Facebook Former Users Anonymous

Yesterday I went the entire day without the use of social media, and by that, I mean Facebook.  My disquiet with several of the platforms has extended over the decade or so I have used them.  Not scrolling through my newsfeed, I felt like a junkie suffering withdrawal from heroin.  I kept picking up my iPhone and hitting the Facebook button only to realize I had deactivated my account.  I could have slipped on with just the use of my password, but I didn’t.

 

The news yesterday sustained my resolve.  The fact that every “What Character Would You Be in Love Actually” quiz I had taken allowed data miners full access to my friend’s lists and my daily postings showing my left leaning, licentious and human secularist ways just told me to say no.  I played a little more solitaire than usual and I read a bit. 

 

Avoiding Facebook is problematic.  It has become the de facto common marketplace for personal news.  It is where I met one of my favorite distant cousin and it was the place where I learned of his death.  It is where I hear what places from my youth have closed and been torn down.  It is where I learn who is divorcing and whose children are succeeding in life.

 

The egregious use of the data by the entities who bought information from these social platforms should be a warning.  The manipulation of facts and the wily insertion of propaganda as truth should make us shudder. I will go a week and see if the withdrawal symptoms abate.  Maybe I will start a 12-step program, Facebook Former Users Anonymous, and help others to quit.