Quit liking. It's good for you.

I recently fell out of love with Facebook. Strange really - I used to spend a lot of my workday exploring the algorithm and working out how to make branded posts more popular with its users but after joining Triptease at the beginning of the year - where Facebook was less of a focus - I found myself tiring of the platform. 

On numerous evenings I would mindlessly thumb along, not really paying attention to anything and glibly pressing like here and there, and feeling like I'd just lost 5 minutes of my life that I could have spent on something more productive. It wasn't just me. I'd look around me on the bus, walking down the street, and everywhere I turned I'd see that familiar blue bar luring users in with updates and 'New Stories'. It was out of control - in my mind at least. 

Elan Morgan wrote about how quitting the like button changed her view of humanity and so I decided to give it a go. After undertaking the same experiment, I have to say that not liking anything for two weeks made my life and my timeline a better place. Here's why:

1. I stopped being mindless

Liking is easy. A quick tap to acknowledge a post and move on. You haven't really interacted with it, you've just put a small sign out there that you've seen it. There have been moments where I've seen a post and just wanted to let the person know I've seen it, so I had to think about why - and then decide on whether it was worth remarking upon. That made me engage my brain instead of thumbing along like a zombie and tapping for the sake of acknowledgement. It also made me question why I would press like in the first place. Was it just to help make someone feel popular or to join a few dozen people who had liked it before me? 

2. It forced me to make comments

There are a heap of posts I actually commented on. Whereas before a quick like would have done the job, I decided that a droll photo or a witty status update merited a comment even if it was to say that it made me laugh out loud. Some of the fun of Facebook returned again. Actually engaging with my friends' status updates, even if all I got in return was a 'like comment'. When running a Facebook page for over 55s I learnt that commenting was something the older generation loves to indulge in - it's worrying that so-called millennials might be favouring a simple button press over exchanging thoughts and comments. 

3. Facebook stopped spamming me

When you like something, Facebook learns your behaviour and serves you more of the same. It's how Buzzfeed and the Huffington Post gain so much traction (and Elan talks about it more detail in her article). By not liking for two weeks, Facebook doesn't know what I am engaging with (apart from the comments) and isn't serving up clickbait. I've noticed significantly more posts from friends and I feel less like there are 27 reasons why I won't believe something out there in the world. 

Looking through my timeline this evening, there are things I want to actively dislike, and so I'm looking forward to what the arrival of a dislike button. Perhaps it will garner even more empathy and if it takes the form of Slack emojis comments (read here) it couldn't come sooner.

I for one have come across hundreds of posts I don't want to see. Branded or not, what you're subjected to on Facebook isn't always going to be something you like. Until then, stop liking.

It will do you good.