Leaving Facebook for Good?

“Leaving Facebook for good?  Don’t you think that’s a little over the top?  Aren’t you jumping too fast?  You could just make sure your security and app settings are adjusted to keep your information safe.”  Right?  Isn’t that what most people would think – and, some of my friends have actually said this to me as I'm pondering shutting it down.  Yes, I would have agreed with them a few weeks ago, though, I’ve had sneaking suspicions about FB and all of the other online sites and tools we use to communicate and navigate our lives with now.  And I've had real misgivings about how thoughtlessly we share personal data with them.  I had known that nothing free is really free – but, I did not fully understand how the cyber world truly works -  the shady nuances of responsibility on the internet and the real possible ramifications of my ignorance.  The savvy businesses and individuals who are taking advantage of all of those things are banking BIG cash money every day hoping that we happy ignorant users will never find out or perhaps, that by the time we do we’ll be too entrenched and attached to our comforts to want to let them go, despite the malevolent entities who manipulate us with them.

So, with Cambridge Analytica’s scandal recently (if you want to know more here is a short article that explains it well:    https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/03/the-cambridge-analytica-scandal-in-three-paragraphs/556046/) I really had a prompting to consider things more deeply.   You see, I am not really fearful that my data is out there (I know it’s all been pretty much out there somewhere long before FB arrived on the scene).  However, initially, I believed there were honorable people legally safeguarding my data.  I am now very concerned about what happens to me as a result of my data being out there and how people are able to utilize it with impunity in ways I utterly disagree with and may have no awareness about.  The idea that I could be targeted with specific information and possibly prevented from seeing other information without any awareness, that is where I have to look at what part I play in knowingly or un-knowingly partnering with this.  I have always been very careful about not using any apps (I don’t take quizzes or play games or other online things that require permission that grants access to my information) or allowing apps access to my information in FB. All of my security settings are very carefully set and reviewed every few months along with my passwords.  I take things like that seriously.  But, when I read in the article how the person developing this app for Facebook was able to access data about not only those users who agreed to grant access for use of his app but also their friends and that the app then saved that information into a private database instead of immediately deleting it, that is where I began to see the very bad possibilities.  All my careful settings and making sure not to use apps - out the window!  Being friends with even one person who did use apps for games or quizzes – BAM, I have apparently given permission to access and use my data with no permission on my part actually being given.  REALLY?!  I didn’t agree, but have no choice? Facebook, how is that NOT A BREACH! WOW!  The fact that Facebook itself did not know that this developer had put in place a private database until a year after it had been in use - that is plain carelessness.  Where were Facebook’s safeguards about this type of development?  Where, subsequently, was the lawsuit against this developer on behalf of FB users who did not give permissions?  And where was the care in retrieving that data and taking precautions with all other app developers?  Facebook is in no way naïve about the possible misuses of people's data and information.  It is their duty to protect their subscribers from these types infringements.  And, that no one really knows how many other app developers for FB did this same thing (seems many people may have less than scrupulous ways and means in this industry) – that’s where I have to wake up and smell the coffee.  And, because all of the legalities of this are still in question – wow, just wow.   Is the horse already out of the gate – yes, and it can never be put back in again.  I can likely never really recover my data from all the places it’s gone to and who knows where it is and how it’s being used and re-used!  But, I can stop further sharing of any new data and limit my exposure to the influence of these platforms and where and how I decide to share my information to others.  And, I can help my friends and family to understand, be aware and make, hopefully, more informed choices about it for themselves.

Initially, I started a FB page to keep up with family and friends located far from me.  It was an easy way to contact, interact as little or as much as I liked, see activity with my family and post activity to my family and friends.  In more recent years it had become a communication tool for even those who live close by and an encouragement tool.  I’d felt the prompt to share more of God’s word, His heart, encouragement to people, care, compassion, tools that help and information that was positive and useful and it facilitated more personalized interaction with many people quickly with ease.   It’s more and more clear how FB has been used to do some amazingly good things and facilitate information getting to people for help in ways that would have been much more difficult in the past.  The question I ask is, at what cost?  I did not sign up for the personal cost exacted.  And, I’m not sure how many people really realize what they are signed up for or, in actuality, where it may eventually lead.

Despite the precautions I take when using FB, there is no denying the addictive nature of it.  If I allowed it – I could easily spend whole days on it with no real sense of time ticking by or care that it had.  There’s only one other thing I’d had that kind of experience with and it was electronic games – when I could lose a 5 hour block of time and not even know where it went playing GameBoy.  I learned how insidious these sorts of things can be.  I put games down so fast and never went back, I still don’t pick them up today because of that experience.  And, I don’t own a cell phone also partly due to that type of reach.   I enjoy reading and interacting with people, but, the type of interaction FB affords is not to be confused with “in person” relationship.  It is no substitute – though it can lull you into thinking you are having a real relationship with your friends and family.  And, with these new revelations I am quickened to realize that I may not have the authority over my intentional sharing that I think I do and that I may be the target of some very smart folks with little to no conscience or constraint that wish to shape and persuade me in ways I’m not even aware!  It’s not too far a leap to see why eliminating my FB page would be a very wise decision.

I have had a real prompting to pray about inactivating my FB page permanently.  As I’ve been praying about it a sense of some important things have come to me about it.  Inactivating FB would definitely make it harder to touch base and interact easily with people I love dearly and have influence in positive ways I would not easily have without it.  I would not have the ease of access to a lot of information that I really appreciate personally and pass on to others.  I would find a huge connecting piece of my life gone.  But, then it came to me, maybe there is a better way and maybe I’m actually missing more than I’m gaining by not exploring it.  Maybe there is something else I’m supposed to be doing that actually makes deep and real connections more effectively.  Facebook does not offer opportunity for some irreplaceable real things.  It’s an imposter – a counterfeit that has had some truly beautiful benefits, but, more darkly hidden real risks.  And, we’re now being made to think that imposters with risks are the only sensible way to really navigate our busy, busy big world. In this push, push, push where we’re ever pressed to do more and more and where we connect in real ways less and less, we are being literally starved and more isolated by our own misled strivings to deeply connect through these vehicles – it makes my heart sick.

I read a quote that is attributed to Mark Zuckerberg – it says, “Our philosophy is that we care about people first”.  With what has come to light this month, Mark, if you really did say that you need to take a long hard look at whether FB's actions have really lined up with that philosophy.  Or, maybe we just need a clearer definition, "Which people?"