I was late to the Facebook party for my age group. 2010, halfway through high school I joined up  and instantly got over 300 “friends” mostly my year level and one above and one below. It made it real easy with the mutual friend focus.

For the next few years I didn’t really use it much though. I did what everybody else did and left Happy Birthday’s on profiles and I would see what everyone got up to on the weekend, in other classes and the holidays. I never posted anything, just the odd picture here and there.

The group messenger side of Facebook came to life towards the end of High school and into University. Keeping in touch and being organized was the main use.  It was this time too that the video content and “memes” started to rise. I followed some of these accounts where I could see basketball highlights and (looking back now) poorly made humor.

Corporate greed

As university went on i would eventually cease using Facebook and scrolling my feed. I would still use it as a way to interact with class groups however. It was this stage were i discovered Reddit. I wasn’t addicted but did visit it often. Reddit for me was more entertaining, informative and showed content i wanted. The privacy was a big plus.

My use with Facebook or what was left of it died out. No longer would I browse my feed, it showed mostly “recommended” stuff not the most recent (seriously Facebook!?). The app was littered with ads, poor overused content and photos of “friends” on holidays. Boring, depressing and cluttered Facebook to me was useless.

A couple years later when finally people were crying out for Facebook harvesting their data I look back and am grateful I never uploaded mass photos, filled my profile out in detail or allowed Facebook access to locations. To this day Facebook will bomb me with rubbish notifications like “friend I have never interacted with shared some post” or “Friend recommendation: someone who is a bot”.

Bad content, not interested

Of course Facebook will try its hardest to get me to use the app, interact and give it some type of data or analytics to store but I like to think im an outlier throwing of their algorithms.

We have come to a stage where Facebook is no longer a communication app but rather a news platform. Clickbait, trash, memes and ads rose up and took over the platform. Pair that with Facebook doing slimy tactics with user data, I honestly hope Facebook falls of its perch.

Unethical behavior

I am aware that the older generations have swarmed to Facebook, this would boost the case for ads and rubbish content. The poor older folk may not know better than to click ads and be brainwashed. Maybe that will be Facebook’s savior? the older generations getting in on something once seen as absurd to them. Being able to communicate and contact their loved ones and friends anywhere in the world, a cool concept except Facebook isn’t focused on this no more.

Thanks for the small goodness you gave to me Facebook, but greed and slimy culture have put you in a worse place.