.... and this is why and how I feel about that
To begin with, I have (or had) been a Facebook user since 2007 ............ yeah, that's a long time, it's about 19 years.
I had approximately 700 "friends" on Facebook, that's a lot, and I bet I didn't actually know more than about 50 of them, and out of that 50, I bet only 10 of them are actually close, but let's get in to the reasons why I ditched Facebook for good.
Doomscrolling: I spent way too much time sat there with phone in hand, or laptop on lap, scrolling the endless crap that Facebook serves me - it was literally like a mind-virus.
Three words: "Social Media Addiction" - I seemed to get more and more attached to Facebook and more and more time living on the Facebook app - I was checking notifications every 10 minutes - I couldn't even watch a YouTube video without picking up my phone
The divisive nature of the platform and how people discuss important topics, the anonymity of users means they can be outright cruel without any visible consequences for what they are saying or how they are behaving
The AI slop, ranging from the poor quality memes, terrible articles and outright click-bait
The "news" that's published on Facebook - it's definitely designed as pure click-bait and rage-bait, purely designed to get clicks, readers and engagements, and the comments section is often getting out of hand, with rage filled comments and often, quite nasty and divisive opinions, often spewing political or other hateful behaviour
The fake content, you know what I mean, you follow someone who you want to keep in touch with, all they post is this super over-the-top content showing them having an amazing life, you realise your life is not like that, and the comparison is affecting your mental health ......... newsflash: their life isn't perfect either, it's not all sunshine and roses either, just remember "comparison is the thief of joy"
Going back to the divisive content for a second, people post on Facebook and think their opinion is fact, without research, without logic and without any thought for anyone who's opinions, facts or experiences differ from their own - they will die on that hill of their opinion, and they get nasty with it, they lash out and take your disagreement as some sort of attack, and they weaponise it against you - they are not capable of a grown up adult conversation, and they certainly don't know how to "agree to disagree"
"The Dead Internet Theory" - I'm sure you've heard of this one, it's the theory that you are not actually communicating with human beings and that most of your interactions (if not all) are actually with AI bots. I totally dismissed this idea not too long back, but, I'm coming around to this idea now
It's very difficult to control the algorithm, it's recommendations and how it tracks what it thinks you'll enjoy
The insane amount of ads, whilst its possible to cut this down somewhat with add-ons like F.B.Purity, it's still not amazing
Facebook monitors everything you do, having the app installed on your phone means it has access to other activities on your phone, and as such, it know what you are searching for in your web browser, what other apps you have and what you do with your device
You think you've got away with the point above because you use a Desktop PC (or Laptop)? Think again, Facebook have the "Facebook Pixel" - a small, 1 pixel x 1 pixel icon that appears hidden in many web pages that tracks that you've been there - because it's so small and so hidden, you don't see it, and that's before we get to the tracking cookies Facebook puts in your browser - Facebook knows what's open in your other browser tabs btw
Facebook constantly concentrate on features that nobody wants, and not on the betterment of the platform
Facebook is a rather buggy and frustrating experience a lot of the time - features that don't appear to work how they should, crashing, messages not delivered for no reason etc.
Facebook's censorship and how they have no way of actually talking to someone to actually work out what you're supposed to have done wrong
Facebook do not apply their terms of service equally - some people seem to get banned for nothing and others get away with horrendous posts that absolutely do go against the terms of service, and in some cases, go against the law. However, Facebook do not apply the rules equally and it's dependant on who you are, where you are and what views you express.
No, not really - I was constantly finding myself getting more angry and filled with rage when I was on Facebook, it was affecting me in ways I was not happy with.
I'd been subject to some horrendous comments, ranging from cruelty about one of my health conditions right up to death threats for saying that £700 is way too much for a poor condition, not-recapped, Amiga 1200.
People on Facebook (in fact, on social media in general) need to really take a long hard look at themselves and realise that their behaviour is out of order. I cannot and will not contribute to a platform that openly promotes or allow this behaviour any more. I'm convinced that social media is going to be responsible for the downfall of society, and Facebook is a big player in the Social Media game.
It's going to sound a little hypocritical, but yes I do, however, some of these I rarely use, but some I live on almost as much as I did Facebook.
I currently have the following:
Discord - I am a member of a few Discord servers that I'm interested in, plus I have my own private Discord server for close friends, that's "invite only" - unless I actually know you in real life, and I like you, do not ask for an invite - refusal often offends
Reddit - yeah, I spend a lot of time on this one, I like the format really, it's somewhat reminiscent of the old "web forum" like format
Instagram - yeah, another "Meta" product, but I rarely use it
X / Twitter - another contentious one, I rarely use it, and when I do, I immediately click "Following" so that it only shows me posts from people I follow - however, I don't use it much and I understand it's not a good place to hang out, hence why I don't log in to it much
There's the following three places as well, I'm not sure I class them as "social media" but some do
YouTube - this is my primary entertainment platform - I watch a lot of YT videos
WhatsApp - more of a messaging platform tbh, I'm not in many "groups" and use it for one-to-one chat with friends & family
Signal - I hardly use it, but I have some friends who do, I can keep in touch with them here
Short answer: NO
Long answer: Really, no, unless I know you.
I probably won't respond - this is not because I want to appear "anti-social", but it's for my own protection - after my recent experiences on Facebook, I'm a lot more careful about who I follow and who I let follow me
Yeah, I was in a few really good groups, well, they started off being really good, but I think there was only one group that I actually thought was a decent place, but unfortunately, it'd started to become rather quiet in there. However, at least a couple of people from that group have got my direct contact details and are still in touch.
Then there's the memes ................ ahhh the memes, I had a lot of fun sometimes, although, that in itself causes some upset and annoyance as not everyone was on-board with my sense of humour, that's ok, until you get nasty about it.
Very freeing, I've got a lot more spare time these days, spare time to enjoy my hobbies and work on personal projects.
This webpage has been "Coming Soon" for years, but now I've got time to put some content out. I know it probably won't be seen by many, but that's not the point, it's for me to get thoughts out about things I'm interested in.
I won't deny though, it was actually very difficult to go cold turkey off Facebook, I actually had to block the domain on my router to prevent me logging in (and hence, undoing the "account scheduled for deletion" thing) - I felt really anxious for a good couple of weeks, but when people I know started following me on other platforms, I felt a little better.
I don't intend to, but never say never, it could happen.
My intention has always been for this to be a permanent removal.
That's a decision for each and every person themselves to make on their own - there's legitimate reasons to stay on Facebook, just make sure you are aware of it's negatives as well as it's positives.