Bye Bye Facebook, FaceBook Bye Bye.....

I saw on BBC scotland's post on FB that the bay city rollers were doing a comeback, I guess their pensions weren't as good as they thought they would be. Also I was getting a little tired of some people's obvious pub crawls and Shares of either pro refugee or anti refugee news and blatant propaganda.

 Now there is a huge round of Birthdays popping my mobile, tablet and Hotmail inbox, making it all a bit tedious when about 75% of those with Birthdays this month never posted anything on mine last month.

Sour grapes? Well you bet actually, I mean it should be a social facility for interaction and dialogue, but it is all too easy to either over post, over Like or over Share yourself and be put on Ignore...sorry..Hide ...sorry I meant Don't Follow. People have a very low tolerance it seems for the amount they get from one person in one evening. Some people were rediculous however- my sister in law became a nightmare- a tirade of consumerist Likes and cause/charity Shares, with very little origianl posting. Coupled to her only real comments on any family posts of ours being ' Aunty's wee sweetie pops" or the like about our kids. On the birthday of her middle daughter, she posted that out and got about 6 likes and 4 comments from her 450 strong 'freinds'. Even her family had her on ignore.

FB went through a period of trying to second guess what you might like to see, and who you may like to see that from. Also it used to allow a kind of sensible approach to not seeing Shares and Likes of others, but the word-of-mouth marketing lobby reversed that no doubt, it being dangerously anti consumerist and removing their beloved consumer self endorsement and virality. Now I don't know how it works, and I think most people have just grown tired of each other and either dont post or cut off most following.

I have had also an on off bullshit with my longest standing friend- not my best friend you understand, just the oldest at over 43 years or so - he started with posting a lot of cheeky comments, the odd semi porno thing and so on to wind me up, and then it went on to writing really purile sweary stuff and editing it immediately, which meant you got a preview which you thought you had better rush in and fix.  Since he reached about 7, he has enjoyed teasing and irritating and being rude to those around him, later developing a bit of a superiority complex like his dad had. Now he has lost the little threshold he had for listening or reading other people's points of view or banter if it does not interest him or he does not have an cheeky come back. FB has maybe kept us together more than would be natural come to think of it, and I have defriended him at least once that I remember. Lately I took him back into the fold of social media, and sent him mid MSM Messenger an e-card image "un-fuck you" which is about as far as it went, and he has behaved himself slightly better since.

So my oldest pal then has also become the wee albatross round the neck who like a lot of people I really shouldn't spend any time on, has a basic lack of respect for me and other folk. He is often the first and often the only to comment on my posts and still about half or more are just cheek or innane puns etc.

That was one major frustration.

The other was that people who face to face are pretty interested and sociable with me, never really Like or comment on my posts. Even if I try to nurture comments on their and not too keen likes some time after a post I like pops up. So piles of them went on ignore a while ago out of pure tit-for-tat spite.

Other folk who I like to hear about have all but given up with FB in the last year, or my NewsFeed decides to deprioritise their blatantly un commercial posts.

Given the lack of content from some buddies, the number I put on ignore because they are spammers, the ones I hid spitefully in the last four years, the ones I just deleted or those who deleted me, I just seem to get a lot of news now. Which is quite nice, but FB is not just a big RSS feed. It should be about being sociable. I have toyed with the idea of Twitter, especially in these interesting political times, but it just seems to be something that would eat up my time and ping away like blazes, and attract lots of Flamers and Haters.

So finally I am entering total facebook fatigue.....social media burn out. I didn't close my account or the like, I just simply removed the buttons from the start pages on my phone and tablet. I haven't had it as a start tab on Chrome or Opera for ages either on my laptop. On my mobile it is replaced by BBC podcast, which in contrast to their stupid iPlayer, actually plays BBC Radio Mp3s and lists them in by station and then by show in alphabetical order. On my tablet I have just left a nice gaping hole to remind me of that twitchy finger and the time I would spend just having a wee tiny peek... for 25 minutes when the kids were supposed to be getting their supper.

It started to get a bit like the BBC was at some point in the 1980s when it was all Noel Edmunds and repeats. Crossed with the new commercial TV's obsession with 'indecent exposure of personal trivia and neurosis' aka reality real time shows. Meets Esther Rantzens trite 'That's Life' nice stories, consumer rip offs, exposees....Chewing gum for the eyes, with people liking causes and stories which they will never donate to or do anything about. It is all a bit 'right on' and my bidey-in is getting intolerable to the stage where I could easily put her on ignore, sorry 'dont follow'. It is getting that way a bit in our face to face relationship anyway.....


I don't miss it! Cold Turkey is so far working. I prefer to look at a whole nes category when I am in the mood for it - BBC, Scotland, Sailing and so on. That is more brain freindly and time effective. Also I listen to lots of podcasts and get on with other things at the same time.

For those people I want to communicate with on a regular or sporadic basis, I do so in MSM Messenger, with some groups there too, and on the new Viber, which has good call-out when you need it. I get a direct reply, or if I share too crass a joke in a group MSM posting, then I get a terse silence as reply. There isn't a lot of content, sometimes we have a real laugh, other times it fizzles out due to kids needing their teddy putting back in bed....or just middle aged nodding off, or just a polite Davey Cameron ' I will not deam to give that any respect or notice by replying to it'.