Summary

The author reflects on their decision to leave Facebook one year ago after facing unfounded accusations and censorship, leading to a more positive and fulfilling experience on Medium.

Abstract

One year after quitting Facebook due to a dispute over a post about the Ottawa trucker protest, which led to false accusations and the reporting of innocuous content, the author expresses satisfaction with the move. Despite being initially hesitant about leaving the platform, the negativity and unjustified sanctions from Facebook pushed them to seek a more supportive community. The author found Medium to be a refreshing change, offering a space for positive interactions and the freedom to express themselves without the same level of negativity. The transition has been transformative, with the author experiencing personal growth and a more rewarding online presence, despite occasionally being out of the loop with personal events shared on Facebook.

Opinions

The author felt wronged by the actions of a Facebook 'friend' who accused them of racism and white savior complex, leading to a block and the reporting of their posts.
Frustration is evident over Facebook's lack of recourse for addressing false accusations, which resulted in a 90-day restriction on the visibility of the author's posts.
The author had grown weary of the negativity on Facebook prior to the incident, despite efforts to maintain a positive profile.
Medium is praised for providing a more uplifting environment with kind interactions and minimal negative comments, which the author sees as a significant improvement over Facebook.
The author does not miss the constant demands of engaging with content on Facebook and values the meaningful interactions on Medium.
Life without Facebook is viewed as more peaceful and fulfilling, with the author emphasizing the importance of minimizing negativity for personal well-being.
Although the author has distanced themselves from Facebook, they continue to use Instagram and maintain a business presence on the platform.

It’s Been One Year Since I Broke Up With Facebook

And life still goes on…….

One year ago today, I had my final straw and I quit Facebook.

One of our ‘friends’ back home in Canada took it upon himself to accuse me of being racist and having ‘white savior complex’ because of a post I shared about something to do with the trucker protest in Ottawa.

And before I get more judgments about that, it wasn’t a post in favour, or against it. I was just sharing some information that I had seen about it.

In defense of his accusations, my words and meaning got so twisted and convoluted that I could see that there was no winning the conversation. Of course, I was blocked from his and his partner's profile, but the kicker was that shortly after, a bunch of my posts started getting reported as false information.

Now, you might be thinking that they were posts about the trucker protest, but they weren’t. They were very innocent posts. One, in particular, was a photo of a plant that I had seen in Uganda.

It wasn’t hard to determine who was suddenly doing this to my profile.

I got multiple notifications of ‘false’ posts. Screenshot from Facebook by author.

Facebook sent me a nice email to tell me that my account had been flagged and that my posts wouldn’t be seen on people's feeds for 90 days. When I looked into fighting the charges, I was told that there was nothing that I could do about it.

So here I was, realizing that because somebody had a bee in their bonnet about me, they were able to completely mess up all the hard work I had put into Facebook by simply falsely accusing me of not having fact-checked posts, even about a plant that I had seen on the ground in Uganda.

I was D-O-N-E!

I wanted nothing to do with a platform that punished me for doing nothing wrong.

Previous to this I had already gotten sick and tired of the negativity of the platform. Although I made great attempts to only post positive information, and not allow negativity to creep onto my profile, I obviously didn’t succeed.

By then I had been on Medium for about 6 weeks and I could already see how different this platform was.

Here I was receiving kind and uplifting comments from complete strangers. Here I have been able to write to my heart's content, mostly without negative comments and hateful people trying to take me down.

Medium was just the medicine that I needed in my life, and I didn’t even know it.

2022 was a transformative year for me and I think it has a lot to do with ditching Facebook and finding Medium.

I don’t miss seeing every moment of people's lives on Facebook. I don’t miss having to reply and like hundreds of comments all of the time. I don’t miss all the hard work of posting photos and videos, only to get nothing in return for my efforts.

I don’t miss any of it.

Yes, I am out of the loop, and I miss people having babies and sometimes deaths. But you know what, life has gone on, and it is only getting better and better.

Life is too short for too much negativity. I am happier without Facebook and that is what counts!

Disclaimer: I do still post photos to Instagram which also updates our business page on Facebook.

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