Scrutiny on My Continuing Use of Facebook

I first joined Facebook in 2006 before it was open to the general public.  My email address as a teacher involved in higher education got me in.  In those initial years, I collected a whole lot of 'friends' that included past students and even people we met during trips or outings.  I had hundreds and hundreds of followers.  In those days, it was fun and exciting.  This screen shot was from June 2010.

By 2018, it had all became a bit too much.  I went through the process of deleting my original account and starting again from scratch.  I tried keeping up only with folks I actually knew or had known well.  That whittled down a whole lot of the unnecessary noise.  A part of me still felt as though Facebook was a bit evil and that it had helped to create cracks in the fabric of civil society.  I continued my participation with hesitation. This action rewarded me with the chance to keep up with others whom I hold dear.  It was never a part of my news gathering process.  I eventually deleted all group affiliations as they became irritants.  Over time, it became more obligation and much less fun.

Now it's 2025.  I think I'm at the point of vastly minimizing my exposure to Facebook. Even after curating a short list of friends, I find the algorithms add tons of advertisements and posts from strangers in order to spur my engagement.  Well, it's not working. I am discovering that using the site is no longer a useful part of my daily routine.  In fact, it's very often a source of frustration.  I wish there were an easy fix to all of this.  It would be great to be able to suggest an alternative for those few folks whom I can only contact via my FB account.  I can't come up with one though.  

My personal online journal isn't going anywhere and I will continue to publish because that's as much for me as for sharing with others.   In fact, if you're reading this then you're already there!

Change is Inevitable

My first mention of MS Teams here was in August 2021. The software plays an important part of their business or enterprise projects. It was pushed a bit more to the forefront with the release of Windows 11 as a consumer product.

   

Remember COVID and the big push to do business without contact?  Teams did work.  I got our closest friends to sign up.  It was a great opportunity to get rid of email for communications between us.  Teams introduced the group to a constant conversation with media and the ability to scroll up to see what one missed.  That now seems indispensable!

However, today marks the end of our use of it.  Everyone has moved on and loaded up Whatsapp.  This makes it easier for those of us who already use the platform.  It is common in Europe and Asia and we often  need it to communicate with Airbnb hosts and general business contacts during our winters away.  Jay uses it to stay in contact and speak with his sisters in Sri Lanka.

Now, our ongoing group chat has moved to Whatsapp too.

Goodbye, Microsoft Teams.  Thanks for the memories.

Pictures Taken 20 Years Apart

I gave up on Twitter back when you-know-who turned it into a cesspool of misinformation. During our recent winter away, I signed up on a replacement site called Bluesky. I don't spend much time there but occasionally post something from here or other local photos I've uploaded to Flickr.  Just like on my Facebook profile, I keep data from a limited amount of time on the social-media platform.

Yesterday, I got a direct message in Bluesky from someone I don't know. They live in the other tower of our complex. They'd noticed an image taken from our balcony and sent a message saying hi. I answered and mentioned we've now lived in Carnarvon Place for a long time. In order to drive home the point, I messaged back the following image shot from our balcony and uploaded in 2005.  

 

It was taken with my first digital camera.  It is the first example of the down-river view I found at my Flickr account. Rather than try to reproduce the shot, I'll simply add my most recent photo taken in the same direction.  I used it as the sole entry here in my journal at the beginning of the month.

Things have surely changed in our little city!  It's also important to note that the top image was taken seven years after we bought our apartment here.  This is why 'old people' talk about time flying, I guess.  

I've Been Chronicling Our Lives for Decades

Facebook sometimes pushes up surprise memories from one's past. However, I refuse to leave my past in their control. In fact, only one-month of my activity is available on their site at any particular moment.

Yet, I can go back to view memories before Facebook was open to the public. This photo was featured in this blog in the past.  It is easy for me to share an entire month of photographs and text on my blog. 

During the month of September, we arrived at Jay's house in Sri Lanka in plenty of time for his 50th birthday. Clicking the image below will open a reverse-chronological page from September 2004 in 'my eJournal and images'.  My blog can give me a much better idea of what we were doing than an odd Facebook memory.

  See our September 2004 by clicking on this image.

Pictures Lie Better Now Than Ever Before!

Question:  I took these.  One is real and one was created with AI.  Venture a guess?

Answer: I've been quite surprised by how very realistic AI images have become. On Facebook today, I decided see how good at others are in determining whether an image was taken with a camera or created entirely by AI computer software.

First, the top image was taken with my phone.  I was at our city's park near the gazabo when my EV was at the DC chargers.  

However, the bottom picture was one of four choices created online by Midjourney.  I had typed in the name of an urban park in a neighboring city.  I decided I liked this one the best and had the software create a larger, more refined version.  There is no bridge in Bear Creek Park in Surrey that looks like this photo as it created it from scratch.  The software understands text and was trained on millions of images.  It also knows about styles and what makes a good photograph.

Tomorrow's October

This image was taken at our Superstore in Coquitlam. It's definitely the time of year when pumpkins move to the forefront.

 

I spent much more time this afternoon figuring out how to delete crap from my Facebook account than writing a blog entry.  The best thing I ever did was to start afresh in 2018.  I first signed onto the social media site back when it was only open to those at a college or place of higher learning.  I was an instructor at the British Columbia Institute of Technology.  Back before COVID-19, I simply needed to get rid of ten years of data!  It felt like a weight on my soul.

Since the great cleansing, every like had been saved.  Every group discussion was catalogued.  Every comment was saved with a date and time.  People naturally forget details and form general impressions.  Computers can cough up everything verbatim!

I always make sure my FB profile contains just a month of my current posts.  Today, I looked into deleting other saved activities.  It isn't like starting fresh but I got rid of a great deal of the crap connected to my account.

About 5035 KM East

I got a surprise picture from a former high school classmate. The image arrived in FB messenger and resulted in a little conversation about life. Marla is one lady with whom I get a chance to message once in a blue moon. She was out by the neighbourhood where I grew up and snapped this photo.

   

I hardly ever get back to the area but get the idea that not a great deal changes. She said that not all changes are good. However, a new dollar store would've been within biking and even walking distance from our old, little house. 

Personally, I think it may be a welcome addition to the spot where Routes 11 and 103 meet up. (I guess depending on your direction of travel or perspective, it might be categorized as where Route 11 and 103 split.) Anyway, it was great to hear about my friend's return to the area and how she finds life.

Saturdays Mean Grocery Shopping

It was Saturday. Our routine is to go early to the Canadian Superstore in Coquitlam.  I thought when we retired we might choose to shop on another day of the week.  Some habits are hard to break, I guess.

   

We really didn't accomplish much this afternoon. 

Jay and I were happy to see our condo's hot tub was running again. The pump broke and had to be completely replaced as buying parts for the original was no longer an option. It must have been out of commission for at least a couple of months. As we've had a lot of hot weather, it probably would not have been used as much as usual. We used to sit in the swimming pool during our summer's hot spells. Today has been pretty cloudy with a bit of occasional drizzle. This made us feel comfortable trying out the new pump. 

Oh, I've convinced some friends to download Microsoft Teams.  We added them today.  Although we've never been big on video conferencing, I think we'll update our habits.  I really want to get away from Facebook messaging, so although I kept the standard Lite app on my phone, I deleted the FB Messenger app.

Call Me, Bubbles!

There's a comma in the title, so obviously I'd like Bubbles to contact me.  May I suggest contacting me via MS Teams?  I use the email address already known to friends.  Add me.

I retired well before this crippling COVID situation and I have been away from office productivity workflow for a long time.  Frankly, I've had a very hard time trying to get excited about Zoom or any type of video chatting. Of course, I've seen images of monitors showing all the little faces of online participants. I guess it gained importance due to an educational and governmental survival situation.  People could clearly see that we needed better ways to get stuff done during lockdowns and work-from-home. 

I have been a bit skeptical about how Microsoft seems to be putting MS Teams as a central point in the big Windows 11 update that'll be coming later this year.

   

Today, I critically examined how little Jay and I used messaging and video chats, even with close friends. Arranging a little, 6-person dinner party forces us to resort to thirty-year-old tools. I often forget to reply to all in the email app though.  We definitely could use something better. 

However, Shinji doesn't use WhatsApp. Ed, as well as Jiwan, are allergic to Facebook. Tim uses Facetime and a little Facebook but Jay uses primarily Facebook and a little WhatsApp.  You can see why our chat avenues for planning and coordination have been practically non-existent. 

A meeting-type video chat seems evermore unlikely; that is, until today.  I downloaded MS Teams on my Android devices and our Windows PC.   How neat that participants don't need to download anything special to take part in a group video meeting!   It's multiplatform, open-source, and will prove to be transformative. 

I think I will be able to host a video conference even if none of these folks download the actual Teams software.  I can send a link and they can participate on whatever device or operating system they're near.  Of course, getting them completely onboard the Team bandwagon with the iOS, Android, or Windows app would make chat much easier and planning one thousand times more productive.

Old Snapshot Arrives in Time for Retirement

If you've seen daily posts on 'my eJournal and images' in the last couple of weeks, you may have noticed many old snapshots have surfaced. My goal has been to scan everything so that I can throw away around fifty pounds of yellowing paper and albums. These have been sitting in our closets in Canada for about twenty-five years. I'm making pretty good progress and estimate my work is nearly half over. 

I recently added all my fading images from Kuwait in the early 80s. Once I knew they were securely on Flickr, I looked for an up-to-date contact at my former school. Of course, forty years on, it was easy to turn to social media and I sent messages to Mr. Kevin Fullbrook. Here is our exchange:

 

What auspicious timing! I can send my wishes for a happy retirement to Lamies just in time! Sixty of my recently-scanned, school images can be found here.

 

It Wasn't in a Clear Bottle

I have an app on my phone for sharing and remembering the various types of beer I drink.  The site is good for keeping track of craft beers and foreign beers I enjoy  when travelling.

My UNTAPPD Profile: DennisSylvesterHurd

   

I never really thought I'd add 'The Champaign of Beers' to the UNTAPPD listing but I did just tonight.   This is the entry for the double-can I had this evening with my totopos and salsa.

Miller hencho en Mexico? Miller was probably the first six pack of beer I ever bought legally at 18 years old. That would've been in the 70s. This 710 ml can called to me from the supermarket shelf today. I've moved on in life, but it tasted familiar.

How Come I'm in Mexico for the Winter?

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FB for the Groups

I first joined Facebook in 2006 before many people had heard of it.  One had to sign up with a connection to an educational institution.   I accumulated hundreds of friends during the initial and subsequent years. By 2018, I was completely fed up with the platform. It had too much of my baggage and too much useless noise!  I deleted that account when one had to jump through hoops to get rid of all the data it had scooped up. 

A good six months later, I knew that I could handle a new account a little more reasonably and with much more finesse.  I simply sent friend requests to a couple of dozen people, those from whom I actually wanted to hear.  I continued to make it a habit to keep just one month of my posts online.  Now, there seems to be a major shift away from sharing on Facebook. That is okay and probably better for the whole of society. 

In 2021, I wouldn't have thought I'd have become a fan of FB GROUPS.  I do have to admit they are a great way of learning about new hobbies. I don't follow the posts in my own feed, but simply chose GROUPS from the menus, when I want to catch up.  Being able to select people with a similar interest can be educational.  It is nice having a reason to log on to Facebook now.

 

The Sun's Back and I Am Too!

The weekend was a washout, so it is nice that this week is looking to be a great one. It felt rather warm as I was out for a walk. I'm getting over a little cold, so the sun felt good on my skin.

Speaking of being back: I created a new account on Facebook after a six-month hiatus.

I quit on March 29th, just before heading back from winter in Malaysia and Cambodia, I set my 2006 account to completely delete. De-activation didn't seem like enough of a breather. I needed to clear out a lot of the baggage I'd collected over more than a decade of participation.

This fresh slate smells like a new beginning. I'm going to be a bit more realistic this time and keep my friend list to several dozen. Some relationships do not deserve to live on. Just because I knew somebody 45 years ago, doesn't mean they should be an active part of my life today. I feel it's better to keep things small and manageable.

Now His Folks' Skype Number? They Look Fun.

I remember those horrible, dark days when I deleted my Facebook account and encountered severe FB withdrawal symptoms.

To ease the pain, I signed up for a Mastodon account. I still hang around there because it is full of weird and wacky sorts. Mostly, I lurk at their conversations, but I do link this blog's postings. Oh, and once in a while, I also write short, inspiring outbursts, assuredly comprised of things of little consequence.



I also continue to use Twitter as a news aggregator. Things from Mastodon bounce there to provide a touch of lived-in Twitter appearance. I noticed that Phil Rosenthal liked the tweet that resulted from the toot. It could have been a media representative, but I prefer to think it was the fellow himself. I just knew that someone who looked like Phil would have to possess good character and a healthy sense of humour!

In Praise of Shorter, Structured Podcasts

Big Television!

I do miss one little aspect of Facebook. When I was a user, I created a limited group for friends who were truly interested in TV and movies. We'd post about shows or films we'd discovered and our opinions. There is just so damned much available nowadays that it's hard to keep up without the help of others. If I were still on Facebook I'd add some information about this recent viewing experience.



We just finished binging our way through three seasons of Versailles. Don't try to tell me that television is a wasteland nowadays! We were able to catch a lavish production of nearly thirty hours. Even if the series took a little liberty in historical accuracy, we were exposed to something fairly new to us. It was amazing.

Fifteen Thousand Four Hundred

The last 10 years of Internet use has left me feeling really weighted down. During a decade or so of Web 2.0, I tossed around an enormous amount of inconsequential data. One should not be saddled with a crystal-clear digital past. We all change over time but those old status updates don't. Over the past few months, I have been chipping away and cleaning up my enormous mess.

Of course, getting rid of my Facebook account was the most important step. At least Google allows one to periodically clear all the crap they have saved. Why would I want them to have location data from 2002? Just because everything can be saved surely doesn't mean it should be. There may be a justification for convenience over privacy in the short term, but why allow a dossier to accumulate? Depending on the information, about one year is usually enough.

Being able to forget is a very human attribute. Our machines should make it easier to do the same.

I just deleted 15.4K of tweets from Twitter going back to November 2008. Many were automated copies of blog postings or photo uploads. There was a lot of wisdom in the mix but tweets are not the best way to save one's essence. So, I kept the account but have started fresh from today.

It feels great and I feel much lighter.

I Didn't Need to Stop to Smell Them

Apparently, those April showers worked. Here it is May 1st and this purple lilac boastfully sat next to the Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral. When walking from our apartment building, I smelled their aroma before I spotted them next to the sidewalk.

I read that lilacs are native to the Balkan countries of southeastern Europe and are related to olives. I further learned that the name comes from the Persian word for blueish. We should make an effort to research a few things each day. It doesn't cost anything to learn something new. Or, you can just keep playing, Candy Crush or wasting your time on Facebook.

Mastodon is Free and Open Source

My Facebook account data is scheduled to disappear today. I am too afraid to try to login though. During a two week grace period before deletion if one enters the site, the request is abandoned. I don't want to risk it yet. I will give it a few more days to ensure my information, stretching back twelve years, is really, really gone.

#DeleteFacebook
Letting go of the pervasive social network has been a satisfying and humbling experience. I never followed FB fake news, but honestly I feel much better having gotten rid of FB fake friends. I mean, humans were not wired to maintain close, day-in-and-day-out contact with more than a couple of dozen people. Being bombarded with a manipulated 'news feed' from hundreds of people and millions of companies is simply not normal. Moreover, I can pin most of the blame on my friends for participating in stupid online quizzes and reposting non-stop links to prove their political views. That is what killed Facebook for me.

I've become a bit more of an advocate for free and open Internet, not for corporate data ownership and manipulation. I realize my tastes are far too nerdy for an average Joe. However, Mastodon is my new infatuation. It harkens back to Internet roots and even manages to hint at the pre-Internet days of computer BBSing.



If you are truly interested in learning more, drop me an email. My new encrypted address is located on my blog's contacts page. Perhaps I can help you get set up in the 'Fediverse'.