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Entertainment

Facebook Without The Numbers

Benjamin Grosser’s Facebook Demetricator lets you experience the social media site minus the metrics.

Facebook Demetricator from benjamin grosser on Vimeo.

Facebook has become a daily occurrence in our lives, and along with it the rolling feed of numbers that keep you updated on how many likes, comments, friends, shares, and everything else you’ve had. Every time you login, the numbers are there, feeding your addiction to the site—but what would it be like if they disappeared? Would a weight be lifted?

Artist Benjamin Grosser has created a browser add-on, Facebook Demetricator, that makes all those pesky Facebook metrics vanish. By using it you no longer have to be a slave to the digits, freeing yourself to just be satisfied that you make worthwhile posts (you really do).

Grosser wants people to realize how much these numbers have come to define our experience of the social media site, along with highlighting the general capitalist mindset that’s always wanting more, more, MORE! “With this work, I aim to disrupt the prescribed sociality these metrics produce,” he says, “Enabling a network society that isn't dependent on quantification.”

Can you survive without those quantifications? Or will you end up like Lisa Simpson when she needs to be graded to give her worth? Try it and see how long you last.

@stewart23rd