June 24, 2024
By Jen Stanbro
Wasting time on social media has never been a problem for me. No addiction here (well..unless you’re counting sugar and a couple of highly addictive games on my phone…but I digress). The point is, things that have caused people to give social media the boot have not really been much of an issue in my world. Coming across troubling or depressing posts in my newsfeed was never a big deal. I simply unfollowed or clicked FB algorithm links to ‘see less.’ My newsfeed is a pretty happy place these days.
When argumentative or hateful people commented on my more thought provoking content, I had no problem either engaging respectfully for the sake of clarity and understanding, or, if they were not interested in humble, compassionate, empathetic discourse, they lost the right to participate in my spaces. Their comments were simply deleted or hidden, and they were added to my block list for future posts. Though we stayed friends and I remained accessible.
I’ve used social media for things that mattered to me. I’ve lived in three states, so I have friends and family all over the place. Social media has allowed me to stay connected to so many people I might have otherwise lost touch with. It’s been precious to me to see friends and former students or colleagues posting updates, for the sake of rejoicing together, sharing tears, supporting one another, or simply to keep up with their beautiful, growing families.
Social Justice is a big theme in my life, so finding influencers who are making huge strides on behalf of oppressed people groups has been a unique treasure on social media. The truth is: discrimination is part of the human condition. If it’s not one, it’s another. Someone may be discriminated against in one area but the discriminator in another area, whether intentionally or unintentionally. I’m always grateful to learn about the experiences of others and shine light when appropriate. I love raising awareness, helping people to see the marginalized. I love to follow others who do too, and point people to their awesome content.
So, when I logged into my Facebook account on June 12, and got this notice:
I was pretty bummed. It wasn’t devastating. I wasn’t lost or depressed. It was just frustrating, since “himoyiw398?” is definitely not my account. I went into Instagram as instructed, to find, unsurprisingly, that neither my phone number, nor my e-mail addresses were affiliated with my account anymore. Upon trying to recover my username, I was met with supposed options which literally just didn’t work. IG had me choose two contacts and claimed to send a message to them to verify that I’m me. My contacts received nothing…twice. IG claimed to send a recovery e-mail to my back-up address. Nothing ever came. Not in spam. Not anywhere. Other IG help option buttons were nothing more than dead buttons. The link didn’t do anything at all, or took me to a white page.
Felt a little dystopian.
Help links through Facebook, Instagram, and Meta yielded nothing. They were circular in nature. I kept coming back to directions to – “log in to your Instagram account and then click…xyz.” The same with Facebook. But I couldn’t log in to IG and FB was suspended so…
I found a message board with almost 1,000 people who had experienced the exact same thing. Most reported no hope, dead ends. One said that they got their account back after filing a complaint with the Attorney General in their state and in California. So I did. It was a quick online form that took all of five minutes to complete and allowed me to upload screenshots of the situation. I got replies that, in fact, the AG has no authority to compel Meta to assist customers with hacked accounts. There was exactly no one anywhere to whom I could simply prove that I’m me, explain my problem, and get assistance.
Cool.
Well, all that digging and attempting was done in 15 minute bouts, over the course of two or three days immediately following the loss. As of right now, my IG account is simply gone. Nowhere to be found. Just 12 days into my 180 days to appeal, my Facebook account logins no longer pull up the suspended notification. It just doesn’t let me log in. My poor kiddos lost contact with all their Messenger Kids friends from several different states (we’re not the only ones who’ve moved over the years). Yet my Facebook page is still live to others who search it. No new posts. No new anything since I last used it. So odd.
The other problem is, my music page, and my daughter’s bakery page on FB and IG were linked, so those are now lost too. Ugh.
And yet…
I’m finding that this feels more like an opportunity.
Instead of sharing my thoughts on a heavily censored platform that could literally sweep the rug from under me, delete everything I’ve said, every photo I’ve shared, all with no recourse, I find myself wanting to build community on my own terms moving forward. Maybe get over to my website and blog, do some connecting there.
So off we go!