Here we go again

This time I’m going to do it for realz! I’m gonna quit Facebook.

Idly scrolling through my feed this morning, it occurred to me: I have no idea what my real friends and family are up to. Isn’t that what Facebook was supposed to be all about? Instead, Facebook insists on making 90% of my feed:

• sponsored updates from companies I stupidly followed/liked once upon a time
• unsolicited ads
• idiotic videos from TikTok and their copycats
• so-called news/propaganda that somehow relates to what the algorithm things my worldview is
• posts and updates from groups I’m a member of (these are actually useful & welcome)

About ten percent (10%!!!) of my feed is actual updates from “friends” and family. Half of those updates are from people I knew and liked and interacted with 20 years ago that The Algorithm seems to have decided I need to get back in touch with. The other half are from a teeny-tiny segment of my actual “current” friends and family… and always the same half-dozen or so people. Hi Tim! Hi Nancy!

Enough. Facebook isn’t fun anymore.

Think about it: 90% noise and 10% signal. And that signal isn’t as strong as I’d like it, either.

What a waste of time and attention.

If I wanted to spend my days at a bazaar with people I vaguely remember and a bunch of strangers, I’d organize a high school reunion in Las Vegas at the same time as a large trade show. That would give me about the same soul-destroying experience with just enough crass commercialism to keep the economy rolling.

As much as I’d like to, I cannot quit cold turkey. My Spotify account is (STUPIDLY) tied to Facebook, and I don’t want to lose my playlists etc. There are some really interesting (to me, anyhow) photography groups that I like to participate in, and unfortunately, they have chosen Facebook as their home. The instant these groups decide to go somewhere else, that will be one less reason to be on Facebook.

But I’m going to stop idly scrolling Facebook, and I’m going to stop posting, at least for a while.

Last time I “quit” Facebook many of my friends came out of the woodwork and said they’d miss my daily photos. If you like my pictures of the day, please follow my blog at https://www.ericdelorme.ca or my Flickr feed at https://flickr.com/photos/emrold. Those are my platforms of choice. There are no ads there, too!

I know one day I’ll probably be back, but I really need to take a break for a while. Maybe things will get better and Facebook will stop constantly trying to sell me shit and show me friend updates instead.

Yeah, right.