Taming Facebook

It might seem premature to be using “mid-life crisis” in talking about something  that’s been around for less than two decades, but it’s still a long time for a company like Facebook. For some of us, Facebook is almost a utility now. For others, it’s an obsession, and for still others, a soapbox. For the individual user, like me for instance, it likely has been each of those things at different times.


The news is telling us that Facebook is looking down the barrel of a $5 billion federal fine for failing to take steps to protect users’  privacy. Negotiations are underway about this, and one of the remedies is the appointment of a committee -- yes, of actual humans – to oversee Facebook’s privacy policies.


Meanwhile, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been talking about transforming the whole user experience to stress communication with friends and family and de-emphasize the use of FB for exhibitionism, interference by foreign adversaries, and hate speech. It’s kind of a shame that people can’t play nicely in the sandbox, and now the sand itself has to be changed.


Many have decided that it’s not a nice place to play at all anymore and have pulled the plug, at least for personal use, notably the millennial congresswoman we call AOC, who termed social media a public health risk. I tried to give FB up for Lent, with what I and my friends will agree were decidedly mixed results. I did manage to use it less, and yes, I did get more things done in what’s generally known as real life.


But if we use Facebook, is not that still part of our real life? We have constantly heard the social scientists talking about work-life balance, as if what we do for a living (if it needs to be for a living) is not part of life, that life is only what we do in our free time. We can even revisit the expression “free time.”


The useful part of that work-life phrase, though, is balance. It’s possible to exercise some control short of disconnection. I saw an article online today about spring cleaning strategies for our social media experience. The writer borrowed from neatness guru Marie Kondo, whose mantra is, if it gives you joy, keep it, and if it’s no longer useful, thank it for its service and kiss it goodbye (almost literally).


So while Facebook may be cleaning up its act, perhaps we can do something similar. If you are one of those who can unplug entirely, congratulations may be in order. But for those of us who don’t or can’t, we can at least face up to the part that social media use plays in our lives and work on putting it in its place. I believe that by now, we have to accept that it has one.