Moving to group chats/politics taking over FB

[Tradd]

I don’t want to see politics on FB. A number of friends and I are moving to group chats on Signal. What’s great about Signal is that you can keep your phone number private if you want to.

I can share links if anyone is interested.

[iris lilies]

My FB newsfeed is flowers,, bulldogs, interior design. I have “Friends” who post nothing but politics but I turned off their posts coming into my feed a long time ago and I will probably quietly drop one of them anyway since the technical reason for us to be FB friends has passed.

My Insta feed is a little more wide ranging in subject matter but still, no politics.

Are these all people who have mutually agreed not to talk about politics? Because it doesn't matter what platform you on, if someone is going to yak about any topic they will do it. Also, I don't understand the phone number. What platform requires you to make your phone # public?

If ?signal is chat software, do you all show up at a specific time to, uh, chat?

[Tradd]

Signal is a messaging app. It’s a better app for that than WhatsApp. Also better for mixed Apple/Android chats. You can do audio or video calls as well.

We don’t show up at a particular time to chat. You just contribute to the group chat as you want and people respond. It’s essentially texting, but not on SMS.

And yes, no politics.

[bae]

I have moved to Signal for most of my communications. As an aside, I believe it to be more secure than many other options.

On edit: my daughter and I have been using it for our regular video chats 2-3x a week for the past several months. It seems more robust than Zoom/Facebook/Facetime for this purpose, and we can talk about things that might be problematic on those platforms.

[Rogar]

I've never been on Facebook, X, Instagram, etc. I use email to communicate with friends and relatives and other than a few tame political discussions and shipping confirmations from Amazon and REI I have no idea why anyone would be interested in my emails unless they are concerned with the migration timing of White-winged Doves and the like. I'm not sure what I would have to hide?

I have VPN and do online finances in that mode. I had Ubuntu operating system on a spare commuter, which failed recently and I may replace for secure financial transactions. I actually don't know if Ubuntu or VPN is safer or more anonymous? Alan is the local computer guru, maybe he has advice.

[Tradd]

One of the big things about FB is all the ads. About every other post. OMG. What a pain.

[Tradd]

Well, two days of no FB (I’ve been peeking in). A lot of non-local people are “we’ll see you when you’re back” but make no effort to stay in touch via Signal. They don’t matter much then. Lopped off the friends list.

[HappyHiker]

I was booted off FB a few days ago...I think because I posted an old humorous review I wrote for a product...that's all I can figure out.

So 14 years of postings, photos and memories were zapped...I went through a melt-down yesterday (there's not review or grievance process). All I was told to do online was to make and post a selfie video--full-face and each side so I could prove I was a real person. My phone # and email were not sufficient.... Since I've zero interest in supplying them with a video (identity theft potential), I'm off for good.

But sometimes lemons turn into lemonade--today I realized way too much of my time was spent looking at videos of cute animal videos and music and dance videos and my mind was turning into tapioca....

So here am I, FB free--free at last! And just in time to plant Spring flowers and let my creativity bloom, too.

As for my 500+ FB friends--they were mostly just that--FB friends. My irl friends I see in person...or chat with on phone.

So Mr. Z will just have to count his billions w/o my help...I surely won't miss the endless ads and clickbait that led to dead-ends...

FB-Enders--it's the new, new thing...

[Tradd]

You should save your photos elsewhere besides FB.

[HappyHiker]

You should save your photos elsewhere besides FB.

You're absolutely right--and they are on a now battery dead computer--but I think my tech-savvy DH can get them off that for me.

Actually, I rarely look at old photos--they are a reminder of my mis-spent youth...lol.

Trying my best to live in the NOW. Namaste, she says with a zen-like grin.