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Comment by rfnslyr | Hacker News Reader

For all those thinking that you can't delete your facebook because you will lose connections: Delete it and watch how much you don't care.

Get their emails/phone numbers, call them once in awhile, grab a coffee.

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A simpler idea is to stop using your account but leave it active. Make it a glorified address book. Every now and then you can check in and accept friend requests if necessary. I know a few people who use it like this (not because they dislike Facebook but just because they spend very little time at a computer). It seems to work for them. They get the benefits without the constant ads and stream of info they don't care about. Of course if privacy is your concern this isn't a good suggestion but otherwise it's a happy medium.

Oddly enough, Facebook is finally starting to live up to its under-promising name: a digital yearbook that I occasionally thumb through when I'm curious about an old friend but otherwise let sit collecting dust.

Really exciting and controversial stuff doesn't happen much on Facebook anymore, at least not on my news feed. People are too concerned about maintaing their constructed image. My friends with babies use it as a family album. My friends trying to go into acting or modeling practically use it as an online professional portfolio. A lot of my coworkers are connected on Facebook, which naturally limits the extent of their expression; they might appear to be great friends, and to a large extent they are, but if one of them is mad about work they for sure can't post it to Facebook.

Thing with me is it's either I don't have it and never go on, or I have it and I'm brainlessly browsing random shit for hours on end simply because I can.

I guess that's more of a personal thing as I have pretty bad self restraint issues haha.

I both agree with and practice this approach. It works very well for me. The features I use exclusively are messages and events. It's the path of least resistance for many of friends outside my core circles to contact me.

The important thing is not to leave it logged in while you do this. Log out, and clear all cookies for good measure after every time you check it, otherwise zuck will still be following you around the web via the Like buttons.

Exactly what I am doing. Gotta log in from time to time to check if they haven't changed the email given as contact to facebook one again though :)

> Get their emails/phone numbers, call them once in awhile, grab a coffee.

That works great for those ex-classmates or work friends, who just so happen to live in the same town (or same area of a large town) as you, but that's not why I use FB -- I use it to keep tabs on family. Family members too busy for an hour-long weekly phone call (or I'm too busy to make time for 5-10 of these weekly calls) and too far removed for in-person visits to be viable every few months.

Your advice may work for some, but it falls flat for a lot of common use-cases.

If your only form of communication is random updates/photos from them that you don't actively seek, then you don't really care in the first place do you? You're just consuming because it's there.

Nobody is too busy for a short phone call once in awhile.

> If your only form of communication is random updates/photos from them that you don't actively seek, then you don't really care in the first place do you?

Well that's a rather hasty judgement...

Firstly, I didn't say it was my only communication. Secondly, it does a lot to help fill in the gaps between meetings/conversations.

> Nobody is too busy for a short phone call once in awhile.

And nobody said phone calls are the only -- or even preferred -- means of communication.

Facebook is more robust and convenient than email (huge amounts of videos, pictures, "statuses" in one place, plus messaging and a way to search for profiles. Email doesn't have those). Phone calls aren't asynchronous, you both have to find the same block of time to talk. I wish I could just grab a coffee with my friends on the other side of the country.

Facebook is actually a pretty great tool for communicating.

That's a wonderful sentiment that I simply cannot do.

I have friends whose only interaction with "The Internet" is Facebook. They don't email/IM/chat. It's AOL 2.0 basically.

I could call, but I'm busy and they are busy. (family/work has a way of doing that). Coffee is right out as they all live over 500 miles away.

Sometimes asynchronous communication on a shared platform is a good thing.

[edit] k3n said it much better than I: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6921737

I don't care about personal conenctions (got an email / phone no. to everyone), but there are some communities that pretty much depend on facebook. If you start dancing and are interested in events, you pretty much have to be on facebook. That's where the announcements / updates happen. That's where you find out where various people / teachers will be going. (at least that's the case for the UK and swing/blues)

But how will I find out about Burner parties and extra late night end at 8AM events? Just kidding, I'll just look at the telephone polls outside the coffee shop.

Of all the comments I've seen about deleting a facebook profile, this one resonated very strongly with me. But at the same time I feel a slight sense of trepidation over deleting it. Decisions, decisions.

Don't worry, after you "delete" your profile its still there for a month. You have to hold firm for 30 days of no logins before they "really" delete it.

It's so worth it once you do it. I was on the fence for months about it, then once I deleted it, after like 3 weeks (I had a pretty strong addiction to it) it was completely out of my system. My life is truly better.

Here's another more in depth comment about the same issue of mine: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6555467

I realized after deleting it I truly only have 4 friends in my life that matter.

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