Facebook knows everything about us because we tell them everything about us

Facebook has had us all by the neck for a long time, and we’ve probably known it but just not wanted to admit it or consider the implications.

It’s had us by the neck, not because it’s an authoritarian company that wants to take advantage of people (although that may be true – I’m not really sure), but because we, the users, submit to it so willingly.

I am obviously generalizing but more than other poorly-formed generalizations – homeless people want to be homeless, and men care about the honeymoon but not the wedding – I think this one has serious merit.

We’ve all downloaded that Messenger app, against our very wills.

For casual scrollers, which most of us are most of the time, Facebooking is largely a habit, an unconscious exercise, an escape from immediate experience. It’s a way to share the details of your life, sure, but also a way to abstract it.

We tune in to tune out. Even though many of us use Facebook as a news aggregate and a forum for politico-social conversation, our primary reason for scrolling is the relative mindlessness of the activity, coupled with occasional positive reinforcement.

It is a bit frightening, though, the kind of trance it puts us all in. You’re putting up pictures of your naked children because they’re cute and innocent, without realizing that you’re putting up pictures of your naked children. You sync your contacts with your account for ease without realizing you’re giving them your grandmother’s address and phone number.

All of this to say, no wonder Facebook and other companies have access to all of our data. We give it to them willingly! We don’t read the Terms & Conditions. I thought about doing so before writing this piece but figured it would take too long.

As for Cambridge Analytica, the story is a bit different. If Zuckerberg is telling the truth, Cambridge Analytica took advantage of Facebook and broke the rules. Hopefully, the CEO will clarify everything under oath when he testifies before Congress next week.

In the meantime, be more conscious of your unconsciousness on the platform, and visit my Facebook page for more of my stories.

@jeremywbeaman is a contributing writer for Yellowhammer News