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I'd like to add that it is not necessary to leave Facebook to not use Facebook. I have a FB account and I'll never close it, because I like having my username o

I'd like to add that it is not necessary to leave Facebook to not use Facebook. I have a FB account and I'll never close it, because I like having my username on all online services I might use if once. That being said I only have it logged in at a home desktop, not my phone, not any work machine. I use it for like two minutes weekly, one to check a few specialty groups I'm a lurker in and two to co-admin a page with a group of my friends where I once helped promote a post because the UX of doing so is too shitty for normal people wanting to bother navigating it. Facebook has had no effect on my mental health and it has a marginal benefit of being a kinda up to date contact book, even if it is getting worse at that. But that's it. You can have a Facebook account and only use it when it benefits you and not Facebook. Edit: Oh and I use it in a Firefox Facebook container so I'm not at all worried about it tracking me online.

commoner 7y ago
Although you're not a heavy Facebook user, you still use it weekly. People who don't want to use Facebook at all would benefit from deleting their accounts, because leaving Facebook adds a hurdle that discourages them from returning to Facebook.
- squiggleblaz 7y ago
  Well, sure, but there's a difference between using Facebook heavily and using Facebook occasionally. It's not a binary. Indeed, you can even use Facebook once in a blue moon. For instance, you can log out on all your devices and set your password to something you've autogenerated but you haven't saved so you have to go through the "forgot password" process. Facebook wants to be addictive, but it's okay and possible to use it once every two or three months so you can add your great aunt and post holiday photos (so people know you're safe). And by using Facebook less, it takes away some of Mark Zuckerberg's power over you and our society.
s_dev 7y ago
>Oh and I use it in a Firefox Facebook container so I'm not at all worried about it tracking me online. You think that once you log in to FB in a container -- Facebook can't track you? Those container details are now appendage to your online fingerprint as far as Facebook are concerned. Containers only work if you don't actually log in to such services. The only sure way for FB to not track you is to not use FB at all -- even then it requires other steps too as they'll be building a shadow profile on you.
- tomashubelbauer 7y ago
  You're of course correct, they can still see that I'm a container user because they can only even see me accessing Facebook directly, but fail to see any activity from other pages loading the like buttons and their other tracking crap. So that's a data point to them. Another is that I've disabled the "app platform" or whatever they call it in my profile settings before, so I didn't see their online tentacles to being with and keeping them contained is just to keep them honest (the "do not use app platform" toggle is similar to "do not track" in this regard). But they can't do much with the profile they build on me: they know I'm a container using, ad-blocking, Facebook-barely-using, well-off (I participate in a group about an expensive hobby) dude who they failed to generate a single click off in their entire lifetime. That's not-being-tracked enough for me. Getting protection from tracking beyond that is not IMO scalably solvable using techological means and crosses over to the regulatory realm.
- dhimes 7y ago
  I'll admit I don't fully understand how those containers work, but I assumed it would allow me to have different fingerprints for different scumbags so that it's harder to cross-correlate. Is that naive?
wastholm 7y ago
> You can have a Facebook account and only use it when it benefits you and not Facebook. I used to think so too, but then I realized that Facebook would let people add me to group chats or something without my knowledge and that these people would then blindly assume that I had read the messages in those chat groups. I find that "I have a Facebook account but I almost never log in" tends to get misunderstood, whereas "I no longer have a Facebook account" gets the message across quite clearly.
- neuland 7y ago
  This is what finally pushed me to delete my Facebook account too. Many people only use Facebook to communicate even if they have my phone number. So, they'd send me something on Facebook and expect me to read it there. Sometimes they'd even get angry if I didn't despite me telling them many times that I don't login to Facebook. I mostly don't hear from those people anymore and I'm fine with that.
  - potta_coffee 7y ago
    This exact issue was the final nail in the coffin for me with Facebook. I was expected to use it as a primary means of communication and I refused. The hard part is, the people I don't hear from anymore are family.
tguedes 7y ago
I used to do this as well until it got to the point where family members would get upset if I didn't like or post a comment on something they posted. I left facebook because it was only a negative in my life.

commoner 7y ago

Although you're not a heavy Facebook user, you still use it weekly. People who don't want to use Facebook at all would benefit from deleting their accounts, because leaving Facebook adds a hurdle that discourages them from returning to Facebook.

squiggleblaz 7y ago
Well, sure, but there's a difference between using Facebook heavily and using Facebook occasionally. It's not a binary. Indeed, you can even use Facebook once in a blue moon. For instance, you can log out on all your devices and set your password to something you've autogenerated but you haven't saved so you have to go through the "forgot password" process. Facebook wants to be addictive, but it's okay and possible to use it once every two or three months so you can add your great aunt and post holiday photos (so people know you're safe). And by using Facebook less, it takes away some of Mark Zuckerberg's power over you and our society.

s_dev 7y ago

>Oh and I use it in a Firefox Facebook container so I'm not at all worried about it tracking me online. You think that once you log in to FB in a container -- Facebook can't track you? Those container details are now appendage to your online fingerprint as far as Facebook are concerned. Containers only work if you don't actually log in to such services. The only sure way for FB to not track you is to not use FB at all -- even then it requires other steps too as they'll be building a shadow profile on you.

tomashubelbauer 7y ago
You're of course correct, they can still see that I'm a container user because they can only even see me accessing Facebook directly, but fail to see any activity from other pages loading the like buttons and their other tracking crap. So that's a data point to them. Another is that I've disabled the "app platform" or whatever they call it in my profile settings before, so I didn't see their online tentacles to being with and keeping them contained is just to keep them honest (the "do not use app platform" toggle is similar to "do not track" in this regard). But they can't do much with the profile they build on me: they know I'm a container using, ad-blocking, Facebook-barely-using, well-off (I participate in a group about an expensive hobby) dude who they failed to generate a single click off in their entire lifetime. That's not-being-tracked enough for me. Getting protection from tracking beyond that is not IMO scalably solvable using techological means and crosses over to the regulatory realm.
dhimes 7y ago
I'll admit I don't fully understand how those containers work, but I assumed it would allow me to have different fingerprints for different scumbags so that it's harder to cross-correlate. Is that naive?

wastholm 7y ago

> You can have a Facebook account and only use it when it benefits you and not Facebook. I used to think so too, but then I realized that Facebook would let people add me to group chats or something without my knowledge and that these people would then blindly assume that I had read the messages in those chat groups. I find that "I have a Facebook account but I almost never log in" tends to get misunderstood, whereas "I no longer have a Facebook account" gets the message across quite clearly.

neuland 7y ago
This is what finally pushed me to delete my Facebook account too. Many people only use Facebook to communicate even if they have my phone number. So, they'd send me something on Facebook and expect me to read it there. Sometimes they'd even get angry if I didn't despite me telling them many times that I don't login to Facebook. I mostly don't hear from those people anymore and I'm fine with that.
- potta_coffee 7y ago
  This exact issue was the final nail in the coffin for me with Facebook. I was expected to use it as a primary means of communication and I refused. The hard part is, the people I don't hear from anymore are family.

tguedes 7y ago

I used to do this as well until it got to the point where family members would get upset if I didn't like or post a comment on something they posted. I left facebook because it was only a negative in my life.