This feels like the modern version of those people who gave out the numbers on their credit cards back in the 2000s and would freak out when their bank accounts got drained.

Ah the whataboutism. I have run into that one too when I argue against recreational drugs. Pro drug users always always always bring up alcohol and everytime I’m like "yes, alcohol sucks too and I would ideally see it phased out of society instead of adding weed and cocaine etc to the legality club. And then they start their blabbering about how restrictions just makes the black market boom and yadda yadda and you shouldn’t have any restrictions because criminals will win, then. But I’m still like: yeah, but making accessibility easier will also not benefit society.

It’s the same discussion as it is with guns. They never want to actually talk about the issues, but would rather deflect and focus the discussion in on topics that has less and less and less to do with the original point. Ignore all your arguments and declare themselves the winner of the discussion because they feel they successfully won against their own strawman argument instead of actually trying to engage in the conversation.

I have always thought you could make that point with something like a knife. It is a tool made to assist in chores. You can use the knife to feed your family or kill your family. The knife is just a knife.

But a gun is specifically designed to kill. There is literally no other purpose for the gun. You can’t use it in a kitchen. You can’t use it to carve tools. Its only use it to take life.

That’s why the guns don’t kill people mantra rings endlessly hollow to me.

Also imagine being so stupid as to, among other things, threaten to annex Greenland and then also ask Denmark to export eggs to America.

Totally agree! I’m not 100% opposed to your idea, I’m just not a good sales person so if I tried to convince people on Facebook to move away from that platform, I would most likely end up being seen as a conspiracy theorist or something like that.

Before I left facebook I did post a comment in my feed where I announced I’d be leaving Facebook within a certain time frame and that people could find me this and that place, at this or that email and on the phone if they had my number. Wrote a bit about why I had had enough of Facebook, didn’t make it political, but focused instead on how Facebook no longer felt like a place where I could interact with family and friends, but more like an advertisement platform where I may be lucky to see one or two posts from people I care about inbetween an endless scroll of ads and brainrot content.

My biggest surprise was how quick some of my friends were to reach out to keep in contact and some were eager to move to Signal so we could still talk conveniently in the future (lets face it, text isnt always the most convenient communication form lol). That was a surprise because I literally thought no one would care that I left.

I will do my best to share things like Signal and the European alternatives with people I care about irl and leave the online convincing to the pros xD I could probably spread the word about feddit on reddit since I haven’t deleted my profile yet, just the app. I feel like reddit would be more open to this since more people on there are invested in online communities unlike most people on Meta who just use those platforms to connect with people they know irl already.

Too late for me haha. I already went off the grid. I think over time I will talk friends into using things like Signal and with family I’ll just let them know how and why I left Meta. Almost no one I know uses reddit or even know it exists so it wouldn’t make sense trying to pull them onto Feddit.

Most of my family members use Meta platforms and are generally indifferent to the problems with that. It is easy and convenient for them and I don’t think they care all that much about it. As far as I know, I am the only one in my family who is “terminally online” for better or worse and most of my family members have a very superficial relationship with the internet - for better or worse. I will only say something about why I left, how I left and what alternatives are if it ever comes up at family gatherings. No one wants to listen to someone who’s trying to push something on them, so casually talking about the hows and why’s I did this and that will be my strategy.

The only one in my family who has always been based (if that word is still okay to use) is my dad. He has been ahead of his time with almost every single issue we all deal with today. Environment, politics, social media, you name it. He told us all super early when Facebook was still new that he wanted no pictures of him on that thing because you never know what they will use people’s information for. He regularly sends me pictures over MMS of articles about current events and today he sent me a list of american products to boykot. I still believe the most important American products to boykot is social medias and not coca cola, toothpaste and body wash. Sure those products are american originally, but they are produced locally by local companies with a license so we would probably hurt local businesses more than american businesses by boycotting them.

Online platforms however, is directly given and monitored by America and leaving them would take away Zuckerburger’s, Bezo’s, Musk’s and Pichai’s power. And by extension America’s power. They have an almost monopoly on the internet today, have discouraged us from seeking and destroyed the growth possibilities for other platforms. In that sende I am grateful for Trump that he is such an insufferable cunt that some of us has finally had enough.

I think, though, that the change will have to happen organically. I will rather talk with friends and family about it irl than return to Meta and play missionary for people who either don’t care or don’t understand what is actually happening right now. I believe the big shift will happen among the youths. They are the future of the internet after all, and they already have made the move to walk away from American platforms and are mostly on tiktok today. I’m sure that if they find that there are other alternatives that restrict them less and allows them to create and speak their minds without massive censorship, they will go there. I have faith in the youth.