I still have my facebook account because it’s needed for some very specific things (such as local groups and businesses that use it for mass communication), but I rarely ever open it unless I need to check something very specific. Even then, it is so easy to accidentally start doomscrolling once that page opens. I’ll see an update from an old friend, so I’ll scroll down and there’s someone making some recipe or some shit, I’ll keep scrolling, looking for that next friend update, but nope, there’s some woodworking video, or resin pour… next thing I know I’m zoned out watching some video where someone is cutting up a shoe and using it as an overly complex way of solving something that isn’t a problem. That’s usually the point where I snap out of it and hate myself for falling into the trap again.
I don’t use FB myself, but a dutch org took Meta to court because eu law states users should be able to select a preferred view (algorithm vs chronological). They implemented this for the eu last year, but it conveniently forgets your setting after you leave the page. The org won, so since the last hour of 2025 users in the Netherlands only have to select once and they remember your preference. It works on IG (which i do use), so i assume it works for FB too. In that case, you could vpn through a dutch server and get rid of this nasty algorithm view. But maybe Meta doesn’t want you to do this and built a fix before they released the dutch version.
I still have my facebook account because it’s needed for some very specific things (such as local groups and businesses that use it for mass communication), but I rarely ever open it unless I need to check something very specific. Even then, it is so easy to accidentally start doomscrolling once that page opens. I’ll see an update from an old friend, so I’ll scroll down and there’s someone making some recipe or some shit, I’ll keep scrolling, looking for that next friend update, but nope, there’s some woodworking video, or resin pour… next thing I know I’m zoned out watching some video where someone is cutting up a shoe and using it as an overly complex way of solving something that isn’t a problem. That’s usually the point where I snap out of it and hate myself for falling into the trap again.
I don’t use FB myself, but a dutch org took Meta to court because eu law states users should be able to select a preferred view (algorithm vs chronological). They implemented this for the eu last year, but it conveniently forgets your setting after you leave the page. The org won, so since the last hour of 2025 users in the Netherlands only have to select once and they remember your preference. It works on IG (which i do use), so i assume it works for FB too. In that case, you could vpn through a dutch server and get rid of this nasty algorithm view. But maybe Meta doesn’t want you to do this and built a fix before they released the dutch version.
If you want to try, you can use uBlock to block the FB feed (laptop browser anyway)