I'm quitting Facebook

Friends, family, I have decided to quit Facebook. I have thinking of doing so for some time.

I'm quitting Facebook because I think its small benefits are swamped by its terrible costs. The benefits include a convenient way to interact with friends and family, a software interface that encourages sharing of thoughts and personal experience, opinion, links to other people's opinions, links to other news articles, sharing of photos. The interface is intentionally addictive. It is fun. It is nice to see what other people are thinking about. I feel like I connect with others when I use it.

The downsides of using Facebook are hidden. Here are some I have found.

Did you know that Facebook tracks you even when you are not on a Facebook page?
https://www.digitaltrends.com/…/facebook-tracks-calls-and-…/
https://www.usatoday.com/…/facebook-watching-and-…/81803796/
https://www.theguardian.com/…/facebook-admits-tracking-user…
https://www.inc.com/…/facebook-isnt-just-tracking-your-call…

They are working hard at taking advantage of you.
https://www.nytimes.com/…/internet-advertising-business.html
https://theintercept.com/…/facebook-advertising-data-artif…/
https://www.nytimes.com/…/…/facebook-regulation-privacy.html
https://www.nytimes.com/…/18reuters-facebook-privacy-eu-exc…

And if you believe you are immune, you are deluding yourself! We soak up other people's emotions through Facebook,
http://www.pnas.org/content/111/24/8788

We're suckers, and they take advantage of us. Anonymous advertisers mess with us on FB.
https://www.bloomberg.com/…/ad-scammers-need-suckers-and-fa…
https://newrepublic.com/…/conservatives-groomed-perfect-suc…
http://www.syracuse.com/…/technofile_scammers_troll_ads_loo…

People used it to mess with our election.
http://time.com/5241419/facebook-ads-suspicious-groups/
https://www.nytimes.com/…/o…/sunday/facebook-ad-scandal.html
https://www.nytimes.com/…/cambridge-analytica-trump-campaig…
https://www.nytimes.com/…/facebook-cambridge-analytica-expl…

Now then, I ask that you to consider quitting Facebook as well. We need to stop being suckers, we need to prevent the horrible influence on our elections to the extent we can, and we need to send a signal to the technologists that they have to stop taking advantage of us. We need to take down this platform.

I do not make this decision lightly. I enjoy Facebook. I like seeing what family and friends are doing. It is fun. Nevertheless, their business model is surveillance and hyper-targeted advertising; they make money on extremism and ripoffs. I can't be part of this, and I wish you were protected from it as well.

Please have a think about it, read some articles about it, think about the effect of its downsides on society, and compare your own fun with it to these drastic downsides. Further, with some irony, I invite you to share this post with everyone you know, forward it to your friends and colleagues, send it in emails to your family. We need to take this on together.

Even though I am quitting Facebook, I very much wish to maintain contact with you. Please feel free to write me at my personal email address.