The reasons why I have been quite reluctant to get on Facebook is I have some concerns with Meta’s (formerly Facebook Inc.) general conduct as a company on ethical grounds and I don’t feel like supporting, condoning, or otherwise encouraging their behaviour through using any of their services (be it Facebook, FB Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc)

I am also concerned in the wider scheme of things that we may be collectively and unwittingly handing a potentially troubling amount of power over our lives into the hands of one single for-profit corporation by virtue of the network effect through people choosing to almost exclusively rely on Meta’s products to stay in contact with friends and family.

Facebook as a communication medium is unlike an interoperable communication protocol / standard (e.g Telephone, SMS, Email – where you have a choice of providers) or a service run by a benevolent non-profit. Facebook is a proprietary platform wholly run by one single business whose natural mandate first and foremost is to maximise profits for their owners ahead of any wider social issues or concern for the well-being of their users.

Need to get a hold me at shorter notice? Reach me instead on the open decentralized web here.

Nevertheless, As of 2017, I have relented and now (reluctantly) have a Facebook account after much escalating “consternation and concern” levelled at me about me not being reachable through the Facebook platform (which I nick name the Face-Borg Collective). That said, I hardly check my Facebook account (Every month or so) and it now acts as little more than a directory listing.

 

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Fergus Young
www.young.kiwi