5 ms·

I stopped using the harmful part of Facebook, ie the newsfeed, which is designed to create an addictive behaviour, using the following technique. On every singl

I stopped using the harmful part of Facebook, ie the newsfeed, which is designed to create an addictive behaviour, using the following technique. On every single post in my newsfeed, I tell the application I no longer want to see content from the source. It takes some weeks to dry up, but you end up with an empty page. You still get notifications related to your events, group activities, and you can still use the messages. By the way, here's another tip, if you want to read and send messages on mobile without installing the app: use mbasic.fb.com instead of the default m.facebook.com URL.

tarr11 9y ago
this is really cool! FWIW - mbasic.fb.com does not work. But mbasic.facebook.com does.
rdruxn 9y ago
There are dozens of browser extensions that just hide the newsfeed. No need to go through all that labor.
- j_s 9y ago
  Make Hacker News Your Facebook Newsfeed https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14755217 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14755217
- barbs 9y ago
  I made one for Firefox on Android (should work on iOS too). https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/hide-mobile-facebook-news-feed/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/hide-mobile-f...
- unicornporn 9y ago
  Relying on extensions on every browser on every browser I use seems cumbersome? I've unfollowed everything and everyone, and it works on every device without extension. There was a way to batch this.
- ck425 9y ago
  None that work with Chrome Android though. :(
  - tripzilch 9y ago
    But Chrome Android doesn't let you use extensions, period. Not really sure why you'd want to use it :-)
tucif 9y ago
I also adopted a similar approach, where I unfollowed ALL my firends so that none of them will show up in newsfeed. Then I added the few ones I truly wanted to know about to the "Close friends" list which allows you to activate notifications for everything they post. Now when I log in I only see a bunch of notifications which have a very handy "Mark all as read" link, and I only click further when I see a non-meme status update or an interesting share from them. I can always search someone and go to their profile, or click on a firend list and see what certain group is up to. And I still find messenger useful, except for the forced "Add to your day" part, from which I daily hide any friends "day" as they post it without opening it (hold click to show that option). I'm about 1 year like this and it has been great, don't feel like I'm missing anything.
- alexman 9y ago
  This is similar to what I did too but the newsfeed is still polluted with lots of "likes" (e.g. liking a page, liking a post) by my close friends which are irrelevant to me 99% of the time. I wish Facebook let me hide "likes" from my friends.
  - provost 9y ago
    If it really bothers you, a simple Greasemonkey script can fix that.
    - mattnewton 9y ago
      Or just don't visit the newsfeed ever.
      - deftturtle 9y ago
        Problem solved....
        pyman 9y ago
        Facebook is the new Yahoo!
chrisper 9y ago
Can't you just use messenger.com? It is what I do
- jackocnr 9y ago
  This is amazing. Facebook messenger without the temptation of the notifications icon. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.
flangillion 9y ago
You don't need to do that. Simply use Adblock to block the newsfeed element (the infinite-scroll column in the middle of the page).
billysielu 9y ago
I achieved this by unfollowing everyone and changing my browser bookmark to my most commonly used group. I never visit the news feed anymore because there's nothing on it besides adverts.

tarr11 9y ago

this is really cool! FWIW - mbasic.fb.com does not work. But mbasic.facebook.com does.

rdruxn 9y ago

There are dozens of browser extensions that just hide the newsfeed. No need to go through all that labor.

j_s 9y ago
Make Hacker News Your Facebook Newsfeed https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14755217 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14755217
barbs 9y ago
I made one for Firefox on Android (should work on iOS too). https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/hide-mobile-facebook-news-feed/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/hide-mobile-f...
unicornporn 9y ago
Relying on extensions on every browser on every browser I use seems cumbersome? I've unfollowed everything and everyone, and it works on every device without extension. There was a way to batch this.
ck425 9y ago
None that work with Chrome Android though. :(
- tripzilch 9y ago
  But Chrome Android doesn't let you use extensions, period. Not really sure why you'd want to use it :-)

tucif 9y ago

I also adopted a similar approach, where I unfollowed ALL my firends so that none of them will show up in newsfeed. Then I added the few ones I truly wanted to know about to the "Close friends" list which allows you to activate notifications for everything they post. Now when I log in I only see a bunch of notifications which have a very handy "Mark all as read" link, and I only click further when I see a non-meme status update or an interesting share from them. I can always search someone and go to their profile, or click on a firend list and see what certain group is up to. And I still find messenger useful, except for the forced "Add to your day" part, from which I daily hide any friends "day" as they post it without opening it (hold click to show that option). I'm about 1 year like this and it has been great, don't feel like I'm missing anything.

alexman 9y ago
This is similar to what I did too but the newsfeed is still polluted with lots of "likes" (e.g. liking a page, liking a post) by my close friends which are irrelevant to me 99% of the time. I wish Facebook let me hide "likes" from my friends.
- provost 9y ago
  If it really bothers you, a simple Greasemonkey script can fix that.
  - mattnewton 9y ago
    Or just don't visit the newsfeed ever.
    - deftturtle 9y ago
      Problem solved....
      - pyman 9y ago
        Facebook is the new Yahoo!

chrisper 9y ago

Can't you just use messenger.com? It is what I do

jackocnr 9y ago
This is amazing. Facebook messenger without the temptation of the notifications icon. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

flangillion 9y ago

You don't need to do that. Simply use Adblock to block the newsfeed element (the infinite-scroll column in the middle of the page).

billysielu 9y ago

I achieved this by unfollowing everyone and changing my browser bookmark to my most commonly used group. I never visit the news feed anymore because there's nothing on it besides adverts.