
Facebook is terrible. But as I was grieving, it was a lifesaver - anacleto
https://www.vox.com/first-person/2019/1/16/18183686/facebook-social-media-grief-grieving-widow
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NoPicklez
This is something I have been talking about recently around the whole Facebook
data breach/trust scandal, for those people that feel the need absolutely
trash Facebook. No matter how much people might want to hate on Facebook,
threaten to leave and talk about all of the supposed "benefits" its had on
their lives quitting.

I feel like people have become far removed (And maybe Facebook has as well)
from how life was when Facebook came along and the impact it had on us. I
remember Facebook being this clean version of MySpace or MSN and everyone was
jumping on it, soon I was sharing content on a clean looking website getting
likes and comments, connecting with friends and family in ways I'd never done
before. And it did such a great job because people of all ages were getting on
board. At the time I was in boarding school and so being able to communicate
with my friends and wider family was important and Facebook was the best way
for me to share it with everyone.

There have been some issues with Facebook of late, and they have publicly
announced they are aware of these issues. Not just issues in relation to data
privacy, but issues such as effects on our mental health. And I personally
have seen improvements to the type of content that shows up on my feed. This
is also partially mentioned in the article where she says her relationship
with Facebook is still complicated and that if she spent too much time on the
platform she felt more depressed, but when she used it communicate with
others, she felt lighter. The effects of social media on mental health are
only recently coming to the forefront and is a reflection of the world of
social media not just Facebook itself.

So when we bash Facebook, lets not forget the social network it brought us and
the extremely challenging environment it made of itself with the amount of
data it collects and uses. That only now we are considering important to be
protected, something that not many companies around the world are getting a
real grasp on.

My response to the article is well, is Facebook really all that terrible if
you found valuable social connections by using the platform as it was always
intended? I think not.

