Make Facebook ‘likes’ vanish for your peace of mind

MANILA, Philippines – Are the numbers on your Facebook feed taking over your life?

We may not really notice it, but the popular social networking platform bombards us with tons of numbers at every glance: number of likes, number of comments, number of shares, number of friends, number of unread messages, etc.

Visiting the site becomes an exercise in rating your self-worth according to these numbers. When you post a status or a picture, for instance, don’t you feel a little bad when it doesn’t get as many likes or comments as you’d expected? Or when you do get a particularly ‘liked’ status, is it the best thing that’s happened to you all day?

Fortunately, one man was able to make something that could snap you right out of your number-filled reverie. Back in 2012, Ben Grosser created the Facebook Demetricator, a free web browser extension that wipes out all the usual metrics you see on Facebook. For instance, a status that says “56 people liked this,” for instance, would now say “______ people liked this” with the help of the Demetricator. This way, you can go about your Facebook experience unencumbered by numbers. 

Facebook Demetricator from benjamin grosser on Vimeo.

Grosser sees his Dematricator as just a way to answer one aspect of our numbers-obssessed society. As he puts it on the Demetricator site: “We’re living in a time when our collective obsession with metrics plays out as an insatiable desire to make every number go higher. How much money did I earn? How many choices do I have? Perhaps the most destructive example of this is the financial crisis of the late aughts, when a constant desire for more led the global economy into financial ruin.”

How do you feel about this statement? Would you try out the Demetricator for yourself? Share your thoughts with us in comments section below! – Rappler.com 

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