Anyone Deleting Facebook?

[Shallowpockets]

Don't use facebook. But, if they mine your data and target you for political ads, I guess it is just one more of the ads that appear constantly and everywhere. I don't even look at ads anymore, just background noise. Amazing that so many sites, even national news sites are inundated with popups and ads that play without you clicking them. Don't even go to them anymore. Seems like they don't realize the "lost" views they have to their site.
However, I believe I am smart enough to make my own decisions even with the Russians trying to influence me should they think I am in a certain demographic.

[LiterallyIronic]

I'm in my 30s but don't really do the social media thing. I have a Facebook account, but I never gave it any information. All the tabs where you're supposed to put in where you went to school, what city you live in, or where you work, etc, have always been blank. I log in every week or so and spend about two minutes looking if anyone posted anything funny. About half the time I log in, it asks me if I'd like to give them my phone number. Ha!

Fortunately for me, I have a very generic name, like John Smith, so you can't Google me or find my Facebook page among the many, many results.

[jaguar3003]

Keeping it. It's very easy to keep your information secure. Don't fill out those personality tests that pop up everytime. Don't install apps. Don't allow apps access to your page. People willingly gave their information up.

[DetroitRick]

No, I plan to keep it. Actually I'm pretty indifferent to it. I use it, but not very much. It costs me no real time or effort. But the value it does provide, in ease of keeping up with certain folks (mainly geographically distant friends, certain musicians, a few authors), makes it worth to me.

I don't use it as a news source, keep my security settings fairly tight, avoid the "quizzes" (because they bore me), and just generally keep it simple. No big deal to me. Zuck will survive nicely with or without me.

[chickadee]

Very recently I found that many FI (financial independence) forums are on FB and I've actually started using it again (if only to read/post on those) .
Also, music is a big hobby of mine, and there are some music forums hosted on there that I follow (and use it to get notified of local concerts from local artists).
Thus, it serve a niche aspect of my social life, but it's by no means a "hub" like it has been for many people.

aj76er, what FI groups are interesting on FB?

[JBTX]

Never used it. I have no interest in reading and posting a bunch of crap on the internet.

I see what you did there.

[2015]

Never had it. Read this and you'll never look at any social media the same way again (including this board):

https://www.amazon.com/Irresistible-Add ... 1594206643

[JBTX]

This seems appropriate.

https://youtu.be/cqggW08BWO0

[warner25]

To be honest, it's not clear to me what everyone is suddenly upset about. I thought we already knew that the platform had become a cesspool of angry political and social activism, and that anyone can buy mountains of data about us in 2018 whether we use Facebook or not.

I was in college and created my account when it was limited to the Ivy League schools and a handful of others (you needed an active .edu email address to register) and it was still TheFacebook. Those were good times. It was simply about connecting with actual classmates and folks in your dorm when you didn't have their AIM screen-name (that's where the real action was), and a little bit of self-expression on your profile page (like your AIM away message).

Things got weird and the value of the platform deteriorated rapidly (for me) when access opened to the general public and it became heavily commercialized. One more thing ruined by the Baby Boomers... kidding... sort of... By the time my mom joined, as early as 2010, I recall writing something to the effect of, "If I didn't already have an account, I probably wouldn't join today." That was long before the IPO.

My wife and I grudgingly maintain accounts only because:
(1) we still chat with a few people who seem to prefer Messenger over other channels of communication
(2) a number of organizations use it as their official channel of communication with the public
(3) it lets us monitor and drop the hammer on what other family members post about us, after we've asked everyone to stop doing so

[flamesabers]

I deleted my facebook account years ago.

[investorpeter]

I also deleted all my pictures and posts about 2 years ago. I tried to delete the account, but couldn't figure out how. I don't think there is a link on the site to the delete button. So I changed my Facebook user name to a fake name.

Here's the funny thing: Somehow, my iPhone also changed my name to the fake Facebook name. I do not have the Facebook app on my iPhone.

So now my iPhone thinks I am the fake name I changed it to on Facebook. Facebook must gave its tentacles into everything. I hope it doesn't change my bank account to the fake name.

That is hilarious. Sounds like it could be a plotline for next season's Black Mirror.

[Alexa9]

Definitely pros and cons. I think it depends entirely on your friends/family and if you genuinely like them or it's more high school/extended family frenemies you want to disconnect from. Some people are obsessed with it and it's pathological in the way it feeds the ego whether it's exotic vacation pics or witty status updates.

[Bfast2Sail]

Deleted all social media accounts in 2016. I found it to be a tremendous waste of time.

[eldinerocheapo]

Dumped FB when one too many ex's emerged from Hell to contact me. Be gone.......you spawn of Satan!

[aj76er]

Very recently I found that many FI (financial independence) forums are on FB and I've actually started using it again (if only to read/post on those) .
Also, music is a big hobby of mine, and there are some music forums hosted on there that I follow (and use it to get notified of local concerts from local artists).
Thus, it serve a niche aspect of my social life, but it's by no means a "hub" like it has been for many people.

aj76er, what FI groups are interesting on FB?

Travel Miles 101
Mustachians in Practice
FI Singles (still awaiting approval for this one)

[3CT_Paddler]

Yes, but it had nothing to do with privacy and the recently discovered lack thereof. I'm solidly with Parker and Palihapitiya in thinking that it is an unhealthy social validation feedback loop and serves no real positive function. I feel that way about social media in general and eschew its use.

You do realize you are using it right now, right?

An anonymous forum is world's different than a social network that is connected to your real identity. The power dynamic is world's different. Bogleheads does not make money through my personal information. FB does... FB is a multibillion dollar organization that pays its people big money to find any small way to unknowingly influence people to stay on their platform, as well as provide your personal information to private companies.

[oriol]

I rarely do much on the Facebook other than using it as a messenger system.

If I delete facebook then I lose messenger.com.

I thought so too, but actually you can deactivate your Facebook account and the Messenger app / messenger.com / Messenger for Desktop will keep working.

[triceratop]

I rarely do much on the Facebook other than using it as a messenger system. I'm sure it has information on me, but I'm not sure I care.

If I delete facebook then I lose messenger.com.

You can actually deactivate your Facebook account and the Messenger app / messenger.com / Messenger for Desktop will keep working.

That may be, but I would be unable to connect with new people. This occurs regularly as my social circle evolves.

[squirm]

Never used Facebook. But I'm surprised that people didn't know their information they uploaded was and is being exploited and sold. Really, they didn't know that? Maybe this will teach others that free isn't really free.

Who would use their real personal info on Facebook anyways? If I opened a Facebook account, everything would be fake.

[oriol]

You can actually deactivate your Facebook account and the Messenger app / messenger.com / Messenger for Desktop will keep working.

That may be, but I would be unable to connect with new people. This occurs regularly as my social circle evolves.

You can add new contacts within the Messenger app.

[oldfatguy]

Yes, but it had nothing to do with privacy and the recently discovered lack thereof. I'm solidly with Parker and Palihapitiya in thinking that it is an unhealthy social validation feedback loop and serves no real positive function. I feel that way about social media in general and eschew its use.

You do realize you are using it right now, right?

An anonymous forum is world's different than a social network that is connected to your real identity. The power dynamic is world's different. Bogleheads does not make money through my personal information. FB does... FB is a multibillion dollar organization that pays its people big money to find any small way to unknowingly influence people to stay on their platform, as well as provide your personal information to private companies.

Of course FB and Bogleheads are different, but they are both social media platforms. It seems to me that "queso" (and others) are trying to define "social media" as "sites I don't want to use."

[Nicolas]

Never joined. I was on Instagram briefly, then found out it was part of FB, immediately deleted it.

[miles monroe]

i have 5 friends (all old friends who tracked me down and sent a request) but i don't use it to socialize -- i follow about 25 businesses that i frequent just for news -- if it snows the ymca posts if they are closing or not, the theater posts new shows, restaurants post their hours and menus, the weekly food truck event posts what trucks are coming, etc etc etc. very useful.

i don't show birthdate, telephone, or email for obvious reasons.

some teens have over 1,000 "friends" which is a real head scratcher to this old fart.

[invst65]

I deleted mine years ago because I had a tendency to post things when I was drunk that ended up embarrassing me and I didn't want them to come back and haunt me later in life.

I recently created another account however because 1.) An online sweepstakes I was trying to enter required it and 2.) Almost 70 years old "later in life" isn't that big of a consideration any more.

Something I have discovered however is that you don't get any friends if you don't want them. You have to say yes to things that would cause Facebook to go looking for them. After several months I have had zero and intend to keep it that way.

[PFInterest]

What do you think Amazon is doing.....
#deleteuber to me was based on more.
Facebook sure is using my data.....but nothing of private value is there....

[triceratop]

You can add new contacts within the Messenger app.

Interesting; thank you.

[Elsebet]

I wouldn't delete it but I hardly look at it anymore, maybe once a month if I remember. I used to get emails when my close friends posted but that stopped working a few months ago and the fixes I googled aren't working for me. I also used to get email notifications from the "for sale" groups I joined but those stopped too so I'm not buying things from there anymore. I tried getting help from their support but they just link me the same page I had already googled and had already attempted the solutions.

Unfortunately I missed my friend's birthday this past Saturday because I became dependent on the FB reminders, now I have to make old-fashioned google calendar reminders.

[telemark]

Yes, but it had nothing to do with privacy and the recently discovered lack thereof. I'm solidly with Parker and Palihapitiya in thinking that it is an unhealthy social validation feedback loop and serves no real positive function. I feel that way about social media in general and eschew its use.

You do realize you are using it right now, right?

An anonymous forum is world's different than a social network that is connected to your real identity. The power dynamic is world's different. Bogleheads does not make money through my personal information. FB does... FB is a multibillion dollar organization that pays its people big money to find any small way to unknowingly influence people to stay on their platform, as well as provide your personal information to private companies.

Of course FB and Bogleheads are different, but they are both social media platforms. It seems to me that "queso" (and others) are trying to define "social media" as "sites I don't want to use."

In a social network like Facebook or Twitter you would pick your favorite members and the system would automatically notify you when they post new content. You might also be able to vote them up and down. The focus is all on personalities, who is popular and who isn't. Bogleheads doesn't do that, correctly in my opinion, because the focus is on the content, helping people by answering questions, rather than on self-promotion (there's always a certain amount of self-promotion going on, people being people, but the platform isn't structured to encourage it). Forums like Bogleheads are more like the old bulletin boards or Usenet groups, which existed long before social media was invented.

Oh, and to answer the original question, I never joined Facebook, though I imagine they know a lot about me anyway.

[jminv]

I deleted it a few years ago. Facebook has some positives but many more negatives. One of the worst from the perspective of this forum is how it encourages 'keeping up with the joneses' by constantly bombarding you with all the fun things your 'friends' are doing. I noticed that the people that post a lot tend to be very wealthy (small minority) or people who don't save anything. Both groups want to show off. My wife still uses it and instagram and I have to remind her that our own situation is vastly removed from the majority of the world's population and that there will always be someone that has more/spends more. It's also a huge waste of time; I found it took away from things I should be doing or could be doing and that it led be to be more irritated with my friends of facebook because of trivial issues, complaints, jealousy, etc.There are many other reasons not to use it. I view Facebook as a real social ill.

[stemikger]

I deactivated two months ago, but just yesterday I sent them my request to permanently delete my account. IMHO FB ruined many relationships I had. I'm sorry I ever joined. Glad to be off it for many reasons.

[GCD]

I have an account that is completely empty. Never posted anything on it. I use it to go on Facebook pages of organizations I am interested in who are too damn cheap to get a real website. Facebook is the default for every organization that can't find the money to run their own webpage. Being heavily funded isn't the primary criteria I use to select what groups interest me so I have to go on Facebook if I want to see when the next event/meeting/whatever is.

[GCD]

Unfortunately I missed my friend's birthday this past Saturday because I became dependent on the FB reminders, now I have to make old-fashioned google calendar reminders.

Ha ha. I get happy birthday notes from my friends on my non-birthday because I gave Facebook a fake birthday.

[Darth Xanadu]

I've never been on it; funny that I had to "resist" pressure to join years ago from friends and family, and now only a few of them are using it either.

That said, I do make use of some other social media.

[whodidntante]

How will my acquaintances know what I had for dinner in Paris?

[triceratop]

Unfortunately I missed my friend's birthday this past Saturday because I became dependent on the FB reminders, now I have to make old-fashioned google calendar reminders.

Ha ha. I get happy birthday notes from my friends on my non-birthday because I gave Facebook a fake birthday.

I entered my mother's birthday for this precise reason.

[Abel]

Never used it. I have no interest in reading and posting a bunch of crap on the internet.

I see what you did there.

LOL perfect!

[harrychan]

I'm not. I suffered a painful lesson when I deleted a similar account on a now defunct social media platform. An acquaintance noticed that I deleted my profile and created a dubious profile with my name and picture then befriended many people and started talking to them. His goal was to use my name to talk to his crush about him. Sick bastard.

[pennstater2005]

I use it to keep track of my children and grandchildren's activities and photos.

I deleted mine because I wasn't using it but lots of people will stay on for the reason Munir listed.

For some families it's an easy way to stay connected, especially if you live far apart or don't get to see each other often.

[sesq]

I am not. I do an annual trip with a group of guys we use a FB group to handle logistics. I find my neighborhood discussion page occasionally useful, same for the buy/sell page (really sell page for my junk). I hid almost all of the political junkies. I don't post very much. Even less now since a friend of mine got me a job and I don't like to mix professional / personal.

I think it is interesting that they spam me almost daily trying to get me to repost a bit of nostalgia. The content generation is down.

[ddurrett896]

Heck no!

It's my picture backup, event invitation, yard sale and way to stay in touch with second branches of family I never see. If this is about the data breach, I could care less. Any mega corp or government agency can figure out enough without FB.

[thegoodlife]

Why is this being asked? Please tell me its not because of the recent news.

For the record – no Facebook user here; just hate to believe that people are shocked that somebody tracked their data. Has no one ever read the TOS? No? Me neither, but that’s what they do and that’s what you agreed to when you clicked on “Agree”. Did it really take a news report to make people aware of this? And isn’t this “recent” incident going back to 2015?
Sorry, I just believe that we all take responsibility for our actions. Amazon tracks purchases, my GPS/phone tracks my location, putting all my data on Mint risks my security. Don’t like it, then don’t shop online , own a phone or use online software.

[jibantik]

Facebook serves one person, easy birthday and holiday wishes to extended family. How else do you guys do that??

[quantAndHold]

I'm not. I suffered a painful lesson when I deleted a similar account on a now defunct social media platform. An acquaintance noticed that I deleted my profile and created a dubious profile with my name and picture then befriended many people and started talking to them. His goal was to use my name to talk to his crush about him. Sick bastard.

This is a real thing, and the main reason I have an account. Cambridge Analytica wouldn’t find much about me, because here isn’t much to be found. I participate in a couple of closed groups. Other than that, the whole point of having a FB account is just to keep someone else from impersonating me.

Oh, and I have an account under a fake name that I use to heckle my elected representatives. That is all.

[Will do good]

Use it for about a month years ago and realized I didn't want to be manipulated by their sensation news or their algorithm.
Besides, our friends who posted are mostly humble bragging, didn't want to be part of that.

[baconavocado]

I never joined FB but I have Yahoo and Google accounts and, like at least 90% of the population, I depend on my electronic devices for almost everything in life. So I'm skeptical about whether deleting a FB account solves the problem of tech companies being able to know almost everything about us and take advantage of that knowledge. For example, Google seems to know every single place I go since I take my phone everywhere. Every time I leave a place it asks me how I liked it. It knows where I am now, where I went yesterday, where I went a year ago, and what I was doing online at all of those times.

Google also has access to my home computer for data backup and *everything* about me is stored on my home computer. We are all connected, for better or worse, and all of these systems are vulnerable. We can make laws to protect us from things that happened yesterday (and we should) but tomorrow is going to be different.

[oldfatguy]

Forums like Bogleheads are more like the old bulletin boards or Usenet groups, which existed long before social media was invented.

What is your definition of social media, and how does it compare with dictionary definitions?

[Doom&Gloom]

Nope. Originally joined to keep up with what kids were doing on there, but that generation has mostly moved on to other platforms.

It is still a useful tool for connecting with old friends and relatives and staying in touch. I have located old friends I used to be close to as well as "lost" relatives, which I never would have done without FB.

I seldom post, and I zoom my screen so the crap on the right side disappears. I do a lot of scrolling to bypass stuff I don't need to see such as "tests," kittens & puppies, food pics, and religious and political comments. FB has its uses, but I could live without it.

[F150HD]

Never used it because it occurred to me that there would be a lot of my personal information out there that might get misused.

What kinds of personal information are you concerned about? There is nothing in my facebook account that isn't easily found with quick internet search.

The shocking details you reveal about yourself when you ‘like’ things on Facebook
Published: Mar 21, 2018 4:25 p.m. ET



One always hears stories of folks accounts being hijacked and passwords changed by a hacker knowing 'personal' information needed to answer those 'secret questions' many institutions have that allow account access. Doesn't look like this helps the cause.

[F150HD]

I stopped using Facebook long ago, and would have deleted it long ago, but every time I tried to find the way to delete it, I spent 10 minutes searching for the delete my account button. Never found it.

But now that so many are leaving, there are newspaper articles telling how to delete it.

Here is how to delete Facebook

He gone.

many don't realize the phone app (on Android at least) can read all your texts and access your entire contact list.

Slippery slope to complete loss of privacy.

[Boglebud]

Another one here who has never had a Facebook account in the first place.

Me neither.