The Trouble with Leaving Facebook Is That We Like Facebook
&gt; Sixty-seven percent of Americans say online communication strengthens their relationships — compared with just 18 percent who say it makes those relationships weaker. If you aren’t on Facebook, you’re missing out on important parts of your friends’ lives — maybe even missing your friends entirely, if they live far from you.<p>I really don&#x27;t think what people <i>think</i> Facebook does to their relationships actually maps at all to the actual impact of Facebook on their relationships.<p>I&#x27;m 22 years old. I graduated from college last year. I think in 2008-2012, Facebook helped me keep in touch with friends because all of my friends posted to it regularly, sharing life events and photographs. My News Feed (back when it was chronological by default) helped me keep up to date with the biggest things in all of my friends&#x27; lives. It was nice. Notifications told me when somebody interacted my content, and I could take the time to read every comment someone made on one of my photos or posts. There were a few ads in a sidebar, which I could mostly ignore.<p>Today (well, two months ago, when I deleted my Facebook account), none of this is true, and Facebook is completely useless because of it. My News Feed regularly hides major posts from me, and throws &quot;suggested content&quot; and ads in my face before I can see anything I care about. My friends never post any more, and when they do, I don&#x27;t see it because it&#x27;s a) hidden in the News Feed of garbage and b) might <i>not even be in the News Feed of garbage</i> because Facebook&#x27;s algorithm doesn&#x27;t think it&#x27;s &quot;relevant&quot;. Notifications are complete spam, telling me that &quot;X posted something!&quot; and never letting me know when people post on my own photos and posts. Because it&#x27;s hard to tell when people engage, there&#x27;s no point in engaging -- nobody will read your comments! I studied abroad Fall semester of my senior year, and when I got home I posted a huge photo album of exciting places I  visited. For 6 months, I assumed nobody commented or liked anything because I didn&#x27;t get any notifications. I checked back on it when I first started thinking about deleting my Facebook, and realized there were dozens of likes and a handful of comments per picture. None of which I knew about. All of these people tried to reach out to me via a comment, asking about my trip, and it looked like I ignored all of them callously because Facebook never told me anything.<p>Facebook was once a useful tool for social interaction, but today I simply keep a list of the two-dozen or so friends I actually want to keep up with. Whenever I have a lazy afternoon or some free time, I consult the list, think about who I&#x27;ve lost touch with, and give them a call. I find that this is a much more rewarding way to interact with the people I love and care about. If you&#x27;re feeling trapped by Facebook&#x27;s social graph, just remember that humans interacted for tens of thousands of years without social media, and decades with only phones and letters. You can do the same.<p>Don&#x27;t feed Facebook&#x27;s ad engine at the expense of your own social circle. You can do a lot better.