This was intentionally manufactured by Facebook. Facebook implemented it’s “accountability culture” starting with its rule about only using your real name and photo on its service and encouraging you to disclose other information in your profile, and from there it just got normalized. It was entirely to gather data for advertising purposes, but now we associate that level of openness with “accountability”. Entire generations are now being raised with this as the norm. Privacy is no longer a priority, or even really seen as an option.
This is to your detriment. Your privacy protects you from predators of all kinds. You really should be guarding it carefully. Disclose what you feel is important on a case by case basis, but even your mental health status and beliefs are exploitable by big business and small-time bullies and abusers alike.
Even if you’re not overly fussed about what people know about you, just understand that not everyone has the luxury of feeling the same. Some people have stalkers and abusers they’re trying to evade, or don’t want to attract new abusers into their lives by being that vulnerable and open again. Some people have extreme social anxiety. Some people are protecting other people in their lives. Some people just don’t want their grandmothers to find their smutfics. Some people are Internet privacy advocates who keep their details private as a political statement and as a matter of principle.
You are not entitled to anyone’s information, and you do not owe anyone yours. You are allowed to just be an anonymous username until you feel safe to disclose more.
You are not entitled to anyone’s information, and you do not owe anyone yours.
I do personally remember the Facebook purge. I mostly used social media for roleplaying characters, and Facebook (like everywhere else - Twitter and Tumblr are the big ones that are still up and running) had a thriving RP community. You had a separate Facebook account for each character you played and they could interact with each other on RP-specific pages or on their own walls.
Then all at once, accounts were being suspended and deleted. We lost everything without warning. This was in the height of Craigslist-stalker panic, and common knowledge was “don’t give out your real name/info online,” but in the name of safety, Facebook took the opposite stance - “ONLY give out your real name/info online.” They’re the only company I know of who has successfully enforced that - even Google still calls me “John Jacob Jingle-Heimer Smith” sometimes because that’s what I, a child, told them my name was when asked. You know, like, a decade and a half ago.
You could appeal the deletion for a certain number of days, but only if you could show a picture of a government-issued photo ID with your full name on it.
I remember an older friend of mine was upset that it would affect the trans community, but I didn’t understand much about trans+ back then.
But yeah, whole online communities just wiped off the Face of the earth. It wasn’t high art or anything but it sucks.
So like I keep getting really high and not taking my adderal early enough and going on Facebook and skimming through posts and being really passionate about them and then rereading them later and being like what the fuck and like having to delete them because I’m not actually that stupid and I’m just really disappointed in myself lately lmao
Jessie Vard
Did y'all see the rules Facebook rolled out? If y'all thought Tumblr was going Puritanical….wheeeew
Wait no what’s the tea
Holy shit, facebook too??????