How quickly would you get back in touch with those you actually keep up with? And those that aren’t actually your friends just people whose memes you like? Do they really add that much to your life?
Yeah, they do. Someone I barely hang out with anymore works at a company that is moving into the offices we're vacating and saw a picture of me on the wall. They messaged me on FB Messenger to say hello.
So that is one random example and I am sure you’ve had a lot more experiences that were chance interactions that weren’t facilitated by Facebook. Also note that Facebook provides a huge negative impact on our society because of stuff like the Qanon group mentioned in TFA. Do you really think your specific experience of a chance encounter with your friend makes up for all the negative things it facilitates? And how many meaningful real life experiences have you missed out on because you and other people spend so much time on FB? I am not going to argue that social media is evil and how the new generation just wants to stick their noses into their screens. Look at the father blocking out his family with a newspaper every morning for a proof that this isn’t a new phenomenon by any means. But I will argue that as far as social networks go, Facebook is a shitty one and better ones already exist.
I work from home and have a disabled wife plus a 5 year old doing remote learning. I never leave the house except for needed things. Losing social media would isolate me even more.
First off, hope you and your family are keeping yourself sanity through all this. As someone with kids about that age, this is rough.
I will point out that there are many really good social networks that don’t also have the same problems as Facebook. Things like instant messaging groups, subreddits, Discord servers, phone calls, Imgur, etc. Every medium and platform has its drawbacks but I find that using multiple networks that aren’t FB has been a huge boon to the quality and quantity of meaningful experiences I’ve had.
Why have you put yourself in that position? It’s trivial easy to avoid, even if your friends are scattered across the planet. If Facebook is a solitary lifeline for your social contacts, you need to dramatically reconsider your choices.
I'm going to level with you: that's the kind of things that are easier said than done. When you meet people you often end up communicating with whatever means of communication you have at that point in time, and then you move out and things change, and you talk less frequently, and people change their phone number, and address, and so on... really what remains is usually their facebook account.
I don't have my uncle's phone number, because I'm in the US and he's in Australia and it's costly for me to call/text it. I keep in touch with him via Facebook primarily.
Be careful conflating "I don't do X" with "no one does X".
I should qualify my statement by saying this rule is true for younger generations. Boomers use FB messenger as a primary communication tool, you're right.
If Facebook disappeared tomorrow I wouldn’t cry all that much.