Facebook Hell II—Advertisements

When is enough enough? 

I have bone to pick with Facebook.  I am tired of being constantly bombarded with advertisements.  I am drowning in Facebook’s constant flooding of my page with commercial garbage.  Fifty percent of the posts on my Facebook page are advertisements.  Every other post is a push to get me to buy some products, endorse some company, or follow some influencer.  Nothing that I need or want.  The onslaught is relentless.  Had tRump put Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook in control of his Iran assault the war would have been over weeks ago.  That is how relentless Facebook is with its advertising.  It is overwhelming.

 

Facebook has conned us all into thinking that it is a social media platform designed to connect people with family, friends, and communities.  It boasts over three billion active users.  That is a little over 36 percent of the world’s population.  A third of the world is using Facebook believing that the company truly wants to connect with people.  How heartwarming.  Three billion of the world’s population has been suckered and played for fools.  Facebook has nothing to do with connecting people, building relationships, or strengthening communities.  That is the illusion it presents while snookering us into its traps and getting into our wallets.

 

In 2025, Facebook pocketed $123.73 billion dollars in ad revenue.  Approximately 98 percent of Meta (Facebook’s parent company) revenue is raised through advertisement.  Each Facebook user contributes a little over $41 dollars towards that $123.73 profit making Mark Zuckerberg even richer.  Zuckerberg is already one of the top five wealthiest people in the world worth between $210 and $252 billion.  You know he values every single Facebook connection and relationship . . . all the way to the bank.

 

People have the right to make money.  But when is enough . . . enough?

 

The “average” person might not be bothered by any of this . . . probably doesn’t even think about it.  I’m not an “average” person.  I’m retired.  Being retired means I have lots of free time on my hands.  Because of that I noticed . . . noticed all the ads constantly inundating my Facebook feed.  Advertisements for medicines and miracle cures for my growing old age.  Advertisements for adult diapers. Clothing.  Food for humans and pets.  Entertainment suggestions.  Influencers.  Insurance . . . home, personal, life, and car.  The occasional funeral parlor.  Alcohol.  If you can sell it, it was on my feed.  The advertisements were everywhere.  Every other post . . . I counted.  When you are retired you have a lot of time to do that.

 

It is frustrating having to wade through all the commercials to get around to making that connection with family, friends, and community.  It is like trying to swim upstream.  Lots of effort, little gained.  The real goal is money, not relationships.  Facebook knows it and is good at what it does.

 

I must admit that Facebook has an inkling about this advertising weariness and fatigue.  It does give the user the option to opt out of advertisements.  Facebook uses straight out advertisement that they mark as either “sponsored” or “ads”.  The user only has to click on the little “x” in the right-hand corner and . . . POOF! It is gone . . . almost.  What happens next is a new page appearing wanting a reason for the removal of the ad.  Once given you click “submit” and Facebook tells you that you won’t see the ad again. Which is not true . . . the advertisement will be back!  The process is painless and is fast.  Of course, this just prompts Facebook to add another ad to the feed.  This continues for between fifty and hundred times before it quits, and they disappear until you come back later.  It’s worth the minimal effort it takes even if you are too busy to read any real posts . . . at least until the next you use your device.

 

This would be great if it weren’t for the fact that Facebook also likes to make ads look like regular posts from sites your family and friends like.  Sneaky.  They put your family or friend members’ name at the top of the post looking like they are recommending the advertisement.  So-and-so likes . . . then comes the ad looking like your family/friend posted it.  I kind of suspected something was up when I kept seeing ads for MAGA with my wife’s name on them. It was not a cold day in hell . . . Facebook is sneaky.  Still, there is an “out”.  Click the “x” in the right-hand corner.  A page comes up asking why you want to hide the ad.  Take your pick and click “submit”.  The ad is gone . . . for a while.

 

For several days that is what I did.  I kept deleting ads left and right as fast as Facebook could place them.  Over and over again.  Then one day I noticed that the ads looked different.  The “x” in the right-hand corner was gone and replaced with three dots.  Little did I know the devious plan they were hatching.  I must have made the advertising department of Facebook mad for them to go to this length to frustrate me even more.  It looked as if there was no way to “delete” or “remove” the ads—there was no “x”.  Everyone knows that “x” means “delete” or “remove”.  So, I clicked on the three dots . . . the key was revealed.  A page magically appeared giving me several options as to what I wanted to do with the ad.  None of the choices gave me the option to tell them to stick their advertising where the sun doesn’t shine . . . but there was a choice to hide the ad.

 

That was my choice—hide the ad.  I clicked it and another page appeared.  Now it wanted to know my reason for hiding the ad.  They even provide the list.  I always choose “irrelevant”.  Every time.  Apparently, they know my pattern because every time I go through this process they move “irrelevant” around on the list making me have to look for it.  Sneaky mean.  “Irrelevant” every time pulls up a final page telling me the steps, I can take to hide the ad.  Again, no suggestion of where the sun doesn’t shine.  Kindly, they do allow me to hide all the ads from the advertiser.  You choose that and then click the “done” button.  Once again, they promise that you won’t see the ad again . . . don’t believe it.

 

The goal of Facebook is to wear people out until they throw up their arms, give up, and accept that advertisements are like death and taxes.  There is no escaping them.  They figure the “average” person will succumb to the relentless bombardment and onslaught of commercial enticement . . . that they will just put up with it.  But, as I said earlier, I’m not “average” . . . I’m retired.  I’ve got all the time in the world.  I can sit there and delete Facebook advertisements all day long. I’ve got nothing better to do.  My wife tells me I need to find a purpose in retirement and I think I have.

 

At the same time, Facebook keeps figuring it out.  They know I am spending my hours hiding their ads.  That’s why they keep changing the game . . . changing the rules.  Money does that.  They want the cash.  Little do they understand, I want the peace of having an ad-less Facebook page.  They don’t realize how much “free” time I have since retiring—lots!  Yet, I am willing to throw in the towel to end this battle of wills.  All Facebook has to do is give me a cut of what they earn.  You know, pay me for my time of having to read their ads.  I don’t need much.  I’ll take my 1/3,000,000,000^th cut of the profits—which is about $41 dollars.

 

That is all that it would take--$41 dollars.  The problem will be solved.  The battle would be over.  The advertisements can run free.  Forty-one dollars is a lot for an old, retired guy like me.  That is close to ten lunches at the Senior Center.  Sounds like a great trade-off for Facebook and me.  Mark Zuckerberg can afford it.  What’s $41 dollars to a person with $210 to $252 billion in the bank?  Forty-one dollars . . . I’ll count it as I go to the bank.

Jesus Wept

Curiosity killed the cat . . .

I wonder if it has a hand in killing one’s faith.

 

Lately, on my Facebook feed, I have been noticing that there are posts that produce a verse of scripture that is supposed to represent that person’s faith.  It has been interesting perusing these posts, especially of people I know.  I’m impressed and would agree on the scriptural references generated to represent these friends.  Some I would even say are “right on”.  Impressive even.  That’s when my curiosity reared its head.

 

“Hold my beer,” I said to my spouse.  We say and do that here in Montana when bellying up to a challenge.

 

Going to one such post, I clicked on it, gave my name . . . and waited.  BOOM!  I got a reply . . . “Jesus wept.”  John 11:35.  The shortest verse in the Bible.  That was it.

 

I’m a thoughtful and reasonable person.  I wasn’t sure what to do with that reference about me.  I’m certain that there are those in my life who would agree with that assessment.  They have always questioned my faith.  I’m also certain that are times when Jesus did weep when it came to me and my understanding of faith.  Lord knows that I have.  But . . . really!  “Jesus wept.”

 

Faith is a personal thing.  It is not something decided and judged by others, though that seems to be the popular belief and practice these days.  My faith is between the Creator and myself.  Thankfully the Creator is more benevolent with me than I am with myself.  The Creator will decide.

 

Because of that I don’t put any “stock” into artificial intelligent generated postings on Facebook when it comes to my faith.  In truth, I did not play the “game” . . . I did not seek a generated scriptural reference about my faith.  It was just a humorous “what if” . . . what if I did this and my scriptural verse was “Jesus wept”?  I found it highly humorous and amusing.  It made me laugh out loud.  Who says the Creator doesn’t have a sense of humor?

 

When it comes to faith it really comes down to “actions” versus “words”.  Faith is expressed in actions.  Words are a dime a dozen . . . probably much more with inflation.  What we do is more important than what we say.  Love is not a noun; it is a verb . . . an “action” verb.  That is, as most are apt to say, God.  God is love.

 

Maybe someone needs to create an app that uses artificial intelligence that generates a way to weigh and measure one’s ability to “love”.  Plug your name in and . . . BOOM . . . a measurement of one’s love in action.  Could that be a measurement of one’s faith?

 

I don’t know, but it would be interesting.  I imagine the shortest verse in the Bible would sum up the general score of such an AI app . . . “Jesus wept.”  Beyond the “feel good” stories we hear . . . individual examples of love . . . the reality is that the “big picture” is not so bright and cheery.  If we look at the “big picture” of the world we live in . . . well, we’ve got a long way to go.  It is sad.

 

At the same time—who knows?

 

I’m a proponent of the 99^th monkey theory.  The theory is based on the story of scientists removing a monkey off an isolated island.  The scientists teach the monkey to wash its hands before eating.  Then the monkey is returned to the island.  The scientists want to see what happens and if it will make a difference with the other monkeys.

 

Of course, with its newfound skill, the monkey demonstrates its washing of hands before eating to the other monkeys on the island.  The monkeys basically ignore the hand-washing monkey and ridicule it in the way that monkeys ridicule I imagine.  Despite it all, the monkey continues.  Ten . . . fifty . . . and more.  Over and over.  Then one day when it was washing its hands in front of the 99^th monkey, they all started washing their hands.  Persistence pays off.

 

That’s the thing . . . no one ever knows when their “actions” are going to make a difference or create change.  All one can do is to keep on trying . . . keep on loving.  Eventually something is going to happen.  So, it is with faith . . . with love.  My faith—my love in action—occurs within me and through me in how I live and relate to others.  That is where it begins for me and for you.  That is the only way that it has ever worked . . . one individual at a time.  If we keep on trying to love, we are eventually going to encounter that 99^th monkey.

 

We must keep on trying.  If we don’t . . . well, then, I imagine Jesus just might weep.