Farewell to Facebook

 So here's what happened.

About six weeks ago, I was getting repetitive messages from my Facebook Instant Messager.  Random stuff, but mostly, the messages were job applications, from job positions for secretaries, airline repair persons, waitstaff, and a few other messages asking for information from applicants.  "Send applicantion materials," or "Contact Joe for more information," or similar messages.  The messages would get responses ("What information do you need?" "What kind of experience are you looking for?" etc.), as if these were group chats.

On a few days, I would get a dozen or more texts.

Obviously, I was puzzled. 

My husband even removed my Facebook Messenger from my phone because it was getting annoying.

The first few days, I ignored it.  Dumb move.  I thought this was prompted from some job sites I had visited.

The following weekend, I got onto my Facebook page and explored a bit.  The contact email and phone number were not mine.  I tried to reset my password, but I could not because the email and phone number were not mine--the reset code was sent to a different phone number.  Luckily, I was still logged in.  I found a place to report that my account had been compromised.

A few more days went by, I could not log into Facebook at all.  I did some Googling about Facebook and about the best I could do was to send Facebook messages that my account had been hacked.  Turns out, Facebook has no resources or customer service.  I couldn't contact Facebook at all.  And I am not the first person to go through this.

A week or so later, I searched Facebook help pages, checked my account, and found that my account is disabled.

Funny, when I travelled abroad, I used Facebook to communicate and to share stories with family, but now, I do not use Facebook beyond sharing much beyond sharing Fiction Forge posts.  When I saw that my account was disabled, I felt relief.  I think I have only one regret: some people from my high school have contacted me for reunions.  I haven't gone to one, but I may not know about the next one.

I'm glad to be off Facebook.  

I haven't been on Facebook in over a month, and I do not miss it.  

And now for some "news" from the Onion about Facebook:

One more oldie (a little out-dated from 2011), just because this one makes me laugh: