YOU WILL NOT UNDERSTAND THIS

I just hate to be pushed around by some @#$%^& machine. – Ken Thompson

This is my exit interview from social media. Some of these “services” I abandoned years ago. Others I am still struggling to avoid. From experience, I assume that you, reader, will make it impossible for me to remain ignorant of developments WRT: all of this garbage. What all of this garbage has in common is that it has all lately proven to be surplus to requirements, and soon I will never voluntarily use any of it ever again.

Google

Hi. I remember the Internet before Google.

Fuck you forever for breaking e-mail for everyone in the world. Fuck you forever for enticing users who don’t know any better into relying upon your services, and then shuttering them with little warning. Your extensions to established standards and ever changing policies make it increasingly impossible for individuals to host and control their own information. Yes, I am aware that this is no accident.

Search quality is no longer a core competency of Google, the Internet’s premiere search engine. For example: Two people type the same search string, each receives different results. Yes, I am aware that this is likewise no accident.

The quality of ads displayed alongside various Google services has steadily devolved from semi-relevant to absolutely irrelevant at all times. Yes, I am aware that this is no accident.

Malware served.

Insight: Google does not want you to know or remember. Anything, if at all possible.

Facebook

Worldwide, 24/7, telepathic contact with every person I, or members of my extended network, ever met. How many degrees of separation between me and the worst person alive? Now that person knows what my mom threw up after breakfast, and wants to offer advice.

Mandatory non-linear curation of user contributed content.

Malware served.

Insight: Gamification of personal interaction degrades human health.

Twitter

Worldwide, 24/7, telepathic contact with every person I, or people I used to think of as friends, ever met, or favorited, or retweeted. How many degrees of separation between me and the worst person alive? Now that person knows the GPS coordinates of my bedroom. How do I know? Because they are (as I type) standing outside my bedroom window. Thanks, Twitter client, for wiping my preferences after updating yourself to patch a critical security vulnerability.

Mandatory non-linear curation of user contributed content.

Malware served.

Insight: Gamification of personal interaction degrades human health.

Instagram

I paid them for the app. Then they sold the app to Facebook. Now I see targeted ads and promoted posts.

Mandatory non-linear curation of user contributed content.

Malware served.

Insight: Gamification of personal interaction degrades human health.

Tumblr

Was at its best when I thought I missed comment threads.

Javascript requirements slowly killed what value it had.

Not a replacement for anything.

Summary

No offense, but it’s just not worth it.

Reach me at my website: stanleylieber.com or via e-mail: sl@stanleylieber.com