Pointing out that that was demonstrably not true, the response pretty much was 'sign up or lose out'.
I don't mind people using FB to communicate. I do mind when it is the only option available.
It wouldn't impact mine, either - hadn't it been for all the entities you need to interact with who unilaterally decide that Facebook is the way to interact - period.
However for a vast swathe of non-tech savvy ordinary people Facebook provides a simple, complete, highly functional way to keep in touch with family and friends and socialise online. For the vast majority of these people using special purpose tools, apps and forums is way too much.
I don't like it or the company, but it's massively popular for very good reasons and it's no point pretending those reasons don't exist.
But I'm very sure that it doesn't need Facebook to do this right. It could be anything else.
I stopped using Facebook years ago and feel that leaving it had no real impact on my life.
If there is one thing the pandemic has shown it’s how resilient people are.
If Facebook disappeared off the face of the earth tomorrow there would be outrage and surprise for a month and then people would move on.
It would just become another episode in history and no doubt other platforms and tools would come in its place.
But now that I think of this I wish it was something more technical... [edit:typo]
I imagine this to be a more universal thing: It is impossible to imagine a live without Facebook. But it has been basically impossible to imagine a live with Facebook before there was any and just as quickly you will forget how inevitable and necessary it felt while it was there – once it loses its role. And I hope that this applies not only to individuals but also to societies.
I guess we will find out in the near future to just how many things this principle applies, for example petrol fuels, casual international flights and video platforms. Quitting Facebook Blue has shown me that to unlearn something is just as easy as it is to learn it. This is not nicotine or alcohol. This is just a mode of doing something you do anyways.