I'm back on Facebook.
Now, before you get that look on your face, let me also note that I'm a FB Ghost. My profile only contains the items that are required to register and I have zero friends. I turned off all of the available settings to find me and it isn't possible to send me a friend request. So, now that look on your face probably looks puzzled. Let me explain.
What the hell?
First, let me make this as clear as I can muster. I don't miss social media, AT ALL!
Not one bit.
I don't miss the click-bait, the trolling, or the fighting. I certainly don't miss the daily feeling of depression that I didn't know I had from toxic exposure to all of the BS online.
I REALLY don't!
Life post social media was wierd at first and for about a month it was difficult figuring out what to do with my time. After that the world went back to being blissfully quiet and peaceful. I feel more unloaded now than I had felt in years.
So, just to drive the point home, I didn't open a new account to get any of that crap back. HELL to the NAW!
Again, What the Hell?
Ok, as much as I hate to admit it, Facebook does do one thing right - groups. I came back for the groups tool.
First there are a few groups that only exist on Facebook. Second, the ones that also have some other social aggregator like a discord channel, forum or similar, they are just harder to use. I like forums but many of them are dying off to go to Facebook or discord. By the way, I HATE discord. I hate it for the exact same reason I hate twitter - it is like shouting into the storm. Very little organization, it is difficult to know who someone is responding to and unless you're in it every day, you miss whole conversations that might actually be helpful. It's just noise.
Facebook's threaded forum feel just works better - at least for me.
Aren't you Back in the Crap you Hated Before?
No. Facebook groups - at least the ones I use - have hard and enforced rules that off topic posts, click-bait, and political/trolling posts are removed and if the poster does it again, they get booted. I get to ask questions about my interests and not have to worry about someone showing their ass. Considering all of the vitriol I experienced outside of groups, it is amazing to watch people take ownership of the groups they are in and raise that level of civility as high as they can and keep it there.
It is the best version of Facebook.
So, Can I Friend You?
Nope. Sorry, no friends or personal details not related to the groups.
I have ZERO posts on my own feed and I will not add any friends or follow anyone. That isn't why I'm there. If you want to talk to me, let me know and maybe we can exchange real world info - as I've done with others. I'm not interested in being collected or collecting others in a "trophy list" of friends. I would like to know you in the real world - face to face - handshake to handshake.
Let's have some tea/coffee and a real conversation.