washing detergents that promise to make your dishes virtually spotless, there is no promise at all actually being made.

These networks are fundamentally about sharing. Once you share something with someone, you can't really control what they are going to do with the screenshot of it. You're at the mercy of the mob.

The only real protection you can get is not from companies, but by having the government make a HIPAA like law with real teeth in it that punishes personal information sharing for commercial purposes. No real need for any new companies, because the new companies will just do the same thing. Pass a law that starts throwing people in prison for sharing, or receiving illegally shared personal information for commercial purposes, and you stop all of that nonsense in its tracks.

Re: Steve Wozniak Says People Should Get Off Facebook Permanently

#14

Post by dx7tnt »

tzakrajs wrote: post #2

Seconded. I found that I didn’t lose anything by leaving Facebook. The “social network” I thought I had was just a list of names I was familiar with and begged the question about any real relationship which had manifested. I had many relationships which were paper thin and folded the moment I left Facebook.

"I had many relationships which were paper thin and folded the moment I left Facebook."

I can second this. Even good and old friendships that went the same way. Turns out I don't actually miss those people. I much prefer life by finding things out by bumping into people and keeping my relationships face to face. I don't want to have to absorb things with the crowd like a legitimised voyeur.

I wish we were all off facebook. When I read these constant articles about its privacy problems and how its now enmeshed into the fabric of our society, it makes me think "how did a WEBSITE become mandatory for living ones life?"

Re: Steve Wozniak Says People Should Get Off Facebook Permanently

#15

Post by shock »

rococode wrote: post #10

To me, Facebook provides enough value that I don't feel the benefits of deleting it outweigh the benefits of keeping it. Without it, I have no connection at all to some of my old friends. While I don't necessarily need to be connected to them, it's nice to see how people are doing every once in a while. LinkedIn fulfills this desire in some ways, but I don't typically connect with my "outside-of-work" friends on Link…

> While I don't necessarily need to be connected to them, it's nice to see how people are doing every once in a while.

Why do you choose not to call them and ask them how they are doing? I must admit, I do not really understand this "seeing how they are doing" statement, it confuses me as to why someone would spend time on facebook to see how another one is doing, but would not make the call to ask. Maybe I'm misreading it and the seeing part is the more relevant one.

Edit: anyone care to clarify what was downvote worthy about this comment? did it not contribute to the discussion in some way? if the answer is yes, I don't know why it didn't contribute to the discussion.

Re: Steve Wozniak Says People Should Get Off Facebook Permanently

#17

Post by jarsin »

tzakrajs wrote: post #2

Seconded. I found that I didn’t lose anything by leaving Facebook. The “social network” I thought I had was just a list of names I was familiar with and begged the question about any real relationship which had manifested. I had many relationships which were paper thin and folded the moment I left Facebook.

I subscribe to if you are not willing to contact your friends without facebook then they probably were not meant to be in your life anyway.

Re: Steve Wozniak Says People Should Get Off Facebook Permanently

#18

Post by [deleted] »

rococode wrote: post #10

To me, Facebook provides enough value that I don't feel the benefits of deleting it outweigh the benefits of keeping it. Without it, I have no connection at all to some of my old friends. While I don't necessarily need to be connected to them, it's nice to see how people are doing every once in a while. LinkedIn fulfills this desire in some ways, but I don't typically connect with my "outside-of-work" friends on Link…

[deleted]

Re: Steve Wozniak Says People Should Get Off Facebook Permanently

#19

Post by techrich »

dbingham wrote: post #8

The thing that holds me to Facebook is that it's become the town square for my local community. It's where people go to discuss the community's political challenges. So many important dialogs about local issues happen on Facebook, and it's the only real way to be a part of those conversations. Things like zoning, planning, city and county budgeting, ordinances, and so on. If I leave, not only do I lose the ability to…

Then people should meet at the town hall and talked, this kind of stuff got done before facebook. And people where just as busy, bringing kids up going to work etc.

Re: Steve Wozniak Says People Should Get Off Facebook Permanently

#20

Post by dymk »

shock wrote: post #15
rococode wrote: post #10

To me, Facebook provides enough value that I don't feel the benefits of deleting it outweigh the benefits of keeping it. Without it, I have no connection at all to some of my old friends. While I don't necessarily need to be connected to them, it's nice to see how people are doing every once in a while. LinkedIn fulfills this desire in some ways, but I don't typically connect with my "outside-of-work" friends on Link…

> While I don't necessarily need to be connected to them, it's nice to see how people are doing every once in a while. Why do you choose not to call them and ask them how they are doing? I must admit, I do not really understand this "seeing how they are doing" statement, it confuses me as to why someone would spend time on facebook to see how another one is doing, but would not make the call to ask. Maybe I'm misread…

Facebook posts are lightweight, asynchronous forms of communication compared to phone+voicemail.
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