I mentioned earlier that I’ve launched a podcast with a good friend of mine, Ewan Christie, an employment lawyer in Toronto, Canada. We had worked on The Nanfang together many years ago, and have kept in touch regularly since we shuttered the site at the end of 2016. Earlier this year, we decided to launch a podcast that features a lot of the material we discussed during regular weekend conversations.

The podcast is a work-in-progress, but as we record more shows they’re slowly improving. We had a blast this week because PR veteran Edward Segal joined to talk about a number of PR issues facing companies today. Segal just released a new book called Crisis Ahead: 101 Ways to Prepare for and Bounce Back from Disasters, Scandals, and Other Emergencies, and dispensed some pretty practical advice for communications people as they wrestle with a global pandemic, a tech backlash, Black Lives Matter, and economic calamity. Ewan, who addresses legal issues each week, also talked about how COVID-19 is already changing how employment contracts are written up and what people should look for before signing on the dotted line.

It’s de rigeur to bash Facebook these days, with no shortage of reasons from undermining democracy to stoking racial tensions in the developing world. Who’s to blame? Founder Mark Zuckerberg, in his role as CEO, obviously has to be accountable. But his number two, who has been the subject of fawning articles over the years, appears to be a major culprit. From the New York Times:

Sheryl Sandberg asked Facebook’s communications staff to research George Soros’s financial interests in the wake of his high-profile attacks on tech companies, according to three people with knowledge of her request, indicating that Facebook’s second in command was directly involved in the social network’s response to the liberal billionaire.

Ms. Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, asked for the information in an email to a senior executive in January that was forwarded to other senior communications and policy staff, the people said. The email came within days of a blistering speech Mr. Soros delivered that month at the World Economic Forum, attacking Facebook and Google as a “menace” to society and calling for the companies to be regulated.

Sheryl Sandberg managed to jump on a rocket ship when she joined Facebook in 2008 to provide guidance to a young leadership group. I have no idea whether she’s been effective or not, but various profiles and features have lionized her and given her ample credit for Facebook’s incredible success.

In light of the scandals swirling around Facebook, her judgment, if not all of her “accomplishments”, should be questioned. The attacks on Soros, which entered the realm of anti-Semitism, speak volumes of her character. If she’s done what she’s accused of doing, she’s unworthy of her position and should never have similar power in any other company ever again.

I got a push notification on my phone a couple of weeks ago from Facebook, politely informing me that I hadn’t updated my status in a month and encouraging me to let my friends know what I’ve been up to. I had never received a message like that before, so clearly I had been good about updating enough or the social media giant was employing a new tactic to get people active again.

While the notification caught me off guard, it did confirm something I’d been feeling all along:  I’m using the service less frequently. Facebook is very sneaky at getting attention and prompting people to open the app through various notifications, alerts, and badges, and it’s largely worked (for me, too). But time and time again, I’d open it up and begin scrolling through the newsfeed only to find low-level arguments about Trump and #fakenews, aspirational quotes, beach vacation photos, selfies, and more. I don’t begrudge anyone from posting these things, but I realized I wasn’t getting much value for my time. It was like consuming empty calories.

The fact is, it seems everyone is busy these days and time is tight. I can open Twitter to get the latest news (a piece on why Twitter is so much better than Facebook would be long and detailed, so I’ll save it for another day), Nuzzel, my RSS app-of-choice Reeder, or any of the subscriptions I have to news organizations like the New York Times or Washington Post. If I really feel like a dip in the social media pool, Instagram is a lightweight, simple, and fun way to see what people are up to.

I don’t know if I’m experiencing this in isolation, or if others are reaching the same conclusion. I have friends who have sworn-off Facebook in an act of defiance, angry about its invasion of privacy or because of some deep dislike of Mark Zuckerberg. I’m not in either camp; I just slowly began seeing less value to the point where I’ve stopped using Facebook and hardly even noticed.

I’ve decided to delete the app from my phone, as I can get whatever I need, if I need anything, through the mobile web (plus, Facebook fans, the official Facebook app is a major drain on your phone’s battery). I’ll continue to use the Messenger app, though. I’m also not sure yet if I’ll entirely deactivate my account, which seems like a giant leap into the abyss, as if I’m removing my name from the world’s phonebook. But for the time being, I’m happy without it. And plus, nobody needs empty calories.