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Comment by hasenj | Hacker News Reader

> if you look at it from a democracy standpoint, Mark Zuckerberg is a dictator. I did not elect him. He sets the rules

You kind of did, when you signed up.

> And really you can't opt out of Facebook. I'm not on Facebook but there are a lot of drawbacks in my offline world. No party invitations, no updates from my friends, people stop talking to you, because you're not on Facebook. So it has real life implications.

Oh yes you can. Facebook is just about the worst place for actually expanding your social life.

When I was there, when I would make a post, it often felt like I was talking to everyone and no one at the same time.

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> You kind of did, when you signed up.

Problem is many people signed up years ago and I bet they've changed their ToS and privacy policy 100 times since then without people noticing.

Facebook satisfied our needs to connect with our friends when it arrived. Now it's 100% ads. I used to have real discussions with friends, but the comment quality today is basically on par with youtube (if not worse).

> Problem is many people signed up years ago and I bet they've changed their ToS and privacy policy 100 times since then without people noticing.

Honestly that sounds functionally like democracy still.

People (not I) voted for policies years ago have have changed a thousand times since, with or without people noticing.

Officials campaign promising to serve constituents in some way (we can call this their Terms of Service), people elect them, then they change those terms often, sometimes dramatically, sometimes on day 0. Whether people notice or not seems to have little effect.

> Facebook satisfied our needs to connect with our friends when it arrived. Now it's 100% ads.

So there's no reason to stay on it.

I personally stick with direct messaging apps (Skype, LINE).

I agree with your second point. Not being on Facebook affects none of my life, 'real' or not. And as far as I know, even those in my small friend group who are on Facebook don't really use it much.

I don't think Facebook runs the lives of those around me as much as many people seem to think it does. Maybe it does in other social circles, but it's still on you. If you're dependent on Facebook, that's your problem and it's not really hard to put an end to it.

I hear people talking about Facebook a lot in a tone that sounds like they are making excuses. At the end of the day, if you really think you need it, that's fine but it's on you.

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