Why I deleted my Facebook account • Hacker News Board

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#111

Post by lmm » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 8:45 AM UTC

em3rgent0rdr wrote: post #96

stevewillows wrote: post #70

For most people I know, we're only using facebook for events and as a centralized location where I can basically contact anybody. The sooner someone creates a standalone, sustainable event organizing application that doesn't spam you to death, the sooner the exodus can begin.

google calendar?

No good discussion/update flow, groups aren't really dynamic enough, and getting a google account isn't going to appeal to the kind of people who dislike facebook.

(FWIW Meetup does completely replicate this use case, but they charge money)

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#112

Post by rajadigopula » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 8:46 AM UTC

I deactivated my facebook almost 7 years ago, and never looked back. Now I am considering to move away from google services, as google is getting aggressive these days. I use nexus 6p phone and I am seeing youtube recommendations these days based on my phone conversations!

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#113

Post by hdi » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 8:47 AM UTC

Got rid of it about 6-7 years ago, mainly due to all the annoying people posting photos of their food and pointless updates and check-ins. Who needs that.. I don't miss it one bit nor do I plan on using it ever again.

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#114

Post by Macha » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 8:48 AM UTC

palerdot wrote: post #86

I quit Facebook around 2011. One funny/shocking thing that happened is I got email notifications even after 14 day grace period. I had to go and click the unsubscribe link manually to stop that even though I don't have a valid fb account at this point of time. Not sure, if it is happening still. Another one - I created a dev account some time back with dummy email Id, but gave my mobile number of deleted account. Voi…

They seem to also populate it based on IP address. Created a dummy amount to sync a mobile game across devices that requires a Facebook login to do so. It was created in a brand new private window, with no overlapping details with my actual account and it still suggested all the friends on my regular account.

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#115

Post by adgasf » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 8:48 AM UTC

For those looking for a replacement "hit", why not divert your procrastination into something useful, like StackOverflow or Codewars?

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#116

Post by collyw » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 8:50 AM UTC

gcoda wrote: post #68

Jaruzel wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Why sarcasm? Sounds reasonable

I think the point is that its not actually deleted at all. Its Facebook thats in control of your data not you.

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#117

Post by vt240 » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 8:50 AM UTC

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 felt the same way about my livejournal account from college. I was just really worried at the time, it could be an issue, when just entering the workforce. I use facebook now, much the same way I used livejournal, keeping track of links, photos, and things I'm working on. At the time I started, search was pretty terrible. But I figured it would improve, which it has. Still, every once and a while, I'll be working on something and go, "Ah man, I had that written down in the livejournal!" Oops.

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#118

Post by WA » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 8:50 AM UTC

Thoughts on Facebook:

1. Privacy-wise: It doesn't matter if you're on Facebook or not. They have a profile about you and you can't do anything about it. There was this article in January [1] that showed how only a few data points Facebook or Google or Twitter actually needs to paint a fairly accurate picture of your personality.

2. Addiction-wise: Uninstall the app, disable all notifications. I rarely use Facebook for the feed, because it's actually extremely boring. Most friends don't post personal stuff anymore anyways. There's a handful of people who post a lot, but mostly links to other websites. I also unfriend people I haven't talked to in a while. Try to reduce your friends (and cognitive load) to 3. I also see tremendous benefits of Facebook and that's why I use it: We have a local startup community. Basically, a page with 100 likes or so. We posted a video about our events and it reached 1,200 people organically. It's an extremely useful tool to discover and promote local events. And new people constantly find our events because of Facebook. You can't do this with your private website. You need to go where the attention is. The only other option to promote local events is the newspaper or distributing flyers, but this takes a lot more time for less awareness, because of broader targeting. I also found new events because of Facebook.

[1]: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/mg9vvn/how-our-li...

Edit: clarification

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#119

Post by futhey » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 8:50 AM UTC

gcoda wrote: post #68

Jaruzel wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Why sarcasm? Sounds reasonable

When you delete your account, Facebook implies that they will (eventually) purge your data from their systems.

Given the current costs of storage, many are skeptical of this.

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#120

Post by zimpenfish » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 8:52 AM UTC

amelius wrote: post #105

booleandilemma wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's never too late. The day you quit FB is the day you reclaim a lot of time you spend on FB. I haven't updated my FB account since I graduated college and it feels great. If FB wants to obsessively and endlessly analyze the profile and posts of my college-self, it's free to do so.

Is there a good browser extension that measures how much time one actively spends on various sites?

I use RescueTime (primarily because it integrates with a bunch of other services I use for life-logging) in Firefox - can monitor all sites or just a whitelist. Also supports Chrome, I believe.

https://www.rescuetime.com/