I Think Facebook Doesn’t Like Me
I have been nothing but a loyal and an active user
Facebook, it seems, deliberately shows me posts containing events and things that I can’t do or don’t have. Travel posts, posts introducing a baby to the world, wedding posts, graduation posts, celebration posts… all at the wrong time. During the Covid-19 pandemic, people were posting throwbacks about their travels to exotic locations and Facebook was throwing those posts at me!
I have been very active on Facebook, posting about all my troubles and insecurities. It is mostly text but I ensure that I contribute to Facebook’s traffic on a regular basis. Some have unfriended me for flooding their timeline but I don’t care, my loyalty lies with Facebook.
And what do I get in return?
Other’s happy moments are shoved into my brain through my eyes as I scroll through my timeline using my thumb. If I post my fears and regrets, I expect to get similar posts from others in return, but Facebook dumps on me whatever others dump on Facebook. It doesn’t use its intelligent algorithms to access what its users want by studying their behavior. It doesn’t understand the concept of schadenfreude.
And yet I can’t quit Facebook. I am addicted. It is the only platform where I have more than 1000 friends who get my posts on their timelines (unless they’ve already blocked me). It is the only platform that allows me to write medium-sized content lamenting my decisions and vomiting my neurotic thoughts and behavior. It even asks me every time I open the app: “What’s on your mind?” Yet it fails to sense the same, despite my daily posts on it.
I’m sure if it puts my 1000+ short and medium-sized posts through a simple AI model, it will be able to generate similar content or detect such content in other people’s posts and show those to me. I hope to see this soon and be reassured that I’m not the only one feeling sad or deeply disturbed by minor discomforts in life. That, to me, would be the best use of online social media.
Social media giants spend millions of dollars trying to get people to stay in their bubble by keeping them engaged in various ways. But I, who want to stay in a certain bubble and through my content indicate the kind of bubble I want to be in, Facebook insists on shoving me into other people’s bubbles. How long will I be able to stay loyal in such hostile conditions? I reassure myself by saying that no matter how this ends (only possible if Facebook shuts down), at least I’ll know that I’ve given my best.
