Drinking from a Firehose

I only truly realized the other day why Facebook is such a barren landscape. I've mostly been pro-Facebook, even as they’ve destroyed our politics and debased our discource, because I love my friends. I love updates on your life, I love photos of your kids or your cats and your vacations and your food. I do get wrapped up in political arguments from time to time, but I'm trying to cut back and stay healthy. And yes, I love posting whatever is on my mind and having people respond and Like and engage and everything.

But yesterday a Chrome extension I have been using for a decade malfunctioned and needed to be reloaded, and suddenly Facebook was unrecognizable to me. It was suddenly 90% companies and Reels and sponsored posts and stuff tangentially related to things I'm interested in but not actually accurate, likely based on Pages I’ve Once Liked, a thing I haven’t done on Facebook in more than a decade. Museums in towns I've never been to, science fiction shows I've never seen, and streaming services I don't follow, all putting barely acceptable slop out in front of my eyes.

And suddenly, oh shit, I know why this place is so dead, because who wants to see all that rather than their friends’ and neighbors’ and coworkers’ lives? Only the executives at Facebook and Meta who haven't had friends or neighbors or coworkers they've cared about for a decade.

Anyway, I reloaded my Chrome extension, and I'm here to recommend it to you, too. FBP, Fluff Busting Purity. (I assume they were called Facebook Purity for a minute until they realized they could get sued for the copyright infringement). You can block most of the shit of Facebook, and get it back to a point where you might actually like it here every once in awhile. You can block specific keywords, even, set it up so you can see when people DeFriend you, or Change their name, or all sorts of stuff. It's a lifesaver.

It has a huge number of options, but the options in the “More Options” below were enough to turn Facebook back into a useable message board where almost everything I see on it is something a friend, colleague, or former classmate intentionally wanted to communicate into the world. Even though there are only a few of us left using Facebook that way.

So that’s my recommendation. It’s probably too late by now for Facebook in general, but this is the equivalent of sitting down to enjoy the string ensemble play as the Titanic began to tilt rather than panicking. So give FBP a try.