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Comment by kafkaesq | Hacker News Reader

I'm simply not willing to cut people out of my life and miss out on things that are important to me because my data is mined and might be used against me.

I concur that FB can be useful for finding out about stuff going in your world.

But if not using a certain commercial product -- any commercial product -- means "cutting people out of your life" to any significant degree, then well... you might want to think about the degree of dependence you've signed onto in using that particular product. And indeed, whether you really "need" that degree of (perceived) interaction with all of those people.

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It may not be him that is dependent on a commercial product. I rarely, if ever, use Facebook as an active product. By this I mean I may post a generic status once or twice a month and may actively check my feed once or twice a week. However, if I were to completely close down my Facebook account, I would lose all of the passive information that is sent to me. This includes invitations to parties, people letting me know they are in town, updates from groups and organizations I am a part of, etc. So many people use Facebook as a pseudo or complete replacement for email. By removing myself from that service, I lose contact with those people and organizations. I am only one person. I cannot change the behavior of a couple hundred people to suit me.

I think the article details well how useful you are to facebook even if you are a light user.

They get info you still say, they get what sites you visit and what content is there, they get what you and your friends say to each other... like even as a partial user you still get MANY of the bad affects.

Not to mention, for me and many other people I bet, "cutting down" doesn't ever really work. They spend tons of money trying to increase engagement and make sure you stay on making that quite hard.

Not to mention, for me and many other people I bet, "cutting down" doesn't ever really work.

As with any serious addiction.

However, if I were to completely close down my Facebook account, I would lose all of the passive information that is sent to me.

Or you could just do a quick inventory of which of those groups / are still important to you. And then sign up again using a different device / email address. Along with, of course, a totally fake user name. And (slowly) sign up again for those pages.

Which I guess would against FB's terms of service, in theory. But fuck that. They certainly aren't honest and above-board with you -- there's no reason you "owe" them any particular degree of honesty in return. Just use them for what you need, and let them (and their expected monetization off the minutia of your inner life) sod off otherwise.

As you with with, you know, any commercial product.

Creating an account with a fake name doesn't help. Facebook will ascertain your real name through a combination of: - knowing who you communicate with - tracking your online behaviour (on and off site) - collecting your name and contact information off your friends devices and accounts

Even if you provided a fake name, you still agreed to the TOS, so they can proceed as if you're still bound by the legal implications.

Facebook will ascertain your real name through a combination of: - knowing who you communicate with - tracking your online behaviour (on and off site) - collecting your name and contact information off your friends devices and accounts.

We know they "can", in principle. But will they? That's something different.

Of course, the better solution is to never sign up with a real name in the first place.

The more people get off, the less useful facebook is - and the more currency alternative means have.

I suspect, the people you feel happy enough to call, will be people who you would be happy enough to keep in touch with no matter what the medium.

To my experience, quitting Facebook has been quite easy. I quit four years ago. Sure, it's an extra burden on friends and acquaintances when they want to invite my to partys and such. They have to email or text me. (yeah, not on WhatsApp either). I might not hear right away when an old friend has a baby but for closer friends and family, I don't miss out on anything.

Note: I actually quit because I thought it would mean less procrastination, but then I discovered HN...

IME it's all about keeping in touch with people that you can't physically because they've moved away.

Which people used to do just fine via other means, not too long ago.

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