#AtoZChallenge – Pandemic Journal: Facebook Fatigue

Today’s entry for my Pandemic Journal is connected to my previous article about emotional competence: it’s Facebook fatigue, especially now we’re all facing a serious health crisis.

Have you ever felt that exhaustion yet? 

In my case, I’m so done with Facebook. But — and that’s a resounding but — I still maintain a Facebook account. I might sound so hypocritical for that, but I need it to still communicate with my family and close friends who heavily use it.

My first account, created in 2008, has over 1,000 connections but is now deactivated because it is so taxing to mute every single one of my toxic “friends.”

 

 

It’s an irritating fact that I still need to be on Facebook because it’s the social media in my country. None of those so-called “Facebook killers” have succeeded yet; but if there’s an entity that can destroy social media, it is the collective “us” — yes, we, the supreme users — at least that’s what computer philosophy writer Jaron Lanier says in his book, Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now.* 

As of writing time, I am halfway through the book and have read the first four arguments:

1. You are losing your free will
2. Quitting social media is the most finely targeted way to resist the insanity of our times
3. Social media is making you into an asshole
4. Social media is undermining the truth.

I wish I have read the entire book before writing this entry so I can make a more comprehensive post. Nevertheless, the first two arguments detail how social media stimulate the inner workings in your brain (1) and how this folly has been turned into a lucrative business model (2) by social media corporations. From there, the effects radiate like concentric waves in increasing intensity. The other arguments are:

5. Social media is making what you say meaningless
6. Social media is destroying your capacity for empathy
7. Social media is making you unhappy
8. Social media doesn’t want you to have economic dignity
9. Social media is making politics impossible
10. Social media hates your soul.

Even without reading the entire book, you will see the progression and magnitude of the arguments — from your brain up to your existence. And it’s creepy to see those arguments become alive on Facebook and Twitter, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. I saw it happen on WeChat, especially when the health crisis erupted earlier this year, but detached myself onto it. How I wish I can read Chinese; I wonder how the highly-sanitized social media behind the Great Firewall is faring with regard to these arguments in the context of the coronavirus crisis.

 

 

Anyway – onto Facebook. It sickens me to see my contacts reposting or publishing unverified information or articles that purport to be news items. I even told my mom to stay away from Facebook because it’s giving her undue anxiety, instead of the much-needed level-headedness and resolve. This is exactly the reason why I advocate social media education or training for users of all ages. Seriously, the cyberspace climate now is not limited to millennials or boomers — everyone uses social media but not everybody knows how social media works and exploits your vulnerabilities.

Take this pay-walled article from The New York Times for example. It is the closest article I could find that was related to a critical piece that stated how this social media giant labels users based on their preferences (aka tags for algorithms that are sent to god-knows-who-are-they).

 

(You can also read a similar free article here)

I remember reading that original piece years back and I was so livid at Facebook for labeling me AND using those labels to push advertisements on my account! And upon re-checking, Facebook has done it again — who the heck is this Spitz page? And why do they have my info AND uploaded a list with my info?

If you want to see yours, visit facebook.com/ads/preferences and get ready!

 

 

And this is what Lanier posits in his argument 2 because Facebook and other companies that he calls BUMMER (Behaviors of Users Modified and Made into an Empire for Rent) are cashing in on the vulnerabilities of our psyches and inflaming insecurities, disinformation, discrimination, and bigotry through “engagements” in the form of likes, shares, views, and all related stuff. And all of these happen in the background of everyday mudslinging, fearmongering, smart- or stupid shaming, denials, and everything in between on your feeds, walls, and moments. Imagine that!

 

 

I could go on ranting about Facebook, but I realize it is making me furious that I have to stop now. You can just feel the rage from behind your screens, I bet.

As a takeaway from this Facebook Fatigue post, which I’m sure many of you, my dear readers, have already felt, is that do not let these companies lord over you! We need some sort of digital presence in this age of a cyber-connected world, but leave something for yourself and for your loved ones. Do not let your life revolve over something fleeting and that can be controlled by big corporations. Do not let these digital forms of communication disintegrate your friendships, integrity, dignity, and character. You are a beautiful breathing human being capable of thinking and judgment; you are not a statistic or a part of a data set that they can sell on a whim!

 

Note: If you wish to continue reading on topics about how Facebook exploits your data, here are some reads:

• Facebook tracks everything from your politics to ethnicity – here’s how to stop it
• How Facebook tries to predict if you’re liberal or conservative
• Facebook labels you as a liberal or conservative – here’s how to turn it off
• Facebook and Instagram starting to identify and label ‘fake news’
• Here’s why sharing that Facebook privacy notice is worthless

 

* See reviews of Jaron Lanier’s book below:

• Good Reads
• Click ‘Delete’ to Save Your Soul (The New York Times)
• Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier – review (The Guardian)

 

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