Ask HN: Did you delete your Facebook account in 2018? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Did you delete your Facebook account in 2018?

#221

Post by stale2002 » Mon, Dec 24, 2018, 1:16 AM UTC

maigret wrote: post #66

basitmakine wrote: post #51

I actually, in a strange way, don't really care about all this privacy stuff. A for-profit company looking into my personal preferences just to show me better targeted ads, instead of boring, generic ones? What's better than that? They're either going to charge me monthly subscription fees, which would kill the whole business in an instant, or find a way to make a profit off ads.

Hard to tell if you’re sarcastic here. Facebook is now a tool that endangers elections. It worsens political dialog and keep people in a bubble that strengthens their uninformed opinions. It does not only shows ads but works super hard on making you addicted to the service, so you spend all your available time looking at ads, even when they don’t look like such (your friends and family are unimportant there, they don…

> It worsens political dialog and keep people in a bubble that strengthens their uninformed opinions.

Well it turns out that people tend to prefer their bubble.

If a bubble is what they want, who am I to judge?

People should be free to make their own decisions.

Re: Ask HN: Did you delete your Facebook account in 2018?

#222

Post by krn » Mon, Dec 24, 2018, 1:26 AM UTC

Carpetsmoker wrote: post #141

No. I actually created a Facebook account in 2018. The problem is that without Facebook you will miss out. Sure, close friends and family will invite you to their social events, but more distant acquaintances will not; you know, the bloke you met at the pub last week and had a 20 minute chat with, or that cute girl you talked to but then she suddenly she was dragged off to a birthday party by her friends. By missing…

A Facebook account which is accessed only via web browser with third-party cookies and notifications disabled is not the worst thing. It essentially becomes just another website.

What is the worst thing though, it's installing one of the Facebook's apps on your smartphone. Because then you basically give up the entire private data of your day-to-day life.

(I imagine, very few people have actually seen the full permission list of Facebook for Android, which includes almost every single possible one.)

Re: Ask HN: Did you delete your Facebook account in 2018?

#223

Post by Mugwort » Mon, Dec 24, 2018, 1:27 AM UTC

Yes! My primary reason for my deleting FB was that it was a waste of time. The privacy issues were there from the beginning. I never doubted our data wasn't used in all kinds of unsavory ways but this is the cost of having a "free" social network. What else did anyone expect? What really surprised me was how addicting FB is and how it changed the way almost everyone interacts with each other. Facebook's biggest crime is deliberately addicting its users, especially young people. If for nothing else, I hope MZ gets a subpoena for that.

Re: Ask HN: Did you delete your Facebook account in 2018?

#224

Post by minism » Mon, Dec 24, 2018, 1:29 AM UTC

Deleted in 2008. I was quite addicted to it which was my main motivation for deleting it, though I'm glad to not be on the platform for different reasons now.

Re: Ask HN: Did you delete your Facebook account in 2018?

#225

Post by newscracker » Mon, Dec 24, 2018, 1:30 AM UTC

No, I didn’t delete my account. But I have reduced my exposure quite a bit over time (I want using it much in the first place) and I find it more peaceful to stay away. There’s too much negativity, too many black and white arguments, too much chest thumping, too much narcissism, too less empathy...almost every negative human quality one can imagine is magnified a thousand times on these platforms (to the extent of my observations).

Yet, as someone who deeply cares about privacy (and strongly despises Facebook) but is also involved in some causes where connecting with other people (many strangers) helps, I use Facebook only for those purposes.

I don’t post anything personal, though Facebook would have my number because of all the other people uploading their address books to it. I use Facebook as a focused tool, and not to kill time by scrolling and clicking/tapping and watching videos that are ultimately wasteful in every way. Luckily, I don’t have a big social circle that’s only on Facebook, and if there are events that are only on Facebook, I don’t mind missing those. People who need to connect can always email me or call me.

Network effects aside, the user experience is very important. Without that, there’s no hope of making people try something else and having them stick with it. After all, many people have moved from Orkut to Friendster to MySpace to Facebook to Instagram to Snapchat and then back and what not. Anything that wants to replace Facebook should invent a new paradigm for communication and connection and/or should come as a complete replacement (“batteries included”).

Re: Ask HN: Did you delete your Facebook account in 2018?

#226

Post by jompe » Mon, Dec 24, 2018, 1:31 AM UTC

I've tried since I didn't want to accept their escape hatch when GDPR came and thus couldn't use their services anyway. Unfortunately they apparently drag out the deletion process so I haven't successfully deleted it as of yet.

It's actually worked out quite OK, I'm relying on a few friends updating me on what happens in some group chats right now but a lot of friends has already moved over to alternative chat platforms like Telegram, Signal, etc.

I haven't missed other parts of facebook like groups and events at all which is nice and I've never used IG or WhatsApp.

Re: Ask HN: Did you delete your Facebook account in 2018?

#227

Post by fooker » Mon, Dec 24, 2018, 1:35 AM UTC

ashelmire wrote: post #190

Deleted in 2017! Life’s been great since. I’ve taken a bunch of classes, read a bunch of books, and I’m no longer plagued by the political and social ideas of the uneducated on a regular basis.

> I’m no longer plagued by the political and social ideas of the uneducated on a regular basis.

My condolences. "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."

Re: Ask HN: Did you delete your Facebook account in 2018?

#228

Post by bigiain » Mon, Dec 24, 2018, 1:35 AM UTC

Carpetsmoker wrote: post #217

seppin wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I missed my friend's 50th birthday party because I wasn't on Facebook Hate to break it to you, but he's not really your friend. You would have known about it directly or through someone else if so. Facebook is for finding out about events / people who aren't close to you, but you're still interested in. That's its value.

I think this is too harsh. Organising a grand 50th birthday is a lot of effort, and forgetting that one friend (who may not be a close friend but still a friend ) doesn't have Facebook is easy enough.

"Easy enough" - only if your default way of thinking is "all my friends are facebook friends".

That's plain lazy thinking, it's completely giving up on your privacy-aware friends because Zuckerberg makes doing that so so easy. What a surprise.

Re: Ask HN: Did you delete your Facebook account in 2018?

#229

Post by bigiain » Mon, Dec 24, 2018, 1:38 AM UTC

krn wrote: post #222

Carpetsmoker wrote: post #141

No. I actually created a Facebook account in 2018. The problem is that without Facebook you will miss out. Sure, close friends and family will invite you to their social events, but more distant acquaintances will not; you know, the bloke you met at the pub last week and had a 20 minute chat with, or that cute girl you talked to but then she suddenly she was dragged off to a birthday party by her friends. By missing…

A Facebook account which is accessed only via web browser with third-party cookies and notifications disabled is not the worst thing. It essentially becomes just another website. What is the worst thing though, it's installing one of the Facebook's apps on your smartphone. Because then you basically give up the entire private data of your day-to-day life. (I imagine, very few people have actually seen the full permis…

Sure - but it just enables the behaviour of selling out your entire social circle to Zuckerburg.

I know we've lost that fight - but it doesn't mean it's not worth resisting.

Re: Ask HN: Did you delete your Facebook account in 2018?

#230

Post by LargeWu » Mon, Dec 24, 2018, 1:41 AM UTC

No. I have a few online businesses and Facebook is critical to driving traffic. It's not a stretch to say I would not have a viable business without the ability to advertise on Facebook proper. Even Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest...none of these have ever driven a single sale, but I've gotten plenty off Facebook.