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I've been off all Social platforms for almost a decade now. And, no matter how much I try and convince my close friends and relatives to do the same, it doesn't

I've been off all Social platforms for almost a decade now. And, no matter how much I try and convince my close friends and relatives to do the same, it doesn't work. I realised this very late, but it is almost like asking people to give up on coffee. You could probably get them to replace it with something else but you cannot remove it from their lives. It is all about filling the void.

chrbutler 5y ago
I completely agree. The void is terrifying to most people. That's why this ending passage is so important: "I know a man who is building an advertisement-free Facebook replacement because he agrees with everything I have said critically about Facebook. Except, of course, for one thing: he believes the world needs Facebook, he just doesn’t like the Facebook we have. It’s like how at some point in our past, we agreed that the world required fizzy, brown sugar water, so the alternative to Coca Cola wasn’t no Coca Cola (or the abundance of other things you could drink), it was Pepsi. Why is the alternative to Facebook your Facebook by another name?"
- zeeshanqureshi 5y ago
  Those are the right questions, that only time can answer.
- watwut 5y ago
  > Why is the alternative to Facebook your Facebook by another name?" To me, it makes 100% sense. Alternative to X should be kind of X, except minor changes here and there. Otherwise it is not an alternative, otherwise it is completely different thing.
  - luckylion 5y ago
    Harm reduction has its place, but what if most of the harm isn't because of sponsored posts, but because of the all-encompassing always-on social network? Facebook, but a bit less like Facebook sounds like smoking 20 instead of 25 cigarettes a day, doesn't it?
    - watwut 5y ago
      You need to define what you perceive as harm. The guy apparently believes that what is wrong with Facebook is ads. So, he is building Facebook without ads. If he succeeds, there is no harm.

chrbutler 5y ago

I completely agree. The void is terrifying to most people. That's why this ending passage is so important: "I know a man who is building an advertisement-free Facebook replacement because he agrees with everything I have said critically about Facebook. Except, of course, for one thing: he believes the world needs Facebook, he just doesn’t like the Facebook we have. It’s like how at some point in our past, we agreed that the world required fizzy, brown sugar water, so the alternative to Coca Cola wasn’t no Coca Cola (or the abundance of other things you could drink), it was Pepsi. Why is the alternative to Facebook your Facebook by another name?"

zeeshanqureshi 5y ago
Those are the right questions, that only time can answer.
watwut 5y ago
> Why is the alternative to Facebook your Facebook by another name?" To me, it makes 100% sense. Alternative to X should be kind of X, except minor changes here and there. Otherwise it is not an alternative, otherwise it is completely different thing.
- luckylion 5y ago
  Harm reduction has its place, but what if most of the harm isn't because of sponsored posts, but because of the all-encompassing always-on social network? Facebook, but a bit less like Facebook sounds like smoking 20 instead of 25 cigarettes a day, doesn't it?
  - watwut 5y ago
    You need to define what you perceive as harm. The guy apparently believes that what is wrong with Facebook is ads. So, he is building Facebook without ads. If he succeeds, there is no harm.