This is a weird one, and comes from a place of emotion and vulnerability rather than my usual output. But it is on a subject that effects us all. I'll lay it all out first, then circle back to what it all means to you and me.
I've been off Facebook for months. Maybe 5-6 months.
Today, in an extremely odd set of circumstances, and in especially surreal fashion, i found out an old friend had died. I didn't find out until a month after it happened.
Had I been on Facebook, I would have known immediately because of the amount of shared friends the deceased and I had in common. He and I weren't especially close, but had a lot of shared values and shared the same profession, after a fashion. He was a fantastically charismatic man involved in producing and facilitating independent musicians shows, records, etc. I am a live audio engineer and he and I were into the same kind of music and parties. So we shared some good times and late nights. When I first moved to New Orleans, he was instrumental in helping me gain both my social and professional footing. There are a lot of things I could say about why and how he was good to me. None of that is so important as the fact that he was, period.
I found out about his passing by virtue of joining a Discord group based on Drum Machines and Synthesizers. Another member and I were discussing our time in Austin, Texas, and seeing as this member expressed an interest in the same music and scene as my now-deceased friend and I, and my buddy had recently moved to Austin, I asked if they knew him. That is how I received the news of his death.
It was incredibly surreal. In fact, perhaps the most Techno-Dystopian moment I have ever personally experienced. I still am thinking about what it means to me, but I felt compelled to write this post immediately.
The point I am getting at is this; I DON'T WANT TO BE FORCED TO PARTICIPATE IN AN AMORAL, MANIPULATIVE, AND FASCIST DRIVEN SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM LIKE FACEBOOK IN ORDER TO BE CONNECTED TO MY COMMUNITY AND PEERS. Facebook and similar platforms are a great issue of our time, in terms of user data manipulation and gathering, unscrupulous selling of your data and utter invasion of your privacy. They mine you for data under the guise of providing a free service, while reaping the profits of selling your information.
I'm so tired of the only counter argument to my advocacy of Steemit and social media platforms that empower users; "All my friends are on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram" etc. I am so exhausted by it. There is no getting through to people who adopt that mindset. At least, I don't know the method. That brings me to my main point.
The time has come for us all to double down on our efforts to remove people from the grip of Fascist and Orwellian social media platforms and embrace the open and liberated future that blockchain technology can provide. I am calling on anyone that reads this, personally, to go to a friend/family member/co-worker/whatever, and talk to them about their data and how it is weaponized against them through the use of certain social media platforms. I also am calling on you to bring to their attention the power they can regain and wield by halting their use of platforms that do not empower them to control their own data.
I am not making this post to call attention to myself or my emotions. I am making it to say that I believe we are on the cusp of an information revolution, and we must do everything in our power to educate and empower our fellow human beings.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Sincerely,
Kelly Ray Townsend aka Warmcracklesound
Sorry bout your homey. I've received similar news about several of my friends over FB as well. I have already on-boarded 2 ppl to this platform and intend to bring many more! Cheers
So sorry to hear about your friend man :(. I've missed out on huge news and life updates from friends by staying the fuck away from facebook too but nothing close to what you just went through. I too hate how I feel like I need to have it available just so I don't miss out on big events, it's bullshit how much influence they have. And all the news about how they're just selling us off, sheesh. Sorry again man, wish you were able to hear about your friends passing in a different way.
I had a conversation about the whole Cambridge Analyitca scandal the other day with a friend and he had this to say; "If you didn't already get that this is what is happening, then you deserve it". I have to agree. It wasn't a matter of "If" abuse of user data was gonna happen, but "when".
Yea I haven't used it regularly since probably...2013? I don't know if I was affected with what went down with the election. I just watched The Social Network for the first time last night and holy shit. Great movie, Zuck's a dick.
I randomly happened upon your post and am so glad I did. I have yet to delete my Facebook because thus far I've failed horribly at trying to bring people over to this platform, so I've kept it as a last-resort form of contact. Not that I've given up on bringing people to Steemit; but I guess I've been giving it "time".
I honestly hate that I still have it, however. I don't use it, rarely if ever; but your post reminded me that I need to really try harder to get my real life friends off that shit, and over here. So for that, thank you for your call to action!
On another note, I'm sincerely sorry to hear about your friend. That certainly is a very strange way to learn about his death. My deepest condolences.
Horses to water, ya know. It's rough. But I feel like it is worth the time and effort. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment, @herbertholmes !
My sincere condolences. What a surreal set of circumstances to find out about a deceased friend and colleague over social media.
I agree about Facebook. I know it’s bad for me. I know they sell my info. And most of it I offer up freely. The data mining doesn’t bother me nearly as much as the censorship.
With Zuckerberg being in congressional hearings now is the time to onboard people to decentralized platforms like Steemit. I even made a post about this very thing. https://steemit.com/steem/@harleymechanix/now-is-the-time-to-onboard-new-steem-users I have been coercing my immediate family and friends to make the switch but have not divorced myself entirely. In all reality Steemit could be used to data mine. The blockchain is there for all to read. But there are benefits over other social media. No algorithms. No ads. No censorship. I participate in a lot of gun groups on facebag and have been actively pushing Steemit. Hopefully with the advent of communities this will become more attractive to onboard whole groups of people to finance whatever cause they are championing.
Thank you fir sharing your experience. Together we can affect change for the better of all people and being an early adopter furthers that aim.