Credit: andrew snook

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: What we learned about ourselves in the Great Facebook Crash

Oct 6, 2021 | 4:49 AM

KAMLOOPS — WHEN FACEBOOK WENT DOWN we all did our best to get through it. We even tried to laugh.

My favourite came from Kamloops school trustee and law professor John O’Fee, who posted when it was all over: “My next door neighbor knocked on my door with a plate of food in her hands. With Instagram and Facebook down she wanted me to know what she was having for dinner.”

Fact is, though, it was stressful. I like to think I’m not co-dependent on Facebook but I spent a lot of time logging in and out, rebooting my computer, opening and closing, trying in vain to check Messenger.

Should I uninstall, re-install and try again? Where was I supposed to get my quota of cute puppy photos?

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I like to check on what the trolls are saying from time to time, and I wondered what kind of day they were having with nowhere to vent. Did they start phoning people and leaving anonymous voicemail rants? Or mailing insulting postcards?

It was even more stressful for Mark Zuckerberg, who personally lost $6 billion as Facebook shares dropped. Businesses around the world that rely on Facebook infrastructure were offline for six hours with the rest of us, and lost billions more. Other Internet services dependent on Facebook experienced the same thing.

All this came the day after a Facebook whistleblower went public with allegations her former employer is more concerned about revenues than stopping the spread of hate and misinformation. There was speculation the two events might be connected but Zuckerberg assured us the crash was all about “faulty configurations.”

Well, OK, but the Great Facebook Crash of 2021 taught us a harsh lesson about how much the world has come to rely on Zuckerberg’s platform. On the other hand, at least one poll says most people think it would be a great thing if all Internet giants went offline forever.

That’s a tempting scenario.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.