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I deleted my Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram accounts, and felt great since

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Re: I deleted my Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram accounts, and felt great since

#121

Post by muzani »

amatecha wrote: post #48
ericol wrote: post #14

I lived in Spain for 5 years and then I returned to my country 13 years ago. Some 8 years ago, Facebook was something that I really enjoyed using. I left way too many friends, close friends, and well, lovers behind. Facebook allowed me to have a healthy relationship with them, even if at a distance. I went back to Spain on 2010 for the wedding of a close friend, and it was like I've been out of the country for 2 mont…

I haven't used FB regularly in about 3 years now (after being an early adopter and heavy user), and honestly the times I logged in to see all the "happy birthday!" notifications, I couldn't believe how far the platform had devolved since I last logged in. It's one of the biggest disappointments of modern technology for me. Such amazing unity of entire communities and families, worldwide, being turned into such an exp…

Yes, I think this is the sad thing with a lot of modern tech. They aim to make 0.5% more ad revenue quarter after quarter and by the time they realise it, it's a big mess.

Re: I deleted my Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram accounts, and felt great since

#122

Post by vmception »

ericol wrote: post #112
harshalizee wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you hit the nail on the head with both how Facebook and Instagram has an effect in my mind. If I may add to that, WhatsApp is going strong due to a similar pattern. It strictly controls your circles. Your experience is only affected by the people and groups you're in. They did not go crazy with feature creep and even more importantly, the design and ux has largely been the same without needless rewrites to ju…

Your mileage might vary, but where I live WhatsApp is the de-facto messaging medium. Nobody does not use it. That made it somewhat possible that eventually the whole population got to use it - because there were a lot of people available to help elder people learn to use it. I agree with you 100% as to what has happened to it. Except a few changes (Voice messages back then, groups and broadcast messages closer in tim…

Insular US and Canada does not get Whatsapp, if they aren't interacting with people outside of those countries.

But the other Americas, Europe and Africa are so heavy on it. It really is becoming the platform that you see in Asian countries for business, which Zuck had hoped he could have. Clout and reputation for business is all on whatsapp for many people. Compared to websites and public pages from decades past, which are still indicators of legitimacy in the US. Luxury watch dealers just post on their whatsapp story when something new comes in, and its sold in minutes. At the other end of the socioeconomic spectrum, people post sneakers they get in stock right onto their story and its a mad dash to obtain it. Professional group chats highly active for private equity deal making and collaboration, organic group chats created on the fly. Location specific group chats existing in perpetuity.

I spend almost all day on it now, out of necessity. And I like how utilitarian it is, it doesn't need to "wow" anyone with UI bells and whistles and they are completely invisible if you are not part of groups that use whatsapp.

I don't like that it forces you to share your phone number, but the etiquette seems self-enforcing. The chat size limit is a blessing and a curse, but they probably shouldn't change it.

Its not about what other chat applications can do, its about what happens.

Re: I deleted my Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram accounts, and felt great since

#123

Post by antigirl »

ericol wrote: post #14

I lived in Spain for 5 years and then I returned to my country 13 years ago. Some 8 years ago, Facebook was something that I really enjoyed using. I left way too many friends, close friends, and well, lovers behind. Facebook allowed me to have a healthy relationship with them, even if at a distance. I went back to Spain on 2010 for the wedding of a close friend, and it was like I've been out of the country for 2 mont…

Beware, instagram deletes your account after a few months. I've had this happen to me a twice. Second time around was few weeks ago when i decided to return after taking 2-3 month break.

Re: I deleted my Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram accounts, and felt great since

#124

Post by npunt »

ImaCake wrote: post #84

Whenever this topic comes up, there are always a lot of comments to the effect of "facebook isn't the problem, you are". Maybe it is best to think of facebook like sugary food. Many people have no trouble having one piece of chocolate and then leaving the rest for later. Many other people are unable to stop themselves from downing the whole 200g block. I think these comments come from people who have no trouble engag…

One of the most pervasive and lazy ways to think about humans is that we're rational (homo economicus [0]), and any deviation from that is a personal failing. While some people have better impulse control than others, or have different weaknesses than a particular issue at hand, it's mostly a lack of self-awareness that prevents people from seeing that they too are driven by forces other than pure logic.

An ever so brief study of psychology shows this is a bad model to predict human behavior, and an even worse model to use when constructing and shaping our environment. It leads us to construct hostile environments and experiences where we always have to be on edge, and diminishes our humanity.

The usual retort to this is that hostile environments are a good way to teach us to be sharper, but that's just a lazy way of rationalizing the current situation [1], and represents a lack of understanding of how people learn.

If you want to teach people to be more rational you need to create environments where they are set up to succeed and make challenges within reach. In other words, it matters a lot the exact degree to which the environment is hostile or extractive (and to whom), and if you go over that, people are set up for failure.

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

[1] which itself is an irrational bias toward maintaining status quo belief, because it requires less cognitive effort to unwind its knock-on effects

Re: I deleted my Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram accounts, and felt great since

#125

Post by pochamago »

annadane wrote: post #108
ImaCake wrote: post #84

Whenever this topic comes up, there are always a lot of comments to the effect of "facebook isn't the problem, you are". Maybe it is best to think of facebook like sugary food. Many people have no trouble having one piece of chocolate and then leaving the rest for later. Many other people are unable to stop themselves from downing the whole 200g block. I think these comments come from people who have no trouble engag…

Even the platform specific issues aside, they're all "A Mark Zuckerberg production" and many people may not wish to use the products of a sociopath

It seems extremely hyperbolic to call someone a sociopath for creating a platform for people to share news about themselves with friends and family. As much as I don't really enjoy using Facebook, it is still the single best way for me to keep up with what's going on in the lives of my extended family.

Re: I deleted my Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram accounts, and felt great since

#126

Post by bmarquez »

teetertater wrote: post #70
amatecha wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't used FB regularly in about 3 years now (after being an early adopter and heavy user), and honestly the times I logged in to see all the "happy birthday!" notifications, I couldn't believe how far the platform had devolved since I last logged in. It's one of the biggest disappointments of modern technology for me. Such amazing unity of entire communities and families, worldwide, being turned into such an exp…

A measure that could significantly improve your Facebook experience (as it did mine) is to curate the content that you want to see. A few years ago I started actively clicking "not interested" on every type of content that I didn't want to see, and slowly but surely I managed to get rid of all memes, news, and uninteresting bits. Now I'm left with discussions about AI papers, local events that friends are attending,…

The best feature that improved my use of Facebook is the "snooze" button.

Whenever someone posts something annoying, like a string of recycled memes or bad political arguments, I hit that snooze button and they disappear from my feed for 30 days.

In 30 days they've usually calmed down.

Re: I deleted my Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram accounts, and felt great since

#127

Post by kayman »

I've been off Facebook for many years now. I deleted my account when I found myself typing "f" into my browser. Facebook dropdown, select and lose time scrolling feeds.

I never got into instagram. As an american expat I find whatsapp convenient to contact my family overseas using their day-to-day telephone.

Re: I deleted my Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram accounts, and felt great since

#129

Post by Semaphor »

ImaCake wrote: post #84

Whenever this topic comes up, there are always a lot of comments to the effect of "facebook isn't the problem, you are". Maybe it is best to think of facebook like sugary food. Many people have no trouble having one piece of chocolate and then leaving the rest for later. Many other people are unable to stop themselves from downing the whole 200g block. I think these comments come from people who have no trouble engag…

> Whenever this topic comes up, there are always a lot of comments to the effect of "facebook isn't the problem, you are". Maybe it is best to think of facebook like sugary food. Many people have no trouble having one piece of chocolate and then leaving the rest for later.

I have posted such comments. But they are usually in response to people telling me it’s also the best thing I can do. When people make sweeping statements, they should expect pushback.

Re: I deleted my Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram accounts, and felt great since

#130

Post by Shared404 »

lsh123 wrote: post #118
bigbugbag wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. you are missing the part where it's used for surveillance, for collecting personal data and exploiting it, for giving a false sense of security, and so on. Basically facebook being facebook and doing facebook things to the people that were escaping its grasp.

Citation needed.

Here you go, sorry for TechCrunch link:

https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/25/whatsapp-to-share-user-dat...

edit: Here's some better links from @bigbugbag down below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WhatsApp_snooping_scandal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reception_and_criticism_of_Wha...

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