In exchange for getting data-mined and marketed-to I get to see what the people I can't be bothered to email are doing.

There are other use cases, like businesses and groups announcing things over FB, but there are plenty of other platforms for this, many of whom are cheap or free.

If you don't see the value, don't use it. Not every product is for everyone. It's entirely possible that for you there is no value in Facebook use. It has a low value for me (excluding WhatsApp).

I use it only because I think its zero cost/risk. I'm very unlikely to fall for phishing scams and no useful (not already public) information about me is on there.

To me this is one of the big frustrations of the article: Facebook is safe for some and unsafe for others, it's useful for some and not for others, it's "worth it" for some and not for others...