we managed 20 years ago because nobody did it. now ‘everybody’ does it, it is part of a type of social life and connectedness that is important to more than the vast average.

of course it is silly to actually be surprised that fb uses whatever you give them to make money. “you’re the product”, etc. exasperation about it is wasted. however, pointing out how we are marketed and what it says about society, norms etc (ref gendered advertising) can and should be used to keep the discussion alive, make people aware of the sheepherd-ness of it and most importantly of alternatives to obnoxious norms (such as buying a lady a remote controlled helicopter for her birthday).

the choice what content we provide and how we react to other people’s content is still ours. any intelligent discussion or other creativity engendered by fb content is a good thing. to a degree, it’s ours if we make it so.

but for the vast majority of indiscriminate users… aye.