14 ms·

I stopped using Facebook years ago and I could not recommend it more. I found it to be mental pollution at best and and a total waste of time. If you want to '

I stopped using Facebook years ago and I could not recommend it more. I found it to be mental pollution at best and and a total waste of time. If you want to 'keep in touch' with people, call or text them. Make an effort to actually interact with the people who matter to you.

ProAm 9y ago
> call or text them There is no difference between a call or text and a message on FB, the medium doesn't change the context.
- d-sc 9y ago
  A call or text is a different interaction than scrolling through an infinite newsfeed designed to keep you addicted.
  - ProAm 9y ago
    A facebook message doesn't force you to scroll forever. It's a message, just like a text message.
    - turc1656 9y ago
      yeah but only the NSA will be tracking it if you use text, not some multinational conglomerate that is using it to continually build its profile about you while simultaneously selling that information to other parties. And if you do it right (meaning using the right app), your messages can be fully end-to-end encrypted so that no one can read them but the intended recipients. EDIT: it is widely known that the NSA has direct lines into places like Google and Facebook so using Facebook Messenger still routes your messages through the NSA indirectly. The only logical course of action, if someone cares about that sort of thing, is to not use Facebook Messenger and limit the amount of eyes that can see your communications.
    - iaml 9y ago
      I find it a bit ridiculous that on HN you are damned both ways: if you rarely use fb to contact folks, you are still contributing to fb stats and still addicted (actual claims from other threads regarding fb), and if you aren't you're ignoring a (valuable) message channel.
      - lovemenot 9y ago
        Are you insinuating that the many commenters here might have differing even - dare I say - contradictory opinions?
  - ibn_ibid 9y ago
    There is a separate messenger app that doesn't include a newsfeed component
- axus 9y ago
  The medium is not the message?
- DarkTree 9y ago
  I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I believe you meant, "the medium doesn't change the message". I disagree that everyone feels this way, based on evidence of how I feel when receiving a text message vs. a phone call. Maybe it's because it personally takes me more effort to make a phone call, or the added tone of voice, or maybe it's just the instant dialogue that the call creates. Calls will always be more special to me than a facebook message. Just as a handwritten birthday letter in the mail is more special than the same message in a text.
- ageitgey 9y ago
  Of course the medium changes the context. It has a huge effect! Phone calls are typically person-to-person communication where you can hear the tone of voice of the person you are talking to, so you can better read their meaning. Also, you typically call people you already know well enough to disturb. It's a very personal form of communication. Facebook is different in all those areas. You are thrown into meaningless conversations with people you don't know where you can't hear anyone's one of voice. Some parts of facebook seem to be designed specifically to encourage more conversation instead of meaningful conversation - things like how you really have to dig to read earlier comments in a thread. They just want you to keep posting instead of following the actual discussion in a coherent way. Likewise, posting on this site is different than having a conversation in person. You can't tell that I'm writing all this in a friendly tone. Instead, it might come across as an angry argument when I don't mean it that way. That's a disadvantage of this medium and a way in which it changes communication.
  - ProAm 9y ago
    You can send voice messages over facebook. [1] [1] https://www.facebook.com/help/377884675632666 https://www.facebook.com/help/377884675632666
- lurker10000 9y ago
  Marshall McLuhan would beg to differ.
noonshine 9y ago
I had been off facebook for 5 years. Now my kid started school and there's info in private facebook groups that is not shared any other way. I hate it but decided to rejoin.
- marpstar 9y ago
  So wait...the school uses Facebook for communication? Gross. My kids' school uses something called ClassDojo, which is exactly like Facebook, but geared towards classroom settings. It works well enough.
  - yawz 9y ago
    I'm guessing that parents connect through Facebook groups. Today, being the first day of school here in Colorado, my wife told me that the parents decided to organize a Facebook group to share information. My suggestion was a Whatsapp group, but I guess that's Facebook as well :).
parthdesai 9y ago
So tell me, how do i replace around 5 different group chats i have on messenger which can have anywhere between 5-10 people in each chat? Music events that i go to are exclusively promoted on facebook. How do you recommend i find out about these events so that i can get a cheaper ticket price? if anyone wants to organize a plan that has more than 8 people, facebook groups make it much much easier. I personally hate facebook's mobile apps and some it's policies ( Internet.org comes 1st to my mind), but it's hard to completely stop using it.
- Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
  It's not that hard, you've just forgotten how to do these things without Facebook. >I personally hate facebook's mobile apps and some it's policies ( Internet.org comes 1st to my mind), but it's hard to completely stop using it. Try it! Deactivate your account for a week. Do it again later for two weeks. Maybe for a month. When you learn how to live without it, delete it.
  - compiler-guy 9y ago
    This is a painfully simplistic response. No matter what I do, several activities and groups I want to be a part of are only advertised and organized on facebook. It's not within my power to change that. And that, in fact, _does_ makes it hard to avoid using facebook without being left out.
    - tdurden 9y ago
      > And that, in fact, _does_ makes it hard to avoid using facebook without being left out. I think you might mean _fear_ of being left out...friends will find other ways to contact you.
      - compiler-guy 9y ago
        Fear has nothing to do with it. When I was not on facebook, I was getting left out of activities and events that weren't exactly with friends, but more with common interests.
yawz 9y ago
Well... As someone who has moved to various countries and across continents a few times over the last three decades, I can hardly find another medium that allows me to keep up with friends and family across many countries and time zones easily. Before Facebook I created and/or used e-mail aliases, e-mail groups, forums, file hosting services, etc. to share our story with friends and family. Facebook makes it much simpler. I don't use it extensively. I don't play games on it. I don't even connect to it every day. And I would stop using it if I had a good alternative.
- Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
  How about letters via snail mail? It's a lot more personal, since you have to set aside some time to sit down and read/write the letters without the all of the distractions Facebook presents to you, and you're able to filter it to the subjects that are important to you rather than a constant stream of thought from everyone you know.
  - yawz 9y ago
    This is hardly practical :), let alone slow and expensive with all the pictures printed etc.
    - Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
      Of course it's practical! How do you think people kept in touch before the internet? How difficult is it to write up a letter, put it in an envelope with a stamp (which you can pick up at the gas station, grocery store, etc) and drop it in your mailbox? Printing pictures is only a few bucks, and as a side effect the recipient can easily frame it and put it on their hearth!
      - yawz 9y ago
        Seriously?!? Would you write that letter to dozens of people in 3 different languages? Or should I pick "only one" of my aunts and uncles to share my son's first school day pictures? Or maybe we can create a human chain where one sends the letter and pictures that he/she receives to the next one in line. (hmm... maybe there's a business idea there...)
bluGill 9y ago
Facebook is a much better way for me to share pictures of my kids to all my relatives. Sure I can text that picture to each individually, but some people want to see all pictures in full detail while some want to see just a few. I have no way of knowing who wants to see any individual pictures. My parents want to see nearly all. What about my second cousin who I haven't seen in person in 15 years because she lives so far away? What about the running back of our high school football team? I'm not close enough that I'd send any pictures to either of them, but in fact they like that once in a while they see pictures of my kids and remember I exist. Facebook solves a real social problem that text, and phones do not solve. (There are other solutions, but Facebook is the popular one) What made Facebook useful for me is when I blocked all games. I'm slowly eliminating political posts as well, but since I'm active in politics some of my real friends are also active which makes this impossible.
- saimiam 9y ago
  > Facebook solves a real social problem With all due respect, until FB nominally solved this problem, you (I) never even knew this problem existed. Before it became trivial to share pictures with a long lost acquaintance using FB, we got by just fine showing pics to a tiny subset of friends. There was literally no idea in anyone's head that they needed to show pictures of their children to some guy they last spoke to 15 years ago. This notion that FB is solving a real need is false. It's like saying cigarette companies solve the problem of nicotine cravings among smokers.
  - tedunangst 9y ago
    Something about people wanting a faster horse.
    - throwmea56 9y ago
      They didn't. And, as a car obsessive, it was a mistake. commute times are probably the same (45 minutes walking/tram with a 4~5 mi dense city core, vs 45 in the freeway and a 60 miles of low suburban development) and we don't have the infrastructure for alternatives to travel outside the city. As to the need for speed itself. I used to like big fancy fast cars. Then I got a motorcycle. Now cars are... boring.
rhapsodic 9y ago
>I found it to be mental pollution at best and and a total waste of time. I've tried to express the same idea to friends and family who pester me about not being on FB, but I never came up with a phrase as simple and succinct as "mental pollution." Thanks!
codingdave 9y ago
I did, too. But I found that the marketing power of Facebook is just too good to ignore. I made an account again, just to have a few Pages dedicated to my projects. I didn't even reconnect with friends. Even without paid ads... just sharing my content on Facebook with related groups, my site traffic increased by 15% and my revenue by 25%.
- sooheon 9y ago
  More evidence that on facebook, the user is the product. If you're buying, it's a good market.
drukenemo 9y ago
Ah, the mandatory comment. Relevant: https://youtu.be/md4kM9AKjHs https://youtu.be/md4kM9AKjHs
xtrimsky1234 9y ago
This is not a good solution. It's not about keeping in touch, it's also a way to send news to other people. I live in the US but most of my family is in Europe, how do you want me to post a picture of my daughter so that all my family views it? By texting it (which I can't really right now because Google Voice doesn't support international texting), it would require me to send the picture to at least 20 people who I think would be interested in it. Texting and calling is mostly a 1 to 1 relationship. Which is good to wish happy birthday or such. But it sucks to actually update people about news, post pictures. Now I could potentially open a blog, but then again a lot of the people checking my Facebook profile aren't really that into tech. I have my 97 years old grandfather that checks Facebook because we taught him how to. If I tell him to go this blog to check my news, to another blog to check my sisters news, etc... It will become very difficult. I think Facebook is a great platform, but over the years it filled up with too many ads. They are attempting too much to maximize profit, which is a crappy goal. If I would control Facebook, I would reduce the ads to a minimum survivable. And then I would offer a premium option with no ads.

ProAm 9y ago

> call or text them There is no difference between a call or text and a message on FB, the medium doesn't change the context.

d-sc 9y ago
A call or text is a different interaction than scrolling through an infinite newsfeed designed to keep you addicted.
- ProAm 9y ago
  A facebook message doesn't force you to scroll forever. It's a message, just like a text message.
  - turc1656 9y ago
    yeah but only the NSA will be tracking it if you use text, not some multinational conglomerate that is using it to continually build its profile about you while simultaneously selling that information to other parties. And if you do it right (meaning using the right app), your messages can be fully end-to-end encrypted so that no one can read them but the intended recipients. EDIT: it is widely known that the NSA has direct lines into places like Google and Facebook so using Facebook Messenger still routes your messages through the NSA indirectly. The only logical course of action, if someone cares about that sort of thing, is to not use Facebook Messenger and limit the amount of eyes that can see your communications.
  - iaml 9y ago
    I find it a bit ridiculous that on HN you are damned both ways: if you rarely use fb to contact folks, you are still contributing to fb stats and still addicted (actual claims from other threads regarding fb), and if you aren't you're ignoring a (valuable) message channel.
    - lovemenot 9y ago
      Are you insinuating that the many commenters here might have differing even - dare I say - contradictory opinions?
- ibn_ibid 9y ago
  There is a separate messenger app that doesn't include a newsfeed component
axus 9y ago
The medium is not the message?
DarkTree 9y ago
I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I believe you meant, "the medium doesn't change the message". I disagree that everyone feels this way, based on evidence of how I feel when receiving a text message vs. a phone call. Maybe it's because it personally takes me more effort to make a phone call, or the added tone of voice, or maybe it's just the instant dialogue that the call creates. Calls will always be more special to me than a facebook message. Just as a handwritten birthday letter in the mail is more special than the same message in a text.
ageitgey 9y ago
Of course the medium changes the context. It has a huge effect! Phone calls are typically person-to-person communication where you can hear the tone of voice of the person you are talking to, so you can better read their meaning. Also, you typically call people you already know well enough to disturb. It's a very personal form of communication. Facebook is different in all those areas. You are thrown into meaningless conversations with people you don't know where you can't hear anyone's one of voice. Some parts of facebook seem to be designed specifically to encourage more conversation instead of meaningful conversation - things like how you really have to dig to read earlier comments in a thread. They just want you to keep posting instead of following the actual discussion in a coherent way. Likewise, posting on this site is different than having a conversation in person. You can't tell that I'm writing all this in a friendly tone. Instead, it might come across as an angry argument when I don't mean it that way. That's a disadvantage of this medium and a way in which it changes communication.
- ProAm 9y ago
  You can send voice messages over facebook. [1] [1] https://www.facebook.com/help/377884675632666 https://www.facebook.com/help/377884675632666
lurker10000 9y ago
Marshall McLuhan would beg to differ.

noonshine 9y ago

I had been off facebook for 5 years. Now my kid started school and there's info in private facebook groups that is not shared any other way. I hate it but decided to rejoin.

marpstar 9y ago
So wait...the school uses Facebook for communication? Gross. My kids' school uses something called ClassDojo, which is exactly like Facebook, but geared towards classroom settings. It works well enough.
- yawz 9y ago
  I'm guessing that parents connect through Facebook groups. Today, being the first day of school here in Colorado, my wife told me that the parents decided to organize a Facebook group to share information. My suggestion was a Whatsapp group, but I guess that's Facebook as well :).

parthdesai 9y ago

So tell me, how do i replace around 5 different group chats i have on messenger which can have anywhere between 5-10 people in each chat? Music events that i go to are exclusively promoted on facebook. How do you recommend i find out about these events so that i can get a cheaper ticket price? if anyone wants to organize a plan that has more than 8 people, facebook groups make it much much easier. I personally hate facebook's mobile apps and some it's policies ( Internet.org comes 1st to my mind), but it's hard to completely stop using it.

Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
It's not that hard, you've just forgotten how to do these things without Facebook. >I personally hate facebook's mobile apps and some it's policies ( Internet.org comes 1st to my mind), but it's hard to completely stop using it. Try it! Deactivate your account for a week. Do it again later for two weeks. Maybe for a month. When you learn how to live without it, delete it.
- compiler-guy 9y ago
  This is a painfully simplistic response. No matter what I do, several activities and groups I want to be a part of are only advertised and organized on facebook. It's not within my power to change that. And that, in fact, _does_ makes it hard to avoid using facebook without being left out.
  - tdurden 9y ago
    > And that, in fact, _does_ makes it hard to avoid using facebook without being left out. I think you might mean _fear_ of being left out...friends will find other ways to contact you.
    - compiler-guy 9y ago
      Fear has nothing to do with it. When I was not on facebook, I was getting left out of activities and events that weren't exactly with friends, but more with common interests.

yawz 9y ago

Well... As someone who has moved to various countries and across continents a few times over the last three decades, I can hardly find another medium that allows me to keep up with friends and family across many countries and time zones easily. Before Facebook I created and/or used e-mail aliases, e-mail groups, forums, file hosting services, etc. to share our story with friends and family. Facebook makes it much simpler. I don't use it extensively. I don't play games on it. I don't even connect to it every day. And I would stop using it if I had a good alternative.

Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
How about letters via snail mail? It's a lot more personal, since you have to set aside some time to sit down and read/write the letters without the all of the distractions Facebook presents to you, and you're able to filter it to the subjects that are important to you rather than a constant stream of thought from everyone you know.
- yawz 9y ago
  This is hardly practical :), let alone slow and expensive with all the pictures printed etc.
  - Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
    Of course it's practical! How do you think people kept in touch before the internet? How difficult is it to write up a letter, put it in an envelope with a stamp (which you can pick up at the gas station, grocery store, etc) and drop it in your mailbox? Printing pictures is only a few bucks, and as a side effect the recipient can easily frame it and put it on their hearth!
    - yawz 9y ago
      Seriously?!? Would you write that letter to dozens of people in 3 different languages? Or should I pick "only one" of my aunts and uncles to share my son's first school day pictures? Or maybe we can create a human chain where one sends the letter and pictures that he/she receives to the next one in line. (hmm... maybe there's a business idea there...)

bluGill 9y ago

Facebook is a much better way for me to share pictures of my kids to all my relatives. Sure I can text that picture to each individually, but some people want to see all pictures in full detail while some want to see just a few. I have no way of knowing who wants to see any individual pictures. My parents want to see nearly all. What about my second cousin who I haven't seen in person in 15 years because she lives so far away? What about the running back of our high school football team? I'm not close enough that I'd send any pictures to either of them, but in fact they like that once in a while they see pictures of my kids and remember I exist. Facebook solves a real social problem that text, and phones do not solve. (There are other solutions, but Facebook is the popular one) What made Facebook useful for me is when I blocked all games. I'm slowly eliminating political posts as well, but since I'm active in politics some of my real friends are also active which makes this impossible.

saimiam 9y ago
> Facebook solves a real social problem With all due respect, until FB nominally solved this problem, you (I) never even knew this problem existed. Before it became trivial to share pictures with a long lost acquaintance using FB, we got by just fine showing pics to a tiny subset of friends. There was literally no idea in anyone's head that they needed to show pictures of their children to some guy they last spoke to 15 years ago. This notion that FB is solving a real need is false. It's like saying cigarette companies solve the problem of nicotine cravings among smokers.
- tedunangst 9y ago
  Something about people wanting a faster horse.
  - throwmea56 9y ago
    They didn't. And, as a car obsessive, it was a mistake. commute times are probably the same (45 minutes walking/tram with a 4~5 mi dense city core, vs 45 in the freeway and a 60 miles of low suburban development) and we don't have the infrastructure for alternatives to travel outside the city. As to the need for speed itself. I used to like big fancy fast cars. Then I got a motorcycle. Now cars are... boring.

rhapsodic 9y ago

>I found it to be mental pollution at best and and a total waste of time. I've tried to express the same idea to friends and family who pester me about not being on FB, but I never came up with a phrase as simple and succinct as "mental pollution." Thanks!

codingdave 9y ago

I did, too. But I found that the marketing power of Facebook is just too good to ignore. I made an account again, just to have a few Pages dedicated to my projects. I didn't even reconnect with friends. Even without paid ads... just sharing my content on Facebook with related groups, my site traffic increased by 15% and my revenue by 25%.

sooheon 9y ago
More evidence that on facebook, the user is the product. If you're buying, it's a good market.

drukenemo 9y ago

Ah, the mandatory comment. Relevant: https://youtu.be/md4kM9AKjHs https://youtu.be/md4kM9AKjHs

xtrimsky1234 9y ago

This is not a good solution. It's not about keeping in touch, it's also a way to send news to other people. I live in the US but most of my family is in Europe, how do you want me to post a picture of my daughter so that all my family views it? By texting it (which I can't really right now because Google Voice doesn't support international texting), it would require me to send the picture to at least 20 people who I think would be interested in it. Texting and calling is mostly a 1 to 1 relationship. Which is good to wish happy birthday or such. But it sucks to actually update people about news, post pictures. Now I could potentially open a blog, but then again a lot of the people checking my Facebook profile aren't really that into tech. I have my 97 years old grandfather that checks Facebook because we taught him how to. If I tell him to go this blog to check my news, to another blog to check my sisters news, etc... It will become very difficult. I think Facebook is a great platform, but over the years it filled up with too many ads. They are attempting too much to maximize profit, which is a crappy goal. If I would control Facebook, I would reduce the ads to a minimum survivable. And then I would offer a premium option with no ads.