Some years back, Frito Lay came out with a product called "Wow" chips. The wow was, I assume, because they were fat free, thus people who were struggling to lose weight could suddenly eat chips without guilt. Or so they thought.
But there was a catch, as there always is when you try to take a short cut on reality. For many people, there were some unpleasant after effects to eating those chips. The stomach issues are now legendary, and before long, those chips went off the market. They are considered a "failure" in the world of snack marketing.
I think the creators of Wow chips knew exactly what the consequences of eating those chips would be, long before they put them on the market. I think they gambled that people would be so enthralled by the opportunity to eat once forbidden snack foods, they would overlook the... side effects. Fair enough. People willing to be beta testers often have unforeseen consequences. It's part of the deal, I think.
When I got on Facebook, many years ago, it had just opened up from a purely college student forum to a wider network of people. Very few adults were online, virtually no parents or grandparents. I didn't do it to keep up with anyone, because there wasn't really anyone on there to keep up with. I signed on because my son talked me into it so I could see some of what he posted, and I was going to keep him as my only friend.
As more people signed on, it became a fun way to stay in touch or get in touch with people I rarely saw, friends and family that I seldom had time to reach out to, but who I could now keep in touch with through the miracle of modern online networking. So I expanded my friend list, at a modest 200 people today, and enjoy many of the interactions.
But slowly, gradually, it has all changed. First the advertisements came, then the news feed. It used to be a simple, chronological list of what people were up to, and you could see things as they were posted by simply scrolling through. You didn't miss anything if you kept up, because everything was right there on the front page.
Facebook now decides who and what I see, and the advertisements, which are prominently displayed everywhere, are geared towards the last thing I have looked at online. It is insidious, the constant subtle pressure to buy, buy, buy. The use of my online history, with my tacit consent, irks me. Their decision making formula means I miss many posts from people I would like to see, while never missing an advertisement facebook requires me to view. Their suggested content is never what I want to see, and the news feed is so cluttered with sponsored or recommended items I barely see the things I went online to see in the first place.
But I could live with all that, in order to remain connected to people I don't see often enough. What I can't live with any more, however, is the shrill nature of the discourse, increasingly resembling twitter trash more than a conversation.
I am on facebook for fun. That's it. I want to see photos from people's travels, their children and grandchildren, share in their happier moments and help support and comfort in their losses. In other words, I treat my facebook friends as the actual friends they are, and I care about their posts because I care about them.
I don't want to see homeless or abused children or pets to start my day. I don't want to hear political arguments, which I avoid in real life as much as possible, and which get us no where. (I mean this sincerely - no one has ever changed a political position because of someone else's facebook rant or re-posted political cartoon.) I no longer wish to be subjected to shrill opinion pieces which I find at best incomplete, at worse ignorant, and virtually always over-simplified. I don't want to be showered with advertisements about products I will never buy. Perhaps naively, I believe most people are good people, and I don't want to be harassed online in any way because of a few bad apples.
Frankly, I think we have all been had. Slowly and surely, we have been bought and sold by those whose interest in our online life is less about us and more about stalking our bank account or producing online clicks. I don't know if this was their intent from the inception when only Harvard students were participating, but the founders are all billionaires. I think they were smart enough to see a good thing coming and capitalize on it. But I am tired of being used, and I have decided that I no longer wish to be part of the experiment. Facebook has become, for me, like Wow chips, a good thought with lots of promise, but filled with unexpected and unpalatable consequences.
I am going to step off the merry go round for awhile before the consequences get any worse. I won't disappear completely, but I intend to hide from the outrage which currently floods online life. I will hopefully use the time for blogging, along with all the other stuff that enhances my life. If you want to talk to me, I have a cell phone, I am a texting fiend, and I still have the old fashioned, but extremely easy to use and functional Skype or email. Better yet, stop by and visit awhile. I would love to see people in person again.
I wish someone would start an online friendship network where you could simply exchange greetings and recipes and enjoy one another's photos and tidbits of life. That's where I joined this circus, and I want to go back. They say the first step is the hardest. I guess I will find out.
