Assignment 2- Don't like anything on Facebook

I went about a week without liking anything on Facebook. Now my news stream is nothing but people with the occasional suggested post ad, which should be good. However, going through Facebook still gave me headaches.  It’s not just that I don’t like Facebook, but as it turns out, ads and other things I don’t want to see still make their way onto my news feed. How do these things still manage to appear before me? Via other people, of course.  It seems that there is no escape from this fate.

Because of the people that I have friended on Facebook, my news feed still finds itself plague with ads, quizzes, unsettling videos, and depressing posts with the caption “1 Like = 1 Prayer.” It’s pretty overwhelming. It was also difficult for me to continue scrolling without occasionally cringing or feeling irrationally annoyed. Facebook just found it necessary to let me know that my aunt is fond of liking pictures of sad children with missing limbs that are supposed to make you feel bad for missing limbs (thanks aunty, I’ll make sure to cut off my arm later.) and about how my ever distant friend liked the video a friend of theirs posted about someone being “comically” hurt and about the quiz that other friend took so I should take it, too.

This experiment did; however, make me wonder if any of my friends actually use Facebook as what it is intended to be used for: making status updates of what’s up with your life or posting song lyrics of that one song you really like or uploading pictures of that trip you took to Niagara Falls over the long weekend. It did actually take me close to an hour of scrolling before I got to what I would consider a personal post. Wonder what Facebook would end up looking like if no one liked anything. Darn that tempting “like” button.

So What I Found:

• ·         Less liking = More people
• ·         Ads and other unwanted things will still find their way to your feed
• ·         A re-established hate for Facebook
• ·         My brother is 65% bitchy according to that quiz he took
• ·         My newsfeed was mostly things others liked