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Comment by jcun4128 | Hacker News Reader

Not an FB shill but it has helped me reconnect with family overseas that I haven't contacted in 10 years or so (left as a child). So I am grateful for that, but I have not actively participated in the platform in general since 2012 or so) mostly because I noticed how cringe I was. I use their video chat platform to talk with them once a week.

Some more context, they're not native English speakers, live in a small dirt-village but somehow many people there have a mobile phone and FB so they found me/added me.

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I really enjoyed this aspect of Facebook when I had it. However, after a while, I found Facebook feeds where causing me to dislike a lot of people who I otherwise enjoyed spending time with. Furthermore, if I actively cleaned up my feed by un-following or muting people - taking that action just reinforced the notion that this was a person I did not like. Dropping Facebook has without a doubt reduced my contacts and limited my communication. For those I communicate with outside of Facebook, its generally a more rewarding experience, and for acquaintances who I no longer have such ease of access to - I still like them when I'm reminded of them or have an encounter with them, or at least don't dislike them.

There is this, too. Old Army buddies spamming my timeline with 40 ridiculous hateful far-right memes a day. Band girl from middle school who was my first ever date praising the Proud Boys and showing up to the capitol protest. My aunt posting nonsense like the dog with a ham cold cut on its face saying it was burned trying to rescue people from a fire and betting no one would share it.

These are people I love. Some of them I have literally been to war with. I'd have died for them and they'd have died for me. I don't want Facebook to convince me all humans are garbage. They're not. I know these people. This isn't really them.

JFC. This is insane that you're making it out to be Facebook's fault for having terrible people in your life. HN comments have gotten worst than even Reddit.

I know these people. I've known some of them for decades. They're not terrible people. They only become terrible when they're on social media.

Facebook is stupid, but in your case, you can't really blame facebook for your choice in friends and your friend's choices.

> Some more context, they're not native English speakers, live in a small dirt-village but somehow many people there have a mobile phone and FB so they found me/added me.

This probably isn't a happy coincidence. Facebook is "the internet" for large swaths of the world outside of North American and Europe. Very similar to how AOL has been "the internet" for my 70-year-old mom for the past 20 years, only recently being supplanted by Facebook.

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