A quick Internet search (c.f. Google search) will reveal troves of anti-Facebook articles. Should you get off Facebook?
I have not quit Facebook. Here's some reasons why:
- Using an online platform transparently linked to your real-world offers many advantages over anonymous platforms for connecting with real-life friends and family, commerce, and finding new communities
- Facebook will harvest data on you (you "node" in its graph) whether you like it or not; might as well take as much control of your user profile as you can
- You can train Facebook to be more useful to you: e.g. use Facebook to study a foreign language
- Understanding Facebook is a marketable skill: particularly, managing ad campaigns, administering pages, etc.
For those that can manage not being totally addicted to Facebook, I think it is a decently good idea to reclaim Facebook as your public facing platform. Facebook is now a rather established platform that offers many useful services. Approaching Facebook purposefully, you can leverage it to be an overall good thing in your life.
Don't be a coward, show your face!
There are many places on the Internet where users communicate with (relative) anonymity, hiding behind an anime profile picture, an image of a cute dog/cat, some meme character, etc. Certainly, there are cases where anonymity is useful, notably for whistleblowers or other individuals who must be anonymous for their own safety. I support the creation and maintenance of places for people to communicate anonymously (and oppose "deplatforming" in the USA where I live, generally), but I don't think they are good for most people most of the time.
Here are some general points about how anonymity can lead to bad behavior:
- Little to no "skin in the game" causes people to speak recklessly or to take actions that can hurt others
- Escapism is encouraged; accountability is avoided
- Trends are more difficult to assess; prolific shit-posters may inflate the relevance of certain themes, bringing the fringe to the mainstream; different information ecosystems
On the other hand, having a real-world identity linked up with online interactions encourages people to treat each other more politely and avoid being overtly nasty as the Internet functions as something of a public record.
Using a real-world identity online encoruages people to use online platforms as a gateway to offline interactions. Logistics can be handled much more easily if everyone involved is familiar with social media.
The question of ads and influence (what I like to call "the dark arts") is a big topic, especially following all the 2016 presidential election stuff. That being said, a platform like Facebook allows astute users to observe who is pushing what agenda more transparently. Ads have to be pushed by someone for something, after all.
Control your node
I have spoken to friends who at some point or another decided to "close" their Facebook accounts. To the best of my knowledge, Facebook makes no promises at ever completely deleting your stuff, so closing your account is essentially forfeiting control of your node (data representing you on Facebook's Graph API.
Choosing to keep a Facebook account (even if you don't use it much) is akin to holding onto property you'd rather have not abused event if you aren't actively using it. Particularly for public-facing individuals, keeping control of Facebook content about you might be a good idea,
Train Facebook to do what you want
Facebook's Feed has been the subject of lots of controversy. Many things about it are opaque to end users. However, in general, a "what you put into the surveillance state browser is what you get out of it" principle seems to hold true for most people I have discussed these issues with.
If you log into Google chrome and search for digital camera things on Amazon, what sort of ads do you expect to see in Facebook?
You can train Facebook to give you more of what you think you should be seeing. For example, if you are trying to do more home cooking, just go search some cooking stuff. Facebook will probably feed you lots of interesting inspiration.
Purposefully use Facebook
Nowadays, I only pick up phone calls if I am expecting a call or if the number calling is one I recognize. This has saved lots of time.
Approaching Facebook with a policy like how many people approach phone calls can allow you to leverage this powerful platform to enhance your life.