I like to use facebook to keep in touch, post pictures of my adorable children doing wholesome activities for Aussie inlaws, and to nose about..

But…certain members of my family post what can only be described as “factual posts that are in fact, garbage…”
Things like the “if you’re having a heart attack, cough three times“, and “be aware of foreign people, they’ll steal your jobs and soul“, and most recently “don’t put your mobile down your bra as it will cause breast cancer“.

Part of me just chooses to ignore it (which is generally what I do), but a small part of me feels ‘dirty’ for not attempting to correct this drivel – at times i’ve posted links to scientific evidence suggesting the post is, in fact, tripe.
But though I feel ‘right’, I also feel ‘petty’.

Basically, I don’t want to be the guy on the internet who has to right the wrongs, but in a way, Facebook seems a bit more ‘local’ – it’s posted to other family members, who may believe this shite.

WWSTW do?

DrP

Social media is just a conduit for what’s already going on in their tiny little minds. You have got to face facts and realise you are related to a group of knuckle draggers. Just think yourself lucky you have permanent loan of the family brain cell.

When my folks insisted on sharing daily mail links I just replied that my browser was set to not open that crap as it’s mostly made up bullshit, kind of went down OK.

I follow a course of open and outright mockery until the offending party is shamed into dragging themselves up the evolutionary ladder a rung or two..

They’ll thank you for it eventually

Thanks for the mobile down the bra tip. I’ll use my clutch bag from now on.

Basically, I don’t want to be the guy on the internet who has to right the wrongs, but in a way, Facebook seems a bit more ‘local’ – it’s posted to other family members, who may believe this shite.

WWSTW do?

DrP

Quote offending piece
Science it death
Escalate to pithy shitty put downs

End up with outright mockery.

If thy’re shared from another source, click on the drop-arrow on the post and select “Hide All From..”

I don’t have family on Facebook, it’s easier that way.

I often take the time to look up the fact check, and post it.

First and last ones below, the middle one is just xenophobic BS.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/homecure/coughcpr.asp

http://www.snopes.com/medical/disease/cellphonebra.asp

If it’s dangerous (like treating a heart attack by coughing) then I’d feel duty bound to correct it. IANAD, so i’d guess even more important for you; wouldn’t like to be at the funeral where someone said ‘well he tried coughing and it didn’t work’ where you have to pipe up ‘yeah, I knew that was BS but didn’t want to offend anyone’

If it’s racist / xenophobic shit – then absolutely call them on it. We don’t change minds by approval of it, even passive. It’s OK to disagree with your family and friends, healthy even, and if they can’t accept it, I’d rethink my relationship with them.

If it’s mindless but ultimately harmless like mobiles in bras. Your call, I’d probably let it go or maybe take the piss a bit.

just put lol and an arrow pointing to the dog turd emoji. Don’t forget to put a wink so you can always claim it was a joke.

Being on Facebook and being subjected to stupidity is a bit like weeing in the town centre and complaining that everyone can see your wee tinkle.

Accept it, or keep off.

[I often take the time to look up the fact check, and post it./quote]

Well, this is kind of the dilemma – am I an arse for doing this??
Meh..we’re visiting them at the weekend, so if i do anyhting I’ll do it on monday..

Tough guy DrP…

I don’t “follow” my more share happy acquaintances, we’re still friends, they can still see all my crap, but i don’t see theres

Well don’t hold back life saving information DrP how many times should I cough if it’s not 3?

It’s 2.5 times.

The .5 is really the lifesaver.

@DrP – just unfollow them as above.

Daft q maybe …. But are you a medical doctor?

I’ve “muted” most of my extended family to keep the crazy religious stuff out of my timeline.

The best I saw was my father. He has remarried to a lovely lady who has a gay son, which he disapproves of. They share email and Facebook profiles, and he put a ridiculous anti-gay “Christian” post on Facebook, under her name.

Well don’t hold back life saving information DrP how many times should I cough if it’s not 3?

I think the more pertinent medical advice I’d seek from the OP is when not to have a heart attack. I’ve read advice that I should try and avoid having a heart attack during a game of charades. I certainly know its ill-advised to choke on a grape in those circumstances. My family are bad guessers.

You think you have it bad, I have leave supporters on my friends list.

Although I’m friends with most of mine and my wifes family on facebook, I think my wife is the only one of the lot who I haven’t unfollowed. Apart from my one of my uncles and one of hers who ‘liked’ posts by Britain First – unfriended them straight away and luckily I never speak to them anyway. Don’t want their pictures of cats etc clogging up my facebook feed full of bikes, VWs and preserved diesel locomotives 😀

I refuse to be ‘friends’ with either of my parents on facebook, as well as many relations, and unfriend the type of people who share bigoted/racist/plain wrong links or who repeatedly post with incorrect spelling or grammar. If I’m concerned removing them may offend I just unfollow.

My sister has had a tough time the past few years, really tough, I sympathise with her, I care for her, I’m there for her if she needs me, but I don’t follow her on any social media because I don’t need to see dozens of inspirational quotes a week, it’s just draining.

Daft q maybe …. But are you a medical doctor?

Yup.
I’m also a spin doctor, and once went into partnership with Dre and Fox…

You think you have it bad, I have leave supporters on my friends list.

Same family chap is a keen leave supporter too…
He didn’t like it when I said i was waiting for the £350mil promised to the NHS once we stop helping johnny foreigner… 😉

DrP

If it’s dangerous (like treating a heart attack by coughing) then I’d feel duty bound to correct it.

This solves the problem in one of two ways –

Solution 1
the person who shares posts about ‘lethal doses of apricot stones being a natural cure for cancer that doctors having a vested financial interest in people dying of cancer don’t want you to know about’ will learn something and maybe seek to check and verify what they share in the future.

Solution 2
we’ve all estatblised in the last fortnight its that ‘Experts’ are part of the liberal elite and that we’re all better off if we not only ignore what they say, but don’t even acknowledge that they are saying anything at all. So Dr P’s relatives will just block him and he won’t have to see any more of their their posts.

Just think yourself lucky you have permanent loan of the family brain cell.

‘Damning with faint praise’ on a whole other level!

Doesn’t the un-follow option stop this kind of stuff?
Use FB mainly to keep up with friends and family but Whatsapp groups deals with most of the real stuff. I have a cousin who posts Britain First/UKIP stuff all the time alongside statements in capitals all the time, it doesnt bother me enough to un-follow, I just scan, take it in, compute then file in my memory in the appropriate folder (delete).

Unfollow..that’s the doozie…

Will trial that for a bit…

DrP

It depends. My family are generally pretty good, mainly because only one posts.
My cousin de-friended me because I made a joke about their recently deceased hamster being tasty when barbequed with gerbils.
Another friend posted some anti Moslem crap, I took her to task about it and suggested to her that people who put “just sayin” or “im not racist but” invariably are exactly that, despite their protestations. She de-friended me too. Saved me the job and I didnt notice until someone else told me!
Just because its family doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be enlightened. If they dont like it, thats their tough luck.

Unfollow..that’s the doozie…

Will trial that for a bit…

Will that be a double blinded placebo controlled trial or just some random I got it of some cyclists on the internet trial?

And if that doesn’t work we’ll put it down to being some kind of virus and send you on your way with a shrug of the shoulders 🙂

Just think yourself lucky you have permanent loan of the family brain cell.

Someone hasn’t seen DrP’s Facebook feed 😉

we’ve all estatblised in the last fortnight its that ‘Experts’ are part of the liberal elite

Sadly I think “unknowledge” is a problem that has been growing for at least a decade. The world has just grown too complicated for people that prefer simple answers.

They’d much rather it was flat, that we didn’t go to the moon, that cancer was caused by phones and cured by apricots, and that Johnny Foreigner was the source of all their problems.

OP: I generally try to challenge it a bit, in degrees varying from the gentle “I’d like to see the evidence for that” to the more direct “You realise that is complete bollocks?”

Xenophobia/racism is probably the trickiest one though. I ended up being unfriended by my cousin after I started pointing out the nonsense and lies in the Britain First memes she was re-posting.

You could reply with a sarcastic “Why didn’t they teach me this in medical school! I’ll add this to my repertoire of treatments along side leaching and taking mercury to treat syphilis!”

Facebook is full of desperate wannabes trying too hard to be cool, taking part in a popularity contest.

It brings out the narcissistic, facile keeping up appearances side in people. Fuels the gossip network, nosey neighbour and small mindedness. It’s full of narcissistic selfies (look at me my life is totes amaze) with women taking hours to do model poses for profile pictures (they change every week) and pretend they make no effort for.

Not to mention the reposted life affirming quotes, OMG OTT collective back slapping and outrage. Companies desperate to be perceived as cool with viral advertising.

I mean it’s so like actually literally WTF OMG ain’t nobody got time for that.

Do people get told in some way when you unfriend/unfollow them ?

Just unfollow them. Have done so with a few familly members

(Are you still on facebook? Oh yes you are…. 😉 )

Facebook is full of …

Yours might be. Mine is mostly my extended circle of friends, family and interests.

Perhaps some pruning is required?

You can do “hide post” on stuff you don’t want to see, it’s not bad at deducing that you don’t want to see Daily Mail links any more. Do it a lot on the same person’s posts and you hardly ever see anything from them, but without the possibly offence-causing unfollow.

You can “mute” groups too, which is handy for friends that choose the medium of Facebook groups to document their children’s lives.

You can choose to unfollow.

Often these posts can be marketing spam too and may not actually be from pals but it appears to be.

Balls to it, unfollow them. You can’t see their shit they can see yours, simples.

Saying that I’m on the verge of de-friending then as I CBA’d with the rubbish anymore.

I think unfollow only works one way, it just means you can’t see their posts unless you look at their profile.

So just do that, or call them on it.

@ Graham S – Pruning….lopped off at the base more like.

I don’t know in years to come Candy Crush may be remembered as a cultural high point.