Why I'm Breaking Up With Facebook After 15 Years

February 11, 2007. That's the day I was introduced to Facebook by my good friend Anthony and I immediately fell head over heels in love (with Facebook, that is; not Ant).

Unlike MySpace and its predecessor platforms, Facebook was a true social network; something where you could easily connect with people you knew from all different walks of life; share photos; send messages; and generally keep in touch with people it may have been difficult to otherwise.

Over the past 15 years, I've spent considerable time on that website, sharing triumphs and tragedies; reacting to world events; discussing things I've read, watched and eaten. I've also spent considerable time posting hundreds and hundreds of ridiculously-juvenile "Profile Pictures," such as the time I portrayed all four of the Golden Girls.

In between Photoshopping my face onto beloved pop culture icons, I've also added thousands of pictures of my vacations, concerts, baseball games, parties and family gatherings. I've also used it as a living history of my two children growing up.

Oh, and did I mention I met my wife on there?

(If you're laughing at my awful sense of humor and overall lack of 'game' in that first message exchange... just remember that she ended up marrying me, so I must have done something right!)

But 15 years after joining one the world's most-visited websites, I'm calling it quits; at least for a while. Here's why I'm breaking up with Facebook:

1. Privacy issues. Between reports that Facebook is tracking people's data and storing it without their consent and that it was sharing that data with other tech companies, I can't help but think of how much information I've shared over the years. While that's hardly a new revelation, a recent court case in British Columbia centered around allegations that Facebook used people's profiles in advertising.... which is downright frightening to think about.
2. The negativity. Whether it's about politics, religion or race, I've read enough online arguments to last a lifetime. A friendly debate once in a while is one thing.... but having my feed clogged up by hate-filled argument after hate-filled argument isn't my idea of fun.
3. Fake news. Is fake news the exclusive domain of Facebook? Definitely not, and it's a topic worth discussing how we curb the huge spread of misinformation that's been happening for years now. But using COVID as the test case for how quickly dangerous false information can travel, with many accepting wacky conspiracy theories as fact, Facebook probably has hosted more games of "broken telephone" in the past couple of years than most grade schools will play with their students in a lifetime.
4. It's a huge time suck. I'm not above having little distractions to help get you through the daily drudge (and I appreciate that throughout the pandemic, it's been more than a "little" distraction for many), but scrolling through your Facebook feed can sometimes feel like a commitment that you almost "have" to keep current with, and something that I feel can be better spent doing other things.
5. The novelty is gone. In 2007, it was fun to connect with people I hadn't seen in years and novel to connect social circles that one would have never normally put together (for example, seeing my grandfather in his late-80's commenting on something a friend from high school posted on my feed). That was fun for a short while.... but now, there are myriad ways to create connections no matter where someone lives.

If you think about it, the same "futuristic" technology we saw on The Jetsons cartoons is now here (minus perhaps the jet cars with bubble-shaped windows and robot maids). We've just spent two-plus years as a society connecting on video chats, both as individuals and groups. Texting has become a socially-acceptable alternative to phone calls and emails in many cases.

There are platforms such as LinkedIn to connect with millions of people on career advice and share adjacent opinions; platforms such as Twitter to exchange bite-sized opinions with the world; and if photos are truly your thing, Instagram is essentially Facebook without the drama and arguments.

So while I'm saying so long to Facebook, I will still be just as "connected" as I always have been. My personal email address is at the bottom of this newsletter, and there are tons of other ways to reach out to me. And hey, I'll even re-post some of my more goofy FB Profile Pictures over the years here, for old times' sake:

Will I ever come back to the first social media platform I fell in love with? Only time will tell.

After all, breaking up is hard to do.

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