Want to Resist? Delete Your Facebook Account

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.

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.

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.

> 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".

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.

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.

> 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.

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.

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.

> 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.

I deleted Facebook, too.

This was excellent.