Preeminently Deleted My Facebook Account

[sventvkg]

Facebook and social media in general has always bothered me but it's always intrigued me as well. Ultimately it ends up being a huge time suck it's a little addicting and it's frustrating because I end up wanting to talk about real issues and pontificating a bit. It sends me down the individual liberty and the political black hole and adds to my frustration. Ultimately I just became untenable and after deleting several accounts over the years I've decided that this is it and I can no longer have a personal account on Facebook. So I permanently deleted my profile and it's for good this time and I feel really good about it. It's useless drivel anyway.

[Anderton]

You're apparently part of a trend.

[UstadKhanAli]

Great! You're on Instagram and Snapchat now?

[Ernest Buckley]

Facebook and social media in general has always bothered me but it's always intrigued me as well. Ultimately it ends up being a huge time suck it's a little addicting and it's frustrating because I end up wanting to talk about real issues and pontificating a bit. It sends me down the individual liberty and the political black hole and adds to my frustration. Ultimately I just became untenable and after deleting several accounts over the years I've decided that this is it and I can no longer have a personal account on Facebook. So I permanently deleted my profile and it's for good this time and I feel really good about it. It's useless drivel anyway.

 

I`ve struggled with it as well but at the end of the day I decided to use FB partly for business and its still a cool place to keep up with people. It took me a few years but I try to steer away from any political posting. Most people don`t want to hear it and honestly, no one is changing their POVs so…. who cares? I keep it friendly and supportive and try to respond as if I were in the same room as the person. That keeps me honest.

 

As for time consuming… I think that was the case early on but now its something I do when I`m chilling out at night. Helps me to stay in touch with people and even develop friendships. Of course, getting together with people is the preferred method but it takes a lot of effort to do so. Lastly, I limit my friends… 180-200 seems to be a good number for me. I feel like I pretty much touch base with everyone with comments, or likes or even conversations. Then you see people with 800+ friends and I`m like, really?

 

 

 

 

[UstadKhanAli]

 

I`ve struggled with it as well but at the end of the day I decided to use FB partly for business and its still a cool place to keep up with people. It took me a few years but I try to steer away from any political posting. Most people don`t want to hear it and honestly, no one is changing their POVs so…. who cares? I keep it friendly and supportive and try to respond as if I were in the same room as the person. That keeps me honest.

 

As for time consuming… I think that was the case early on but now its something I do when I`m chilling out at night. Helps me to stay in touch with people and even develop friendships. Of course, getting together with people is the preferred method but it takes a lot of effort to do so. Lastly, I limit my friends… 180-200 seems to be a good number for me. I feel like I pretty much touch base with everyone with comments, or likes or even conversations. Then you see people with 800+ friends and I`m like, really?

 

Well, I'm one of those people with gobs of friends. I just looked. I have 930 FB friends. And most of those people only see my photography posts.

 

Like I keep saying, I seem to use FB differently than most people, and seem to get a lot more out of it than many.

 

I mostly interact with photographers, and especially photographers who are into night sky, long exposure, and light painting photography. I participate in photography groups, and absolutely love them!!!! I learn a lot, and I also have a lot of fun!

 

So most of those people who have "friended" me are either fellow photographers or fans of my photography.

 

And what I do to manage the information is I use three tiers of friends: close friends, friends, and acquaintances. Most of those FB friends are put into the latter category since I don't know really know them.

 

When I post a photo that I want everyone to see, I post it as "public".

 

When I post something I'm going through at work, something more personal, or something that reveals where I am at a given time (which I don't do very often), I post it as "friends, not acquaintances", just toggling between these sorts of things. It's very easy and quick, and I like controlling the information. Or I close it up more, and only have close friends see some stuff, which is a very tight circle. But with each toggle, I control the information being put out.

 

And of course, I get to interact with a bunch of friends. My friends are very interesting, fascinating people, so I love seeing their posts.

 

I really enjoy the experience. I pretty much get out of it what I want.

[UstadKhanAli]

As for discussing politics and meatier subjects, I do that too sometimes, but I am extreeeeeemely selective about who, when, and how I do that. It's not my favorite thing to talk about, but some subjects fascinate me. But I don't generally put it out there. I am very selective about who and what I discuss. Fortunately, I have some very interesting friends whose opinions I value, really insightful, intelligent viewpoints, so the discussions I do have I like, and I frequently learn a lot.

[Vito Corleone]

I avoid FB for the most part. It's cool to connect with old friends once in awhile but most of it is drivel I don't have time for. I could easily get sucked into the political pontificating stuff but I also realize that nobody really wants to hear it. Especially friends. There are people who I genuinely like and care about who I've turned off or "de-friended" because it seems that all they do is post their political views and, since I don't agree with them, it only makes me angry and dislike them. So beyond maybe "liking" a political post once in a while, I do my best to stay away from politics on FB altogether. And I limit myself to no more than a couple hours a month on FB period. That's really all it takes to keep up with what your long distance friends are up to.

 

Seriously, is there any bigger waste of time than arguing politics? And this is coming from someone who enjoys doing it. (Both because I like expressing my opinion and because I enjoy the art of debate.) You'll never change anyone's mind. No one really cares what you think anymore than you care what they think. And you only risk alienating friends and family.

 

And ---again, speaking from the position of someone who has done this myself---I'm always amazed by how much time people are willing to devote to such stuff. The truth is this: you get one vote every couple of years. Most people (especially those most prone to watch a lot of cable TV news or listen to talk radio or post on the internet) already know who they are going to vote for (or at least which party) way ahead of time. Your vote isn't really going to matter much anyway---the same person will win whether or not you show up to vote or not. And certainly will win whether you post on line about it or not. To the degree to which politics affects your everyday life, the truth is that effect would be exactly the same whether you paid attention to politics or not. Or whether you vote or not. Not saying people shouldn't vote---I think you should. Just saying let's be realistic about what really is going on here and how important any of us minions down here really matter. Especially regarding big national type issues and elections.

 

So if you figure how much time you spend between elections making sure you're "informed" about a vote you will cast that is almost certainly to be the same regardless of how informed you make yourself or not....is there any bigger waste of time in your life? Time that could be spent enjoying your family or enjoying music or spending time outdoors or a million other things that would be better for your soul than being angry about and arguing over whether the Republicans or the Democrats are the most likely to screw up the country further.

[Vito Corleone]

I've even tried to stay away from posting on political forums because those can REALLY be a time suck. (Not asking to be allowed to post on the political forum here after the latest software change was a big help with that!) But at least people on political forums are all in the same boat and you're all playing the same game.

 

Posting political stuff on FB is more like standing on the street corner with a sign. The people who aren't interested in engaging in debate are only going to be annoyed by your presence.

 

I dunno. I think there some sociological study that should be done here. I'm all for free speech and all that and say what you want where you want---I won't try to stop you---, but I think the same thing when I see a car with political bumper stickers on it. Who are you talking to exactly? Thanks for the info, but am I really supposed to care whether you voted for Obama or Romney in the last election? Should I really care that you want to abolish the IRS or ban handguns?

 

I don't know you. I'm simply just driving on the same highway as you. I actually don't give a hoot about your political views and I'm pretty sure you aren't interested in mine--especially if they differ from yours. Is it just some self-absorbed or ego-stroking thing that makes people want to shout their views to the general public whether they are interested or not? Are they hoping for a thumbs-up from like minded folks? A smug "take that!" in your face thing to the "other side"?

 

Should I care more or less about whether you're a Republican or a Democrat than I should whether you're a Yankees or a Red Sox fan?

 

Kind of strange if you think about it.

[MrKnobs]

So I permanently deleted my profile and it's for good this time and I feel really good about it. It's useless drivel anyway.

 

You didn't delete anything. You revoked your access to it. All that information is still there waiting for you (or others) to access. Facebook will take you back anytime (they'll even pester you in email) and you'll see it's all still there. Facebook makes money selling your info, you gave it to them freely, they're not going to delete it.

 

Another company, Mylife.com, is even worse. If you ask them (as I did) to remove your personal info, they'll say "Well we just buy it from aggregators, so sure, we'll remove it, but it will automatically reappear the next time we refresh from the aggregators. There's really no way to get rid of information and, after all, it's only what you freel provided."

 

But wait - it gets worse.

 

Mylife is now selling a service to get rid of your information on the web. Does this sound like blackmail to you yet?

 

It gets even more interesting.

 

Some time back after realizing one can never pull back personal info from the web and that stalkers DO exist and WILL get into your real life, I opted for the "poison the well" strategy. Since I can't delete my own personal data, I will do my best to make it confusing and inaccurate.

 

If you have a common name (Jim Stevens or the like) you need to do nothing as there will automatically be some confusion as to which info and pics are you, where you live, how old you are, marital status, workplace, etc. My name is not common, so I have to work a little harder at it. I create multiple "me" accounts all over the internet, all with the same name, but different ages, locations, employers, marital status, etc.

 

Here's the part that should really shock and concern you.

 

Every day I get email telling me that Terry D from Dallas or Houston or Seattle or Vancouver is LOOKING FOR ME or has CHECKED OUT MY PROFILE.. along with a scare tactic offer to sell me a service to stop that and / or find out who they are and their info - selling both sides of the deal. Snoop on them and keep them from snooping on you, sold by the same company that puts the stuff up.

 

And guess what? I never searched for myself. They just made it up to scare me.

 

And I AM scared.

 

Terry D.

 

 

[sventvkg]

Yea I know it's still there but thankfully I never put up any personal information. Yes there are pics etc but even on the other profiles I've deleted over the years it's always been throw away emails, no addresses, phone numbers, specifics in any way. Anyway have decided to keep my profile but it's down to just a handful of friends and family with no personal information on there. It seems like it's the only place anyone is willing to communicate anymore so I'll just leave it and check it couple times a month...

[RoadRanger]

Yah know, I've contacted "musicians wanted" type ads on CraigsList after Googling them for a couple minutes with what info they supplied and had them FREAK OUT with how much I knew about them like I was stalking them or something. WTF, are folks really that stoopid? Guess so LOL. Good way to weed out the paranoids I guess .