Facebook is the Devil

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Norm640

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I’m partly being sarcastic…

My brothers and my sister are on Facebook and want me to be on it so we can stay in touch easier. It does help, because we all have different schedules and live far away. But for me, being so alone and poor and basically a failure at life, it is one of the worst things in the world.

When I first got on FB I thought it was a place where you could be social- meet old friends, make new friends. But in reality it is high school for “adults”. Everyone puts up flattering pictures of themselves and their families just to get comments. They post pictures of what they have, or the great places they went, and so forth. They show super happy couples in love.

I have done nothing in life, and I have nothing to crow about. My FB cover photo is blank, my profile picture is blank. I try not to say anything because all my 15 “friends” are too busy to comment. That’s because they have lives.

Facebook is depressing, and exacerbates all the bad things I ever thought of myself.

Does anyone else have this problem? Feel like you’ve wasted your life when you look at FB?
 
Norm, what you are experiencing on Facebook is extremely common:

*[R]esearchers found that one in three people felt worse after visiting the site and more dissatisfied with their lives, while people who browsed without contributing were affected the most.

“We were surprised by how many people have a negative experience from Facebook with envy leaving them feeling lonely, frustrated or angry,” researcher Hanna Krasnova from the Institute of Information Systems at Berlin’s Humboldt University told Reuters.*
uk.reuters.com/article/2013/01/22/us-facebook-envy-idUKBRE90L0N220130122

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that doctors screen their patients for depression resulting from use of Facebook and other social media. US pediatricians are also advised to counsel parents, as a preventative measure.
foxnews.com/health/2011/03/28/facebook-depression-affect/

Personally, I don’t use Facebook because it is an enormous hole in a user’s online privacy. There is much to be said for FB, in terms of connecting to family or friends. But this comes at a cost.
 
Norm640 said:
But in reality it is high school for “adults”. Everyone puts up flattering pictures of themselves and their families just to get comments. They post pictures of what they have, or the great places they went, and so forth. They show super happy couples in love.
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Actually that’s the point of Facebook. It was invented at Harvard and was originally only for Harvard students, until they expanded it to other universities(College as you say in America). idea was to create an online yearbook for Harvard students which they could also use to communicate and socialize with each other, commenting on whatever Harvard students wished to discuss. And then they could keep their “own facebook” going as post university way of remaining in contact with their “Uni friends” after their studies were finished and they go their seperate ways.

If you think it’s supposed to be anything greater or different, sadly you’re missing the point of it. It isn’t the devil… It’s just an inventive and creative internet update to the idea of a University Face-book(also known as a Yearbook… Face-book was just an alternative nickname).
researchers found that one in three people felt worse after visiting the site and more dissatisfied with their lives, while people who browsed without contributing were affected the most.
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This just shows that Facebook is forfilling it’s original design purpose. Replicating online the experience of flicking through a yearbook or going to a Reunion Dinner or reading the “Where are they now” section of the “Old Brighton Grammarians Society Magazine”!!!

👍
 
Colliric, why is it sad to miss the point, if the point is bad? I actually thought FB could be better than what it is. Maybe that’s not sad but …decent?

And what it started out as is much different than what it has become, and even what it has been marketed as.

Anyplace can become a bad place. For example, Catholic Forums ostensibly are about community but can and have and do become cliques and places of intolerance. It is human nature.

Which is why I dislike groups within the Catholic church itself.

But I believe FB is more bad than good.

And like I said, I was partly being sarcastic…
 
Norm640 said:
And what it started out as is much different than what it has become, and even what it has been marketed as.
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Despite it’s cosmetic changes, as your first post indicated, it still replicates the experience of High School and University, which was the design purpose. So in that sense it hasn’t changed. Just taken that experience, warts and all, onto the Internet.

I agree it has changed alot(the entire Internet has gone more commercial) as they have allowed companies to create their own Facebook pages and monetize it, and use it to push fads and other ****. But if you think it’s not forfilling it’s design purpose, yet saying it’s like a High School, you’re missing the point.

YouTube has also suffered the same commercialization… They’re taking the “You” out of it.
 
The whole idea of Facebook letting you connect with friends and family, share photos etc is great, but there is also a lot to question and be concerned about.

I’ve deleted my Facebook account recently. Some reasons are personal, a lot to do with all my increasing depression and anxiety issues that I’m dealing with.

I’m also tired of society “forcing” you to do everything via Facebook. For example in the past, to enter a competition for a product you like etc, you simply bought it and filled in the form. Nowadays they’ll say “Like us on Facebook…” - what if we don’t have an account, what if we don’t want to have an account?

I also do not like how life these days seems based on how many “Likes” someone gets.

It is also the collecting of information without our knowledge that concerns me too. I obviously haven’t posted anything offensive, but when I have Googled my name I have found things come up in searches that I would have imagined would be personal. I know, I know, nothing is safe online, but it makes you wonder what else goes on behind our backs.
 
I only have a FB account because a professional organization I belong to requires it for dissemination of information.

Occasionally the wife will list me in a picture and people comment on my page. Then I wind up spending a lot of time on it and remember why I don’t go on it…

I could easily live without it.
 
Norm640 said:
I’m partly being sarcastic…

My brothers and my sister are on Facebook and want me to be on it so we can stay in touch easier. It does help, because we all have different schedules and live far away. But for me, being so alone and poor and basically a failure at life, it is one of the worst things in the world.

When I first got on FB I thought it was a place where you could be social- meet old friends, make new friends. But in reality it is high school for “adults”. Everyone puts up flattering pictures of themselves and their families just to get comments. They post pictures of what they have, or the great places they went, and so forth. They show super happy couples in love.

I have done nothing in life, and I have nothing to crow about. My FB cover photo is blank, my profile picture is blank. I try not to say anything because all my 15 “friends” are too busy to comment. That’s because they have lives.

Facebook is depressing, and exacerbates all the bad things I ever thought of myself.

Does anyone else have this problem? Feel like you’ve wasted your life when you look at FB?
Click to expand...
Unless you are convincing people to be Catholic or more traditional or unless you have a professional page dedicated to marketing yourself, I’d say you are mostly likely in a case where you are wasting your time.

Facebook is neither good nor bad from what I see, but the people who make it up sway it one way or another.

Facebook was fine with just college students. It wasn’t really a place for, well:

-child sex predators,

-high schoolers (and others) who think they know everything

-people who are naive enough to think that there’s an audience cheering them while they join groups they don’t agree with to show them how right they are and how wrong and stupid everyone else is

-annoying in-laws just around the corner. I think their problems really started when they went beyond the college crowd.

-semi-erotic pictures of teachers

-a venting forum for people about their job

Ultimately, you need to have a useful on-line presence. A lot of stuff on the internet, especially the free stuff, is garbage, waste of time or maybe even illegal.
 
And what it started out as is much different than what it has become, and even what it has been marketed as.
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Well, the problem is they went beyond college students, who at that point had grown up with the internet and knew the game probably better than anyone. A lot of them were staunchly against the expansion beyond college students, but Facebook saw a big opportunity.
Anyplace can become a bad place.
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That won’t cut it for choosing an on-line network. :dts:
For example, Catholic Forums ostensibly are about community but can and have and do become cliques and places of intolerance. It is human nature.
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It’s more of an on-line nature than human nature. People will be more honest, but can also go too far with venting.
Which is why I dislike groups within the Catholic church itself.
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:confused:
 
Norm640 said:
I’m partly being sarcastic…

My brothers and my sister are on Facebook and want me to be on it so we can stay in touch easier. It does help, because we all have different schedules and live far away. But for me, being so alone and poor and basically a failure at life, it is one of the worst things in the world.

When I first got on FB I thought it was a place where you could be social- meet old friends, make new friends. But in reality it is high school for “adults”. Everyone puts up flattering pictures of themselves and their families just to get comments. They post pictures of what they have, or the great places they went, and so forth. They show super happy couples in love.

I have done nothing in life, and I have nothing to crow about. My FB cover photo is blank, my profile picture is blank. I try not to say anything because all my 15 “friends” are too busy to comment. That’s because they have lives.

Facebook is depressing, and exacerbates all the bad things I ever thought of myself.

Does anyone else have this problem? Feel like you’ve wasted your life when you look at FB?
Click to expand...
I am not a Facebooker, either. I didn’t really want it to begin with. For a time, here, we had Clarovision that was included for free with my phone service. Then, I think I HAD to get a facebook account to activate my account! Seemed I couldn’t get it unless I had a Facebook account!

I think I had had one before, didn’t use it, and had done away with it. So, I felt compelled to go back on Facebook. They insisted they needed to know all my contacts names, and I was thinking, “Hey, wait a minute!”

So, all that to get on Clarovision!

Well, since then, I was glad for it. When my father passed away, my family sent me pictures, videos and audios of the funeral and cemetary that were appreciated. I see pictures, but I’ve never gotten it together to put my own on there.

I’ve tried a bit to leave messages, but a lot of times, nobody will “like” my stuff! So, we’ll get people on there saying something like “went out…came back…had cup of coffee”. That might get more “likes”! 😉

I find it generally trivial, talking about nothing, a waste of time. Occasionally, one can learn something, but I’d say it’s the exception. It’s good for sharing, say, pictures to a large group of people.

I don’t normally need to do that so prefer e-mail.

Some people compare how many friends others have and get upset. Some have hundreds of “friends”. Well, I take that with a grain of salt. People are my “friends” who I never have any contact with, too.

If somebody likes it, okay. It’s not really for me. I prefer also even the forum, because at least here, I learn things.

However, I keep the Facebook account in case of pictures and such, mainly. Any of my friends have my e-mail and know that’s the best way to reach me.

If you feel Facebook gets you down, why not minimize your contact with it? I’ve seen where that is one of the problems with it. People look at these pictures and think that everyone is richer, more successful, happier, etc., but that’s deceptive. Don’t be fooled by a few pictures. They don’t always tell the whole story. Still, despite that, look at the divorce rate, etc. If all these people were all happy, also, why is practically everyone on medication?

Besides, what’s the most important measure of “success”? Money? a house? a car…cars? A spouse? What? Well, what if these people on “Lives of the Rich and Famous” end up in hell? No, don’t envy that!

The ONLY thing that matters is not what so-and-so thinks of you. That means NOTHING! The only thing that ultimately matters is what God thinks of you!
 
I am sorry for your frustration, Norm.

I know that you are being sarcastic in your post, but I also hope that you are not feeling like a failure in life. I would hate for you to really think of yourself in that way. No one is a failure.

It seems like many families and friends like using Facebook as a way of keeping in touch these days.

It does seem like if you aren’t on Facebook, you are “left out.”

I don’t care for Facebook. I don’t like the lack of security with it, and I don’t like the lay-out of it, either.

I actually prefer the lay-out of a message board and prefer interacting with others that way, but that’s me.

I don’t have a Facebook account, but I have read public Facebook accounts.

Some of my friends have been asking me to join, and I don’t want to do it due to the security issues that it has. They believe that they can have the highest security settings possible, but I don’t think people realize that their personal information is still not secure anyway.

I don’t like the fact that so many businesses are on there and want us to go there to do business with them in terms of signing up with them there. It used to be that you could go to their websites and do that, and that was enough. Now if you want coupons, or to get special offers, etc., you have to go to Facebook. They have stopped these offers on their website.
 
Oh, speaking of envy…do you realize I’ve had a number of married people tell me they envied me! My gosh! I thought, “Why?!” Some envied that I was single, my freedom, my being in a foreign country, picking up coming here. They pictured this as an “adventure”!
I said, “Don’t envy me!”
😉
 
oldgraymare2 said:
I am sorry for your frustration, Norm.

I know that you are being sarcastic in your post, but I also hope that you are not feeling like a failure in life. I would hate for you to really think of yourself in that way. No one is a failure.

It seems like many families and friends like using Facebook as a way of keeping in touch these days.

It does seem like if you aren’t on Facebook, you are “left out.”

I don’t care for Facebook. I don’t like the lack of security with it, and I don’t like the lay-out of it, either.

I actually prefer the lay-out of a message board and prefer interacting with others that way, but that’s me.

I don’t have a Facebook account, but I have read public Facebook accounts.

Some of my friends have been asking me to join, and I don’t want to do it due to the security issues that it has. They believe that they can have the highest security settings possible, but **I don’t think people realize that their personal information is still not secure anyway. **

I don’t like the fact that so many businesses are on there and want us to go there to do business with them in terms of signing up with them there. It used to be that you could go to their websites and do that, and that was enough. Now if you want coupons, or to get special offers, etc., you have to go to Facebook. They have stopped these offers on their website.
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I didn’t realize that!
 
Norm640 said:
Facebook is depressing, and exacerbates all the bad things I ever thought of myself.

Does anyone else have this problem? Feel like you’ve wasted your life when you look at FB?
Click to expand...
I don’t care for it. I had a co-worker who was a nightmare by day and posted Bible quotes on FB by night.

Then I have a very attractive former co-worker who is always posting “selfies” three times a month under the guise of a new avatar update. Then there are the political flamers. I got sick of it.
 
I ignore Facebook, except once in a long while.
I post something I think is important, and it’s ignored, replaced in minutes by somebody posting photos of their dinner! I have a friend who posts every meal, since she’s into cooking. I took my son out to dinner and he posted a photo of his plate!
People are nuts.
 
I actually like it when people put photos up and I like to comment about nice, positive things in their lives. But political topics really upset me. People post things they would not so freely discuss in real life. That includes being seriously rude to those who hold a different opinion. There are people (now ex-FB friends) who are very polite about certain topics, including religion, but on FB they post seriously hateful things. For example, one woman I know called Catholics primitive Taliban because of our support of family values. I unfriended her both on FB and real life. I don’t need this kind of bigotry around. My brother used to post things that almost made me delete him as well. This kind of things does not help people get along and deepen their relationships, on the contrary.
 
You are not a loser! I heard this quote once don’t know where it came from. “Never compare your insides with someone else’s outsides.” I hate face book too. I had an account about 4 years ago and had over 300 friends that I didn’t know but I mostly just used it for games. I dropped it when I went back to work full time and my daughter started walking. I couldn’t justify coming home from work and getting on the computer when my baby had been at daycare all day. I didn’t have face book for a couple years and didn’t really miss it but things would come up with family friends and they wouldn’t be able to contact me. It does make staying in touch easier. Well, now I’m thinking about shutting down my account again. It seems to be getting worse all the time. I didn’t friend anyone this time that I didn’t actually know but I can’t even stand to read some of my actual friends posts. It’s all "look at me, look at me,’ political rants, or couple photos, and even the religious ones get on my nerves. I rarely do status updates but will occasionally comment on a post. My youngest son is going to Japan after Christmas so I may need it to stay in touch with him. Oldest son is in college in Nebraska but he’s never on there. So I’m stuck with it I guess for now. If it bothers you just leave your account open and get on occasionally. If you’re bored some night google “I hate facebook.” There is some really funny stuff about reasons people hate it and they’re all true. I think that’s why I don’t get depressed on there now. I don’t live my life on that site, if I do get on I can feel detached and sort of see the humor of it all. Oh and I’m not shy about unfriending. If you post stupid stuff, political rants, your meals, too much love stuff, too much Jesus stuff, too much trashy stuff, too much bragging about your kids, grandkids, jobs, or whiney, crybaby diatribes - you are NOT my friend. So, I don’t have many this time around.
 
Deana83 said:
If you’re bored some night google “I hate facebook.” There is some really funny stuff about reasons people hate it and they’re all true.
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And then Google the word “Scroogled” and have even funnier laugh.

Microsoft’s official(yes an official anti-Google website!) “Scroogled” website has some pretty funny stuff. And it’s all true!
 
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