“News-feed preferences”

“I wanna know why I get e-mail notifications for everything my aquacise instructor puts on her Facebook, yet nothing from my kid brother?”
I was asking ****, the lady who grooms my dog.**** is the wife of **** ********, who I worked with at the Mighty Mezz. **** worked there too.
Both since established a dog-grooming business. Husband **** quickly moved to help after my wife died.
**** has a Facebook, as do I; we are “friends.” But I don’t much look at it. I lob Facebook questions at ****.
My Facebook “friendship” with my aquacise instructor is thanks to SuckerBird and his cronies secretly trolling my iPhone contacts without my permission after I got “Facebook-for-iPhone.”
I sure don’t mind being “Facebook-friends” with my aquacise instructor, but why do I get Facebook e-mails for her posts, yet none for my kid-brother, who probably posts more?
“You gotta check yer ‘news-feed preferences,’” **** said.
“Huh?” I asked. I also have better things to do: like mow lawn, do laundry, walk my dog, and primarily sling-words (write these blogs).
“Why did Facebook become so complicated?” I asked.
Returned from aquacise, I was presented with a prompt-sheet. **** was showing me how to dicker “news-feed preferences.”
I haven’t looked at it yet, but will eventually. My dog awaits, and here I am slinging words — which is great fun.
Is this the new millennium paradigm? Figger out Facebook so you can fiddle it?
My friend ***** (the widow) and I both have iPhones. My aquacise instructor has one too.
A question arises. I text both occasionally, and with ***** I get notification she “read” it. I don’t with my aquacise instructor. I don’t mind, but I’d like to know why.
At first I thought my aquacise instructor might not be updating her iOS, her iPhone’s operating-system. I do, and I think ***** does too — it’s that “read” notification.
But then I realized it might also be an iPhone setting. Like maybe my aquacise instructor stopped her “read” notifications.
I’m not savvy, born as I was during a century fabricated by Hollywood and Walter Cronkite.
So I fired up “news-feed preferences,” after -a) walking my dog, -b) a medical appointment, and -c) mowing. —I also glommed my breakfast cereal after walking my dog.
Uhm, LA-DEE-DAH! (Not you, ****.)
That led to a menu with live buttons. I clicked “Prioritize who to see first.” Again LA-DEE-DAH! Only one “friend” was first, but now many are — including ****.
If all these “friends” are now “first,” who’s actually “first?” (No, “who’s on second, what’s on first.”)
I don’t see this as turning e-mail off or on. It’s fiddling my “news-feed,” which I never look at. I suppose now I will, to see if I fiddled my “news-feed.” Some day, but not right away.
I got things I’d rather do.
Something tells me my “friends” determine e-mail notifications. And they may have done so inadvertently.
(The usual Facebook madness = cloaked in mystery.)

• The “Mighty Mezz” is the Canandaigua Daily-Messenger newspaper, from where I retired almost 13 years ago. Best job I ever had — I was employed there almost 10 years — over 11 if you count my time as a post-stroke unpaid intern. (I had a heart-defect caused stroke October 26th, 1993, from which I recovered fairly well. That defect was repaired.)
• “SuckerBird” is Mark Zuckerberg, founder and head-honcho of Facebook.