[micronova]

> This. These services aren't toxic if you don't follow toxic accounts.

This is so wrong, on so many levels. They will capture your clicks, your usage patterns, your interests, and the internet will present to you in a non-neutral way, in a way which will not be in your interest, but in the interest of whoever is paying for the results of your data analysis. A way which will influence your perception of reality in microscopic and permanent ways, because they will know you more intimately than you know yourself.

Do not interact with surveillance capitalists. You will lose.

One should instead protect its behavioural breadcrumbs and try to use non surveillance ways of communication.

[andrewzah]

No. The parent comment’s viewpoint is fine, whereas your absolutist viewpoint is not helpful.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter are what you make of them. There’s nothing to “present” if you don’t mindlessly scroll but use them the way they were originally intended: to keep in touch with contacts. For some people it’s just easiest to keep in touch with them on Facebook, etc.

There also a lot of good Facebook groups, and marketplace is very useful.

Being able to stay in contact with people is extremely useful. Cutting that out entirely out of spite doesn’t do any good.

[Forgeties79]

I don’t know about you, but when I cut out the toxic folks I actually discovered I wasn’t using Facebook for keeping up with folks at all. That was a side-benefit of the arguing I was doing with folks I hadn’t seen in years. I didn’t realize how insane that was of me, just giving all of these people my emotional and mental energy, until I stopped. And yeah, you can point to me and say, “see? Just stop! It works!” but it took MANY years for me to realize what was happening.