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Why I deleted my Facebook account

blakewatson.com

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Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#31

Post by em3rgent0rdr »

notliketherest wrote: post #13
em3rgent0rdr wrote: post #7

"Facebook tracks posts and comments even before you post them...sending form data surreptitiously is morally wrong, and everyone knows it..." protip: you can access FB without javascript via https://mbasic.facebook.com/ and you don't have to worry about such concerns. (I learned this from a Stallman video.)

I'm surprised Stallman even encouraged visiting a Facebook property.

He doesn't encourage it by no means. But I have seen him say on one of his "javascript trap" videos (talking like parent telling his teenager if you are going to use sex, use a condom) that if you find you must, then use the mobile site. I can't find the video, but on https://stallman.org/facebook-presence.html under the heading "How you can communicate safely with Facebook" he writes:

"To make the site work without the need to run nonfree Javascript code, visit to m.facebook.com rather than facebook.com itself."

FYI, currently m.facebook.com now uses javascript, however mbasic.facebook.com doesn't, and is basically the same as m.facebook.com was at the time of his writing.

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#32

Post by ssttoo »

fastbeef wrote: post #17

I quit Facebook right around the time my son was born. It wasn't for privacy reasons (and frankly, it never bothered me), but rather for the enormous energy and time sink it had become. Truly, it was as if I was a dopamine junkie and Facebook was the pusher of those sweet, sweet red circles with a number in them that meant someone, somewhere vaguely agreed with something you posted. I noticed I was not present in the…

Forget "friends". Sharing with your family/relatives is a different thing though. No wise "quips" required. A picture says a 100 words :)

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#33

Post by submeta »

I use Facebook as a Google Reader replacement. I don't care what my contacts share. Twitter was my go-to site for this use case (news consumption). But that platform is too polluted now. Feedly was another site I used regularly.

Is there any good news reader alternative to the platforms mentioned?

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#34

Post by AJRF »

1. Change Password -> generate a random string -> copy paste it as your new password

2. Go to the actual delete facebook account page.

3. Copy that random string in when it asks your password and the captcha

4. Copy something else

Now you’ve bypassed their arbitrary and nefarious 14 day filter

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#35

Post by jakebasile »

I regret deleting my original Facebook account. I made it around the time they opened to every college in the US and there was a lot of history there, photos and videos and text. Sure most of it was worthless and maybe even embarrassing but that data is gone now.

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#38

Post by Swizec »

fastbeef wrote: post #17

I quit Facebook right around the time my son was born. It wasn't for privacy reasons (and frankly, it never bothered me), but rather for the enormous energy and time sink it had become. Truly, it was as if I was a dopamine junkie and Facebook was the pusher of those sweet, sweet red circles with a number in them that meant someone, somewhere vaguely agreed with something you posted. I noticed I was not present in the…

I too feel exactly this way with almost everything. Facebook, Twitter, Slack, Email, Messages ... it's kind of tough to escape. Impossible even.

And here's the worst part: We grew up with this shit. My generation was one of the first (1987) to have their formative social years immersed in this shit. That means we'll never escape. Ever. We're literally wired to seek approval of strangers on the internet instead of the people around us. It feels more ... correct? Real? True?

That red circle with a number literally gives more enjoyment than a close friend saying "Heh that's cool". The worst part is that there's likely no cure. Rehab, maybe. But rehab for this shit doesn't exist yet.

Plus try explaining to your boss that you're not reading email and slack and you're never coming back because you're in notification rehab.

Simon Sinek explains it perfectly: https://youtu.be/hER0Qp6QJNU?t=195

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#39

Post by logicallee »

The article quotes someone saying:

>One New York comedian had a SWAT team break into his house based on a joke post.

could someone find a citation, I'd like to read about that case? I googled what I just quoted and a couple of variations and did not find it.

Thanks.

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#40

Post by Jaruzel »

jakebasile wrote: post #35

I regret deleting my original Facebook account. I made it around the time they opened to every college in the US and there was a lot of history there, photos and videos and text. Sure most of it was worthless and maybe even embarrassing but that data is gone now.

I'm sure if you ask REALLY nicely, they'll just 're-activate' your 'deleted' account and magically all the stuff that was 'deleted' will suddenly be back. /sarcasm
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