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.

Munching

I imagine any person my age would remember the Pac Man video game.  It was one of the very first video games that ever came out . . . so, my young friends, it is ancient.  It was not much of a step up from the earlier Pong games of the video game market . . . but with a few beers it seemed to be the most difficult game in the world.  Kids today would laugh at the primitive nature of the game.  Primitive as it might have been, it was a popular game in my earlier years . . .

Basically Pac Man was a simple game in which an “eater” or the “Pac Man” traversed through a maze eating little dots that compounded the score.  The closer to the end of a level in the game that a person got, the more obstacles that were sent his or her way.  The goal was simple, eat your way to the next highest level.  The Pac Man munched its way to the top.  That seems to be the goal for life . . . we munch or devour our way to the top.

So, at times, I see life like one great big Pac Man game where each and every one of us is working to reach the ultimate goal . . . richness, fame, and popularity.  We are munching ourselves to the top.  More often than not, our nibbling is at the expense of others.

Kaleel Jamison wrote a wonderful little book that speaks about this phenomena called The Nibble Theory and the Kernal of Power . . . way back in 1984, Ms. Jamison wrote this book to help us understand this idea of “munching”, or what she called “nibbling”.  It is really a simple theory . . . each and every one of us is created as a special one of a kind . . . each of us has special gifts and talents to offer to the world . . . contributions to offer.  We all have a picture in our minds of how big we are in the world.  Some of us see ourselves as being pretty big fish (usually in a small pond), others of ourselves . . . well, not too much (we are the little fish).  According to Jamison we have two choices because we are such gifted and talented persons . . . we either adapt to the situation we are cast in, or we bring every one down to our level.  Instead of building others up to our size, we whittle them down to our size.  We “nibble” them down to our size or even smaller.  This is called the “Nibble Theory”.  The goal is to level the playing field or destroy our competition.

In the idealistic world the idea would be for everyone to build one another up to the same level—the emphasis is on growth in this idealism.  Reality is that it is easier to tear down . . . to nibble away, than it is to work with another to build up.  Don’t think so?  How long does it take to build a house . . . how long does it take to tear a house down?  Yeah, I know what you are thinking . . . that’s not us, we treat all people equally.  Phfttt!  The bottom line is that we are citizens of the United States of America and it is every person for him or herself.  We are all Pac Man deep down . . . nibblers and munchers.  We do not always play or work well together.

This past week I attended a meeting with several state government entities and witnessed a massive game of Pac Man . . . it was not pretty.  Prior to the meeting things between and within the various entities seemed to be good . . . everyone was doing their own thing, things were getting accomplished, and life was good.  Then something happened.  The federal government came down on one group, smacking their hands, and telling them that they were not playing the game right . . . either shape up or else!  No one wants to see what the federal government’s “or else” is . . . and, no one wants enjoys hurting.  Hurting, this group decided that they would not be the only ones who hurt . . . they began to share the pain . . . a nibble here, a munch there.  At this particular meeting it all came to a head.  Despite their best efforts to look civil towards one another, those of us in the room could feel the daggers flying back and forth.  By the time the meeting was over, the original group had whittled everyone else down to their size or smaller.  Thinking that they had won, the reality is that everyone lost.

The collateral damage will be assessed in the next couple of days and weeks as the dust settles.  I imagine that there will be several people without jobs . . . several with jobs that are highly scrutinized . . . and, several with see the writing on the wall and will start looking for new employment.  I see that there will be a lot of new rules inflicted on those organizations that fall under these groups . . . rules that will only make it even more difficult to do the jobs that are already hard to do without all the new rules.  I see that in what was supposed to be a time of support within the state as basically one step forward, two steps (if not more) back.  It is a mess.

What I am writing about should be a surprise to any of you reading this blog . . . we have all been victims of the game . . . and, we have all been active participants in the game.  That is probably why it feels as if the lives we live always seem to be spinning their wheels in mud and getting us nowhere.  We do not play and work well together.  Which is a shame . . . together we are worth more as a team than we are worth as individuals . . . but, that is un-American. 

Pac Man . . . nibbling and munching . . . is the true American pastime.  It is played in all areas of our lives, including in the area of where we live our faith.  In fact, the church might be one of the most vicious participants in the game.  We play the game so well, most of us do not realize that we are even playing it . . . we are professionals at it.  And, because we are, the only losers in the game are ourselves . . . as individuals, as groups, and even as a nation. 

The old saying is that “united we stand, divided we fall”, which Ms. Jamison speaks about in her book.  She encourages people to not nibble others down but to instead nurture the “kernel of power” within all.  But that is scary, because some of us want to be more equal than others.  As Ms. Jamison’s book nears its 30^th anniversary, not much has changed in our world.  Neither has the Pac Man game . . . it is still popular despite its antiquity.  People like munching and nibbling . . .  

. . . there are no winners because we all lose.