4 ms·

Want to Resist? Delete Your Facebook Account

34 points by chrbutler 5y ago

ewag 5y ago
Facebook is just another form of change, just like other change we've adapted to in human history. Deleting things like Facebook is a good way to get left far behind in the digital revolution we find ourselves amidst. Regulate Facebook, root out and shutdown anonymous actors weaponizing Facebook. This can all be accomplished with political action. We have a government, let's use it.
okareaman 5y ago
I don't think deleting online accounts will do much to restore privacy. Technology has made it very difficult to be private in the 21st century and it's only getting worse.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
throwawayboise 5y ago
Seems to be 2018? Even more true today. Social media is at the root of all our division today. We are the same humans we were in the pre-internet 1990s, with the same biases, prejudices, and emotions. But we did not bathe in a virtual pool of deliberately amplified collective outrage for hours every day.
- mbg721 5y ago
  Are we the same?? The accelerated drive to redefine race and gender would be completely alien in 1990.
rsa25519 5y ago
> The only meaningful act of protest in the 21st century is to permanently delete your digital accounts? Surely this is an exaggeration? I'd like to quote more (it feels gross to seemingly quote-snipe) but the site blocks copy-paste on mobile, making productive discussion of its contents needlessly difficult.
courtf 5y ago
> Giving money to other people who promise to fight for your cause on your behalf won’t do anything. The only reason this doesn't work is because someone else is giving even more.
- chrbutler 5y ago
  ...which is why it doesn't work.
  - courtf 5y ago
    ...that's exactly what I wrote
    - chrbutler 5y ago
      Yes, but that's the entire point! There's always more money and always a contrary interest.
      - courtf 5y ago
        That the point I made in the original comment.
zeeshanqureshi 5y ago
I've been off all Social platforms for almost a decade now. And, no matter how much I try and convince my close friends and relatives to do the same, it doesn't work. I realised this very late, but it is almost like asking people to give up on coffee. You could probably get them to replace it with something else but you cannot remove it from their lives. It is all about filling the void.
- chrbutler 5y ago
  I completely agree. The void is terrifying to most people. That's why this ending passage is so important: "I know a man who is building an advertisement-free Facebook replacement because he agrees with everything I have said critically about Facebook. Except, of course, for one thing: he believes the world needs Facebook, he just doesn’t like the Facebook we have. It’s like how at some point in our past, we agreed that the world required fizzy, brown sugar water, so the alternative to Coca Cola wasn’t no Coca Cola (or the abundance of other things you could drink), it was Pepsi. Why is the alternative to Facebook your Facebook by another name?"
  - zeeshanqureshi 5y ago
    Those are the right questions, that only time can answer.
  - watwut 5y ago
    > Why is the alternative to Facebook your Facebook by another name?" To me, it makes 100% sense. Alternative to X should be kind of X, except minor changes here and there. Otherwise it is not an alternative, otherwise it is completely different thing.
    - luckylion 5y ago
      Harm reduction has its place, but what if most of the harm isn't because of sponsored posts, but because of the all-encompassing always-on social network? Facebook, but a bit less like Facebook sounds like smoking 20 instead of 25 cigarettes a day, doesn't it?
yosito 5y ago
> So how would this actually happen? That is the question. Well, let’s be real. It won’t start with me. That is the question, indeed. It won't start with the author, and it won't start with anyone else. Any movement to mass delete Facebook that started to gain traction would be immediately shadow banned. There's no way for it to gain critical mass. There are two ways to bring about the end, or at least control over, Facebook: alternative platforms that are self-hosted and/or privacy focused, and legislation. Both of these have significant hurdles, but stand much more of a chance than just trying to gain momentum for some "delete day".
teeray 5y ago
I think far more likely is a gradual quiescence of accounts. I still maintain my accounts because there’s the odd HOA thing that pops up on a Facebook group, but I don’t actively “engage with” anything else on Facebook. There’s a finality to deleting your accounts, sure. But you can also get most of the benefits by just using social networking less.
rumblestrut 5y ago
I deleted Facebook and Twitter on Jan. 20, and haven’t been back. It’s amazing how much better I feel getting off those platforms.
rognjen 5y ago
This is my main quibble with people who are shocked at what Facebook (and Reddit) do with their data. These companies can't do anything with your data if you don't give them any. Yet, people are willingly giving them such detailed personal information. Even as detailed as telling them their exact location at a particular time. They're then shocked when the company does something with it. You can't give someone a gift and then dictate what they do with it. What's even worse is that these same people are then giving these companies OTHER people's information by, for instance, posting photos of others who aren't on the platform.
3ternalreturn 5y ago
I deleted Facebook, too.
delaugust 5y ago
This was excellent.

34 points by chrbutler 5y ago

ewag 5y ago

Facebook is just another form of change, just like other change we've adapted to in human history. Deleting things like Facebook is a good way to get left far behind in the digital revolution we find ourselves amidst. Regulate Facebook, root out and shutdown anonymous actors weaponizing Facebook. This can all be accomplished with political action. We have a government, let's use it.

okareaman 5y ago

I don't think deleting online accounts will do much to restore privacy. Technology has made it very difficult to be private in the 21st century and it's only getting worse.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

throwawayboise 5y ago

Seems to be 2018? Even more true today. Social media is at the root of all our division today. We are the same humans we were in the pre-internet 1990s, with the same biases, prejudices, and emotions. But we did not bathe in a virtual pool of deliberately amplified collective outrage for hours every day.

mbg721 5y ago
Are we the same?? The accelerated drive to redefine race and gender would be completely alien in 1990.

rsa25519 5y ago

> The only meaningful act of protest in the 21st century is to permanently delete your digital accounts? Surely this is an exaggeration? I'd like to quote more (it feels gross to seemingly quote-snipe) but the site blocks copy-paste on mobile, making productive discussion of its contents needlessly difficult.

courtf 5y ago

> Giving money to other people who promise to fight for your cause on your behalf won’t do anything. The only reason this doesn't work is because someone else is giving even more.

chrbutler 5y ago
...which is why it doesn't work.
- courtf 5y ago
  ...that's exactly what I wrote
  - chrbutler 5y ago
    Yes, but that's the entire point! There's always more money and always a contrary interest.
    - courtf 5y ago
      That the point I made in the original comment.

zeeshanqureshi 5y ago

I've been off all Social platforms for almost a decade now. And, no matter how much I try and convince my close friends and relatives to do the same, it doesn't work. I realised this very late, but it is almost like asking people to give up on coffee. You could probably get them to replace it with something else but you cannot remove it from their lives. It is all about filling the void.

chrbutler 5y ago
I completely agree. The void is terrifying to most people. That's why this ending passage is so important: "I know a man who is building an advertisement-free Facebook replacement because he agrees with everything I have said critically about Facebook. Except, of course, for one thing: he believes the world needs Facebook, he just doesn’t like the Facebook we have. It’s like how at some point in our past, we agreed that the world required fizzy, brown sugar water, so the alternative to Coca Cola wasn’t no Coca Cola (or the abundance of other things you could drink), it was Pepsi. Why is the alternative to Facebook your Facebook by another name?"
- zeeshanqureshi 5y ago
  Those are the right questions, that only time can answer.
- watwut 5y ago
  > Why is the alternative to Facebook your Facebook by another name?" To me, it makes 100% sense. Alternative to X should be kind of X, except minor changes here and there. Otherwise it is not an alternative, otherwise it is completely different thing.
  - luckylion 5y ago
    Harm reduction has its place, but what if most of the harm isn't because of sponsored posts, but because of the all-encompassing always-on social network? Facebook, but a bit less like Facebook sounds like smoking 20 instead of 25 cigarettes a day, doesn't it?

yosito 5y ago

> So how would this actually happen? That is the question. Well, let’s be real. It won’t start with me. That is the question, indeed. It won't start with the author, and it won't start with anyone else. Any movement to mass delete Facebook that started to gain traction would be immediately shadow banned. There's no way for it to gain critical mass. There are two ways to bring about the end, or at least control over, Facebook: alternative platforms that are self-hosted and/or privacy focused, and legislation. Both of these have significant hurdles, but stand much more of a chance than just trying to gain momentum for some "delete day".

teeray 5y ago

I think far more likely is a gradual quiescence of accounts. I still maintain my accounts because there’s the odd HOA thing that pops up on a Facebook group, but I don’t actively “engage with” anything else on Facebook. There’s a finality to deleting your accounts, sure. But you can also get most of the benefits by just using social networking less.

rumblestrut 5y ago

I deleted Facebook and Twitter on Jan. 20, and haven’t been back. It’s amazing how much better I feel getting off those platforms.

rognjen 5y ago

This is my main quibble with people who are shocked at what Facebook (and Reddit) do with their data. These companies can't do anything with your data if you don't give them any. Yet, people are willingly giving them such detailed personal information. Even as detailed as telling them their exact location at a particular time. They're then shocked when the company does something with it. You can't give someone a gift and then dictate what they do with it. What's even worse is that these same people are then giving these companies OTHER people's information by, for instance, posting photos of others who aren't on the platform.

3ternalreturn 5y ago

I deleted Facebook, too.

delaugust 5y ago

This was excellent.