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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To feel done with Facebook?

15 replies

moutonfou · 22/07/2017 10:14

Facebook used to be a site where your friends wrote posts or added pictures, you liked each other's posts, it was nice, you could keep in touch and maybe also keep up to date with a few brands or pages you liked.

Now it feels like things directly to do with my friends are about 5% of what's on there and it's 95% dross I haven't asked for. I have to be shown everything any of my friends have liked, whether it's of interest to me or not. Adverts for dodgy services like holiday food poisoning claims every three posts. I made the mistake of following the pages of a few news outlets like C4 News and my word, the bigotry of the comments is something else. The Grenfell fire was started by immigrants to get leave to remain; why are the victims still complaining; find your own home if you're so unhappy; they're scroungers trying to keep the fire in the news to get more compensation - just some of the comments I've just read on an article about a family of 5 still living in a hotel room, and these aren't buried under a ton of higher-rated reasonable comments, these are the top-rated comments!

Sometimes I think I'm done with it but somewhere amongst all the dross I'll see that an old friend has got engaged, or a photo of their new baby, and that's why I'll stay.

AIBU to think the site has gone in the complete wrong direction? There's nothing personal about it anymore and no way for the user to shape or control what they see. I understand it's all now about pandering to the big pages that pay for ad space, and getting their posts in front of as many users as possible, but if it just leads to users gettimg exasperated and quitting, is it worth it?

OP posts:
Smoochyschmoo · 22/07/2017 10:17

I've been thinking the exact same, Just full of crap but then I like to see exciting announcements like births etc. I'm certainly not on it half as much as I used to be.

greystripe · 22/07/2017 10:20

YANBU. I am slowly weaning myself off it and deleting previous posts to 'clear' my account.

Notknownatthisaddress · 22/07/2017 10:24

I think you need to review your friends list if they are posting nasty shit like that stuff about grenfell.. And your computers settings and adblocking too if you are getting lots of spam. I get the occasional ppi ad, but it's rare, and all my FB friends are fine. I get a couple who post lots of pics of their kids, and go on about how amazing they are every day!, and I have one who rants about the tories a lot, but I have 'unfollowed' so I don't see his posts.

Sorry but YABU. I love FB.

eggsbenedict89 · 22/07/2017 10:25

Been thinking this for a while - and deactivated last week.

Can't begin to tell you how good it feels Smile

BroomHandledMouser · 22/07/2017 10:30

I deactivated a few months ago, best feeling ever!

It took a few days to get out of the habit of checking but I doubt I'll go back on now.

PurpleMinionMummy · 22/07/2017 10:30

Yanbu. Check your advert settings though and hiding them seems to reduce them. Clicking on any seems to increase them

Ginlovinglady · 22/07/2017 10:31

I came off 2 years ago
Bypassed all the brexit shit
I don't get to see my school friends pictures of children etc
But seeing as I don't even have their numbers in my phone it's not a big deal
I hate Facebook. It's very damaging. No one puts up the shit bits of our life.
And when you're down you end up kicking yourself that you're not in Capri sipping champagne with a handsome husband and 2 beautiful children.

moutonfou · 22/07/2017 10:32

Notknownat it's on posts by news outlets (this one was Channel 4 News) I've seen comments like that about the fire on. I like what my actual friends post; it's just hard to find my friends' posts within all the other stuff!

If I was reading comments on something like the Sun or Daily Mail, I'd expect there to be a certain nature of comments...but even on BBC/C4 posts there are some really nasty streaks to some of the popular comments.

OP posts:
fairgame84 · 22/07/2017 10:36

YANBU
mine is just full of photos of strangers (to me) that my friends have liked. However I'm a single parent to a disabled DC and have no social life so without FB I would be completely socially isolated except for when I'm at work. As I work term time FB will probably be the only adult interaction I will get for 6 weeks.
I just wish there was some way of filtering out all the crap.

Owlish · 22/07/2017 10:38

If you use Facebook in a web browser I can highly recommend FB Purity. It's a web extension that can be used to customise your FB layout, filter content and also keeps your view to 'most recent' instead of the bloody stupid 'top stories'. It's great, I can have FB the way I like it and stops me seeing stuff that pisses me off (other than the shit that my, ahem, 'friends' write Wink) It's totally free to use.

If you use an iPhone or iPad, try Friendly for Facebook. That also cuts out a load of bullshit, too. It's a paid app, but you can get a free version that doesn't filter ads in links.

I'm not in any way connected with either of these, btw, I'm just rather evangical about them and I'm a genuine MNer - you're quite welcome to do a username search for me Grin

lifeinthecountry · 22/07/2017 10:41

I still have FB because my adult dc are on there and it's a good way for us to stay in touch. I also like the fact that a lot of people on my friends list are old school friends, now spread all over the world. But during the last few years of elections (there have been a lot here in Scotland) I had to delete several people from my friends list for ongoing ranty/offensive posts and hide the posts of others, who really are friends, but thought it was okay to bombard us all with their political opinions.

Agree with PP you can change your settings so you are seeing fewer ads/unwanted posts and more of what you do want to see - when I turned 50, FB started showing me funeral planning ads Confused

missiondecision · 22/07/2017 10:45

You can delete your account completely. Ask Facebook for all your data first so as to not loose contact numbers and photos. It takes two weeks to complete. Not the same as deactivating where you log back on anytime you want.
If you are going to loose touch by not being on Facebook they are not your friend in the first place. I get it's easy to keep in touch people in another country etc but there are alternatives to the "look at me" culture that is facebook.

moutonfou · 22/07/2017 10:45

That's interesting Owlish, will have to check those out.

lifeinthecountry Grin as soon as I got married, mine started showing me pregnancy test ads!

That is one of my worries too, Facebook can somehow 'watch' your other web activity. If I look up prices to a certain destination, I'll start seeing adverts in Facebook for that destination. It even works across different computers e.g. if I google something at work, Facebook will show ads for it on my tablet at home...

OP posts:
BeanSprout79 · 22/07/2017 10:49

I deleted my fb account years ago and it is the best thing. I thought I would miss my 'friends' but seeing as I never see them other than posting on fb it clearly says to me it's all really for show. I was getting frustrated by the horrible things that were being posted to my timeline of abuse and the comments people made were horrific. I'm so very pleased I made the decision to deactivate my account, I won't be going back.

ClopySow · 22/07/2017 11:48

Mine is totally clogged up with recommendations and pages my friends like. I'm not interested. Advertising ruins it.

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