Real life friends who are idiots on Facebook

[Welder]

I left FB probably 10 or 12 years ago. So idk what's going on there, but I can only imagine. Back then it was just a time suck.

If your intellect does not extend past the right mouse button, and you have to copy and paste your opinion, I do not need to know what you think.

Now I love me some memes. And I send them back and forth to my buddies, a few a day. Some of my buddies, that's pretty much the only electronic communication we have.

But.

If there was some way we could make a rule in life that 75% of a person's conversation must include original thought, at the very least a rewording of someone else's idea to prove that they've thought it through and understand the connotations, I'd be all for that. It'd still be free speech, it'd just be *your* speech.

Anything to get people's brains in gear again. I think a lot of people on both extremes would start heading towards moderation if they really understood the consequences of what they're espousing. Just turn off the screen and think for an hour. But I have the luxury of doing that because my job doesn't always require much in the way of brain cells, and I physically can't watch a screen and get paid at the same time. Whenever you see me posting, you know I'm jobless at the moment.

[Joe S]

One of the few platforms I use exploded shortly after George Floyd's death. Turns out elderly family member and ex-girlfriend follow each other. Largely clueless family member made an "All Lives Matter" comment, ex-girlfriend (card-carrying Wobbly) set about to educate her on why she felt that was an inappropriate thing to say. The end result was that other family members got involved, friends chimed in, there was much tears and rending of garments. I gave the same response to everyone, "I'm not responsible for what anyone else thinks, feels, says, or does. I'm only on social media to see pictures of my nieces and nephews."

I have a simple rule: if I don't want to see the content you post, I don't follow/friend/whatever. Don't care if you're my cousin, if I get a call from Nana about it (happened another time), if I miss out on your clever implementation of the earth-shaking concept of avocado toast. Life is short; I would prefer to live it in the most interesting and rewarding way possible. That does not include the vast majority of "living outloud" that seems so common on social media.

[donlapalma]

It's why I'm no longer on FB. Got fed up with knowing way too much about people's inner thoughts, the attention whoring, and the blind virtue signaling. My quality of life has increased significantly ever since the change.

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[Chance]

I've got less than 60 friends on Facebook and I still see this sort of thing. Those folks end up on "don't follow" so I don't see them in my timeline. If they can't behave in comments, they just get unfriended.

Facebook is about the best tool out there for keeping track of people you'd never see or hear from otherwise. It sucks to prune folks, but my stress level decreases a little every time I do.

[rob_s]

I've got less than 60 friends on Facebook and I still see this sort of thing. Those folks end up on "don't follow" so I don't see them in my timeline. If they can't behave in comments, they just get unfriended.

Facebook is about the best tool out there for keeping track of people you'd never see or hear from otherwise. It sucks to prune folks, but my stress level decreases a little every time I do.

I actively maintain a "friend" list of <100 people. The criteria is that they have to be someone that's been to my house, I've been to their house, or I'd at least be willing to have them over. many of them are even now on "unfollow" or whatever.

My feed is almost entirely enthusiast pages (campervans, woodworking, cars, guns, etc.) and businesses (restaurants, bars, cars, guns, etc.).

I think that's why my experience tends to be better than others.

I don't think I could be on it if it involved looking at other humans.

[Stephanie B]

There are two tools that I use on Facebook. One is to unfollow people, which means that they are still officially Facebook friends, so there’s no hurt feelings, but I don’t see any of their shit. The other is that you can “snooze” people for 30 days, which works just like a temporary unfollowing.

Or you can just stay the hell off it altogether.

[Jakus]

More burning man, less Facebook.

It’s what the world needs.

[Nephrology]

There are two tools that I use on Facebook. One is to unfollow people, which means that they are still officially Facebook friends, so there’s no hurt feelings, but I don’t see any of their shit. The other is that you can “snooze” people for 30 days, which works just like a temporary unfollowing.

Or you can just stay the hell off it altogether.

I opt for all 3

Facebook has 2 roles in my life: 1. Staying in touch with acquaintances 2. PR tool for my extended family.

I don't post often and when I do it's usually a life event (like graduation... PR tool) or a link to a song or something relatively neutral.

Minimal guns on my FB as well.

[Artemas2]

Most posts from friends I see are:

Doggos and puppers (I can live with these)
Memes
woe is me/FML
click bait/fake news articles
Enter your SSN to find out what kind of potato you are quiz!
Trump/Obama/Biden/Bush is a lizard person
The world is burning because Jeebus is not in schools
More fucking memes
What they ate for dinner
Facebook Ads that bypassed my blockers

Any actual engagement into the above topics is generally pointless

I pretty much only have an account because it is easy to keep up with instructor training schedules, and when companies restock reloading components.

[Darth_Uno]

I cut my friends list down to 4 people. I'd ditch it completely but I need a personal account to manage my business page, which is actually pretty good free advertising.

Honestly, Instagram is better now. While it's equally obnoxious with ads, it seems to have somewhat of a tech entry barrier to boomers who post 25 memes a day on Facebook.