Why I left Facebook.

  1. It was fun to post short snippets and short comments about news articles I would come across. But it’s like eating potato chips: a bunch of empty calories which distracts from better fare.
  2. I had been thinking of leaving Facebook for a while, and I finally pulled the trigger realizing that Facebook was set up like a slot machine: you invest a lot of time and energy for the rare payoff, flashing of bells, interesting articles. I find that I’m more likely to find interesting stuff on my own using an RSS reader.
  3. Do I really need to spend two hours a day on average feeding Mark Zuckenberg’s wallet?
  4. Remember: you’re either the customer buying product or you are the pig being slaughtered. Which means at some point I may also leave this blog and move to a web hosting service I pay for and maintain. Just as I do with my current development blog.
  5. Political polarization has gotten absolutely horrible on the Internet in general, and Facebook magnifies this. It has been my experience (and yes, YMMV) that the worst offenders are those on the left who happily misinterpret my personal politics in order to paint me as a racist, sexist, homophobic pig. Those on the left undoubtedly feel justified; after all, many of those in college who are out protesting the horrors of a Republican administration were pre-teens the last time a Republican won the White House–so they have no reference except for the heated rhetoric comparing President-Elect Trump with Hitler.

    Me; I’m 51. I gained my political awareness in high school when Reagan was in the White House. I remember Reagan, Bush I, Bush II, McCain and Romney being compared to Hitler. At some point today’s college-age students will realize that what they perceive as a Real and Present Danger to Life As We Know It is simply excessive rhetoric by uncaring powerful people in both parties who are simply trying to stir the shit pot.

    But meanwhile I’m tired of the stirring of the shit pot, and Facebook seems to be Ground Zero for the shit.

    (For the record: I want less government regulatory burdens because I dislike the fact that nearly 30% of all workers in the United States need permission–in the form of a license–to work. And while that may make sense in certain life-and-death professions such as the medical profession, does a florist really need a license? You do if you’re in Louisiana. I honestly believe regulatory burdens (and that’s not the regulation, but the burden to demonstrate compliance with the regulation) hurts the economy, and in many ways is driven by regulatory capture: large businesses setting up the rules to stop smaller job-creating, wealth creating businesses from forming and competing with them. How this makes me a racist, sexist, homophobic pig is beyond me.)

So fuck it. Bye bye Facebook.