Why I decided to quit facebook.

In recent news, I just quit facebook. I quit because they are encouraging trophy hunting by allowing their pages to remain online. I believe they could do so much better with animal rights and conservation issues.

Nothing happened. My head didn’t fall off. I enjoyed real life more now. I am happier and much more productive.

I have even started this petition to get more people to quit facebook as a form of protest and defiance.

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg,

The first time I logged on to the internet, the year was 1995. I had to go into a special room at university to access it. Only about 30 computers were connected to the internet for students to use — in the whole university.

A few years later, more rooms appeared throughout the campus. I remember one day in particular. My college buddy could only find a handful of Porsche images *on the whole internet*. I can even remember him printing it out. It was so rare to him it was like a prize. I remember because we had to take turns — using the same internet connection!

Four years later, in 1999, I got “into trouble” for using the internet at work! Yes. “People can see you” he’d say. I had to show my boss that I was searching for material properties online. He promptly wheeled his office chair over. He had called my bluff. And I pointed to the screen. “See?” At that time, people didn’t use the internet for work. No.

I don’t know when it was exactly. I was still at university. All I can remember was that the internet was still fairly ‘new’. The average person still did not use the internet on an hourly or a daily basis (except for email). Anyway, I got this weird “friend request” from this unknown person calling himself “Mark Zuckerberg”. It wasn’t one of my friends. I’m pretty sure it was actually you.

If memory serves me correctly, Mr. Zuckerberg, you actually came to me. I certainly never went out specifically looking for anything like facebook, because I was a nerdy anti-social science graduate. You probably found my email or something.

I decided to accept your initial “friend request” and sign up to this new facebook thing. And because I was introverted and shy, I never really bothered to say anything to you. It was when there was only a few thousand facebook members *in the whole world*. At the time I can remember thinking:  “what harm can it do?”. Nobody I knew had a facebook account. I repeat: nobody. And so it began…

In the beginning, facebook was okay. Mainly because it was useful. You encouraged people to find my old aquaintences. You made it easy for me to find people. I could never do that before. So I let my account stay — because there was a benefit in leaving it there. I filled in a few of my “life events”. And that was it. There was no timeline — there *was* no timeline.

But now facebook has morphed into an altogether different beast. Facebook is hosting and thereby *actively supporting* all manner of shitty “internet pages”. If I had have known back then that you’d be hosting Kendall Jones’ trophy hunting page today, I would have told you exactly where to go. I would have sent you a personal message “go and get fuckéd”. Or something to that effect. And I would have convinced all my friends and family to avoid facebook like the black plague.

I think the trouble with self-proclaimed ‘philanthropists’ today is that they almost never give to environmental charities. It’s as if people’s lives matter more than the lives of animals. Well I’m here to tell you that they don’t. We are all animals! We are all part of an ecosystem, a vast interconnected web (albeit an invisible one).

And I think that’s the key difference between trophy hunters and the rest of us. Because as soon as you even *talk* about mounting a trophy hunter’s head on your own wall, and what people might be prepared to pay for that, they strangely enough get *highly* offended. As if humans were somehow superior to animals!

Mark, I think if you really want to “advancing human potential and promoting equality”, you should start by giving more back to the environment. Because all sentient beings are equal. What good is saving ‘humanity’ if there isn’t going to be a breathable atmosphere in the not-too-distant future? Right?

You can start by taking each and every single report about facebook pages more seriously. You could say “no more selfies with dead animals”. And of course you could flat-out ban them if they don’t co-operate.

1 million people may well ‘like’ Kendal Jones’ facebook page, but I *know* that one billion people would ‘like’ to see it go. To be frank, 1 billion people hate the woman’s guts, okay… and that’s putting it mildly.

If I had have known back then that my sister would use facebook for hours and hours and hours every single day —like some kind of heroine or nicotine addict— and almost completely stop talking to me, I would have declined that first friend request of yours. I’m sure that others would have too. And facebook wouldn’t be where it is today.

I simply don’t want to be around people that prefer to look at a screen all the time… instead of talking and communicating like we used to. I’d rather walk my dog or find new, real friends that appreciate me in the here and now.

So today I’m quitting facebook. And when someone informs me by some other means that Kendall Jones’ facebook abhorrent ‘page’ has ceased to exist, well then I might come back one day and personally congratulate you for making the right choice.

Do you know what I learned last year? I learned that people only stay in relationships while it benefits them (unfortunately). It’s something my sister told me that she saw on Dr. Phil. (she’s the social one by the way).

Well today, I don’t see any benefit in facebook. Rather, I see that facebook is getting all of the benefit, along with trophy hunters, and I am getting precious little. Besides, I have never liked that shade of blue. But the real reason for my hasty departure, the last straw if you will, is of course those despicable trophy hunters.

If I could give you one piece of advice, Mark, it’s this: “Try to please all and you shall please none.”

What that means is, you’ve really got to start choosing what kind of people you want to be associated with. When 100,000 people or more start leaving your platform in droves —because they don’t like what you seem to support— maybe you might start to pay attention to what the users want. Do you even remember us? … the billions of users that made you who you are today.

There’s really only one way for massive monopolies to go. And that way is down. Down down down down down! I hope I start something new here. I really do. And I know that I will. Because I’m an early adopter. I’m an influencer. I’m a maven. You used to take advantage of people like me. Remember?

Goodbye Mark, it was nice [not] knowing you.
Dr. Leslie Dean Brown

P.S: Before I go, I’d just like to say that if I want to experience something truly ‘interactive’ and ‘revolutionary’, I’ll step outside and look at the way light reflects of a surface. I’ll do some street photography. I’ll feel the leaf of a tree. I’ll live in the present moment. That’s something that facebook will never be able to replicate or replace.

P.P.S: I am aware of the irony involved in what I am about to say, but before you go, please sign this petition first, share it on facebook for a bit, make sure all your facebooky friends see it first, maybe give a countdown, use facebook to your advantage, and then go. If you leave first and then come here (like I did), you won’t be able to update anybody online. It’ll be like you just vanished off the face of the Earth. Of course, if they are real friends, you’ll be able to tell them why in person.

Tell facebook the real reason why you are leaving! I did. Don’t just leave without telling them why! That way your departure will actually count for something and more people will realise why you aren’t around anymore…