"Social" Media

I've been increasingly disturbed by interactions between people that I've seen on Facebook and Twitter. People are just hateful, mean and crazy. Before the advent of social media people had to be in person or on the phone to express themselves. This required a certain level of civility. But when people hide behind a computer screen or the screen in their hand they feel they are insulated somehow from the ramifications of the crazy that pours out of their heads and out through the tips of their fingers. 

But with the recent revelations about the mishandling of the data of millions of users I feel the earth shaking under my feet, so to speak.

Indeed, I have two different app nests on my devices for social platforms:

* Social 
*Anti-social 

The first holds shortcuts to things like my blogs, Diaspora*, Mastadon, and other places I feel safe in sharing to others.

The Anti-social folder holds places like Twitter and Facebook. 

But with the revelation that Facebook is also tracking my phone calls, I'm beginning to feel it is time to jump ship. Keeping close to my family and close friends, which is the ONLY reason I'm still on Facebook, is just not that important. Maybe in time they'll come to the same conclusions and follow me to a federated sharing platform. But until that happens I guess we'll just have to keep up with each other the old fashioned way: in person or on the phone (preferably on phones without FaceSnatcher or the like installed).

I guess my primary point is that when people I'm connected to behave badly I can shake my head and I have a few tools I can use to work around them. But when corporations and fascist states behave poorly and misuse my trust and information I am left with few options. So, I guess it's getting close to time to chop off the head of the snake.