TOBY SHAPSHAK: Imagine life without Facebook
A year without the biggest social network on my phone has made me a freer person
So you just view it in Safari, a friend asked with great bewilderment when I explained I didn’t have the Facebook app on my phone and the interactions he saw were though my iPhone’s browser. Just over a year ago I deleted Facebook from my phone. Soon after I deleted its companion Messenger app. I haven’t missed anything. When I first wrote about it, my reasons were simple: we had a child and the usually useful notifications became a pest. Instead of notifying me about meaningful details, the app was trying to suck me back into it. It was biting the eyes that feed it, I thought. My life without Facebook continues like it did before the 2.2-billion-strong Facebook became the organising principle it is now. I read the news sites and apps I trust. I stay in touch using a range of "old" technologies: I message my friends directly and call them to talk. I’ve always preferred direct interactions, which are more meaningful, if not quicker, than the loudhailer method of social media. Occasio...
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