You can ditch Facebook if you want to. You might actually be better for it if it has too tight a grip on your life, or you’re the worrisome sort.
I’ve actually thought about it from time to time. But I’ve decided not to, at least for now.

Ditching Facebook would be like getting rid of a tool in your tool kit because every time you use it, you wind up hurting yourself. The problem isn’t the tool, but your ability to use it properly and protect yourself.

Recent security concerns have many Facebook users scrambling for the exits, fearful of how the social media giant might be storing and manipulating their personal data. If you are really worried about that, you probably shouldn’t have signed up for Facebook in the first place.

In fact, you probably shouldn’t be on the internet. Nearly every website does that to some degree. None of the so-called online giants exist for the mere fun of it. They exist for profit.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google and virtually all websites in our vast online world are giant sponges by design. They track your every mouse click with great glee, soaking up information on your browsing, spending and even voting habits.

For example, the people at Lowe’s and Home Depot know you’ve been poking around their web pages looking at hedge trimmers long before you actually buy one. As soon as you visit a website and start comparing models and prices, they send your computer a “cookie.”

These aren’t cookies like grandma used to bake. They target advertising in your direction so hopefully, you’ll buy that hedge trimmer from them instead of their competition. And if you see enough of their ads, you just might.

Facebook didn’t create targeted advertising, but they’re better at it than most. My recent search for gardening tools on Amazon almost immediately produced ads for them on my Facebook feed. That is no accident.

Maybe you feel threatened by this, but I don’t. If I’m going to see advertisements, they might as well contain information I actually care about. I almost never click on these ads though. Clicks breed more ads.

You have some control over this. You can regularly delete cookies on your computer if you like. It’s not a fool-proof remedy, but companies have a harder time tracking you without them. You’ll still see advertisements, but they’ll be less likely to attract your attention

Back to Facebook. A few of my friends also say they want to ditch the social giant because it’s consuming their lives.
To put it bluntly, if Facebook is consuming your life, it’s your fault.

Yes, it can be time consuming and invasive – IF you let it. So can television, books, magazines, sports, hobbies and even friends. All of these things have as much control over your life as you’re willing to give them.

You control the on-off switch. Use it.

I believe social media can be a great tool. It does a wonderful job of keeping us in touch with the people we care about. I love reconnecting with friends I’d lost touch with through the years, and frankly, I’d hate to try to plan a high school or family reunion without it.

Do we really want to go back to tracking down classmates through a 25-year-old address list or five pages of old phone numbers? I don’t think so.

But we can and should take reasonable steps to limit social media’s influence on our lives, especially when we’re substituting Facebook “likes” for quality time with family and friends.

That kind of quality time has no substitute.

Kent Bernhardt lives in Salisbury.