Finally Facebook Free

I guess I can keep this post simple: I deleted my Facebook account today. Finally. Of course, I tweeted about this on the one social media (Twitter) platform I still have. Not sure how ironic that is, but anyways.

I blogged about my Facebook relationship being complicated, but I had no problem divorcing myself from it today.

In fact, after deleting the Facebook and Messenger apps from my phone and tablet back in December 2018, my activity on the site plummeted. I grew distant from it. So I had practically and emotionally started deleting Facebook; today was the final and official “nuke from orbit.” I deleted rather than deactivated.

On top of that, I already deleted my Instagram account in March.

So why did I delete it now? I had been leaning towards it for a good while, holding off any rash or emotional decision. But the most recent load of bad news about new and further privacy scandals and bad company practices in general pushed me over the edge.

I’ve simply had more than enough of anything associated with Mark Zuckerberg. No WhatsApp, no Facebook, no Instagram. I do not trust Zuckerberg and do not like his business practices.

Social media in general may not be worth what it costs on us as individuals or as a society. I don’t want to delve into the scary world of Surveillance Capitalism and The Attention Economy, so suffice to say that deleting Facebook is something I wish everyone would do.

At the very least, I hope my example will prevent my kids from ever wanting Facebook. My oldest son will turn 13 very soon, the age allowed to have a Facebook account; I will deter him from it.

I am not anti-social. I like sharing with friends and family, connecting and socializing on some level. We all do; humans are made to be relational (even us introverts).

Without Facebook, it is still easy enough to share pictures with my family and communicate with them! There are plenty of good apps, services, and other ways to stay in touch, each with pros and cons or trade-offs.

But Facebook is not worth it. Oversharing, a junky Newsfeed, addiction and distraction, uncomfortable friend requests, social anxiety, etc. These are personal reasons to quit Facebook in addition to the “global” reasons you’ve read about in the news since the Cambridge Analytica scandal, March 2018.

Here are some links to my past thoughts and actions regarding Facebook to give some more context to my final account deletion today.

All my posts about Social Media in general are here, just look for “Facebook” or other key words in the titles. Most relevant is my post from last year when I deleted my Facebook account before! The reasons there are still the same today but worse!

Why I Quit Facebook

A quick explanation why I rejoined Facebook last August after 4 months of being #Facebookfree: it was a moment of weakness, falling for the one good feature Facebook has that makes it so attractive and sticky. It has “all” my friends and family on it.

Literally, one big spark the reignited my Facebook relationship then was ( I kid you not) seeing, in a passing glance, the red notification icon on someone else’s Facebook app on their phone! That little red badge, designed to be addictive! Again, I’m being real here.

I have 30 days until my Facebook account is permanently deleted! I’ve already removed all links and purged my browser’s history from cookies and related stuff. I’m eager to have my hands cleansed from it.

I’m glad to finally be Facebook free, and I’m pretty sure I will not rejoin ever again.

Are you Facebook free?