Facebook: DEACTIVATED
I deactivated my Facebook account a month ago. Here’s why I did it and how that Facebook-less month has gone
I’m not an overly paranoid type. I work in digital comms, so I get that when they made the internet and so much on it ‘free’ there would be an ultimate cost — our privacy.
Or, more specifically, our data, which ironically is worth far more to them (ie the FAANGs & BATs et al) than if the net was metered in some way.
Late last year, after listening to a couple of podcasts about data and privacy (check out the brilliant Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway on their Vox Media Pivot pod — you will not regret it, no they didn’t pay me to plug them but they should becau$e), and following a year when a few things went awry (not in a major way) in my digital life, I realised it was time to clean it the fuck up.
So I did.
First to go was Twitter. I’ve actually had several Twitter accounts. I deactivated the first when I got trolled over Brexit and was all — oh people get over it. This time around, I did it so that I can have a lurker account only, because as much as I am an engaged enraged political beast for the most, there are better places to do it. But Twitter remains a great RSS feed of sorts and mini search engine to research and find stuff google or bing or duckduckgo might not.
INSTA
Next was Insta. BUT…no. It still is and remains my platform of choice. So I decided if there was one socmedia drug I was going to keep taking, especially given this was one I had complete control over rather than the other way around, it was Insta. Which I know is dumb given Zucks & Co own it too, but I’ll wear that. For now.
And then…*drum roll*
THE ’BOOK of ZUCKS
I joined the ’Book in about 2007…which admittedly given it kicked off in 2004, was a little late on the uptake for an early adopter like me, but still, we’re talking nearly 13 years of the ’Book.
THIRTEEN YEARS.
That’s a relationship (or four). That’s time to meet, fall in love, move in together, break up a couple times (which I did with the ’Book), have babies (which in some weird way I might have with the ’Book), cheat (blame Insta and that’s kinda like incest, right? I hate myself), separate and break up.
And then…get divorced. Or rather get DEACTIVATED.
Why?
Quite simply, I do not trust them with my data.
They had 13 years of my life there. They knew SO MUCH about me, although why I kept getting served ads about chewin’ baccy, lycra and over 60’s dating I cannot understand.
But still, they knew TOO MUCH.
Quite simply, I do not trust them with my data
And after listening to the tech pods and reading a slew of articles and witnessing too much concerning activity PLUS having been to China in 2019 to take a class about Social Media run by the university I was doing my Masters with at the time and the very well-regarded Journalism School at Fudan University…I knew the marriage with the ’Book had to end.
OK, yes, I know, I sound paranoid and maybe it was an overreaction in the eyes of some of my friends and y’all, but think about it. Does ANYONE besides maybe your partner know more about you than your soc media feeds, especially the ’Book? And what does this mean, having a company know so much about you, and holding so much data about you and let’s be clear, MAKING SO MUCH FRIGGING MONEY from this while being party to world-changing moments like interferences in elections, the spread of disinformation, the live-streaming of terrorist events etc (for which it has apologised and in cases been sanctioned for, sure, but still…)
So, I began digging around about how to do it, and it’s pretty simple — and to its credit (maybe its ONLY credit), Facebook is very transparent about it.
First up, I downloaded all my data. Why? So that when I set up just a Facebook Messenger account as opposed to a full Facebook account, which was always the plan as it’s still such a huge channel, at least for now, of communication with chunks of my friends, I would be able to re-add those I wanted to keep using Messenger with.
Crazy, but there was 3GB of data…which may not sound like a lot but seriously, that’s a shitload.
I then made sure I could access this data (ie that it was formatted in a way to be accessible once my account was deactivated) before I hit that link to deactivate. The ’Book threw up some nice little warnings about was this what I wanted to do etc but for the most it just let me do it.
And, just in case you have a change of heart, you have a month to reactivate, after which BOOM it’s done.
Data purged, clean slate, unshackled, un-Booked.
Free.
A Month of No Facebook
A month later, and the cut-off date to undo my activation came…and went.
I’ve had the expected number of people querying my requests to add them to Messenger as friends, thinking it was SPAM, of course, which is only natural (and a good thing they queried it) because of all the dodgy hacking that has gone on.
And I’ve probably missed a few birthdays…some cool photos…maybe a couple event invites.
But I haven’t missed the annoying notifications.
I haven’t missed being served bogus ads or supposed “news reports”, like the one I recently had shared to me on Insta, that the Bill Gates Foundation actually invented the coronavirus…yuh huh…and haven’t had to therefore get on my ’Book soapbox to dissuade people about believing just such nonsense.
I haven’t gotten into heated conversations that are best had face to face rather than keyboard to keyboard.
I haven’t been subjected to endless selfies that seriously make my brain hurt, which is not me ragging on my mates posting selfies — I love seeing them, seriously, and I love seeing them enjoying their lives. I just don’t like the slow (not-so-slow) creeping tide of narcissism that has crept in with the Selfie Age. Bores me.
I haven’t gotten lost down the ’Book hole, endlessly scrolling, liking, sharing, commenting etc and have consequentially had that time back in my life.
And most of all…I haven’t given the ’Book my data.
In the most infinitesimal way, I’ve made a stand. I’ve withheld this revenue from them. I’ve made my tiny statement about it not being OK for them to make a squillion dollars a minute by compromising our privacy through the collection of our data…and by engaging in heavy tax minimisation and allowing false information to fly around their platform.
I don’t think old Zucks will be too sad to see me go. I rarely clicked on the dumb ads he served me, never used his supposed “non-publishing” platform to source my news (reliable and trustworthy? I think not) and had my account set up for maximum privacy anyways.
But…with user growth slowing and time spent on the ’Book flatlining to the point of contraction, maybe the prediction I made to friends five or so years ago will come to fruition? The prediction being that I believed Facebook would end up slowly fading as a force, with Twitter, Insta and Snap likely to be more perennial, that is until the next big thing anyway…or Tencent finds a way to convince the non-Chinese world that WeChat is superior and secure, highly unlikely, but stranger things have happened!
I don’t think old Zucks will be too sad to see me go
Moral of the Story…?
There isn’t one, of course.
However…do yourself a favour. Go to your setting, click on the “Your Facebook Info” and make your way through the options there. They have added a new feature that lets you manage your “Off Facebook Activity” which admittedly will make some feel a little more in control of their data and how it’s used by 3rd parties but still means the ’Book itself gets to use it.
Or…if you’re feeling SUPER rebellious…a little concerned about your privacy and data…a little sick of the selfies and lies spread on the platform…click on that “Deactivation and deletion” option…
And be…FREE.
Free as the day you were born.
Born to be free…a little old tune to go out to…
