Why I deleted my Facebook account • Hacker News Board

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#241

Post by jancsika » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 2:40 PM UTC

I'd really like to see some kind of "Proving Ground" social network that exists for the sole purpose of verifying and elucidating the emotional manipulation that can be achieved with the current technology.

Otherwise I predict we're going to continue getting articles from technologists leaving Facebook who all keep quoting the same scant material, who all make highly speculative and grand conclusions that aren't supported by the evidence. (E.g., Facebook's "emotional lock-in" that the author doesn't back up with any evidence.)

People break DRM thanks to the toolset that others made available on their OS. People will break the facile emotional manipulation that exists on every social network today, but only when we have the toolset to at least elucidate the problem.

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#242

Post by bogomipz » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 2:40 PM UTC

softawre wrote: post #236

bogomipz wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well FB is also a "forum-like" platform. What does that mean? What does FB provide your two communities that wouldn't be available via a Slack Channel/Blog/mailing list/subreddit etc?

The fact that all of those people are already in the community on Facebook?

So what FB is really providing is inertia.

You hear similar sentiments by people that they stay on FB because "I don't have any of these peoples email addresses."

I think this is the real danger, that FB replaces all these other channels and mediums.

Have you suggested to the group the possibility of moving off of FB? I mean it sounds like they are tech people if they are part of a computer group.

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#243

Post by ivm » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 2:43 PM UTC

softawre wrote: post #235

ivm wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I have a separate laptop for all the distracting sites including HN. My main machine is for work. But why do you need Facebook app on your iPhone at all? Messenger is enough.

Would you really be surprised to learn that others use technology differently than you? Why do you need Messenger on your phone at all? Snapchat/iMessage/etc is enough.

What's with the sarcasm? I asked why somebody keeps a purely entertaining app while trying not to get distracted by it.

The Messenger argument is completely unrelated because it's a useful app to stay in touch.

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#244

Post by krrishd » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 2:53 PM UTC

petraeus wrote: post #224

Look at all you facebook haters lol, its just a tool, its YOUR problem if you cant control it. Its like swearing never to use a hammer again because you missed a nail once.

I think that's a flawed comparison, at least for some people it has a negative impact (as opposed to simply not being useful enough as a tool).

I've actually derived a lot of value from Facebook in the time that I've had it, but I left as an experiment with my mental health and it's genuinely helped me.

Also, not being able to control it is hard to blame on the end-user when Facebook designs aggressively around engagement and hooking users in by virtue of psychology.

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#245

Post by krrishd » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 2:55 PM UTC

kvgr wrote: post #156

GuiA wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can very much disable FB and keep Messenger. Your account will get reactivated if you click through one of their emails or use FB login though.

I tried to do that, but it seems the option is not available when I was trying to deactivate facebook.

It happens by default when you deactivate. Try deactivating and then logging into messenger.com or the Messenger app.

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#246

Post by S_A_P » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 2:59 PM UTC

I deactivated/deleted my FB account in 2010. I've thought that I may try to open it back up in 2020 just as a self created "time capsule" of my life. Unfortunately my life circumstances around that time were not fantastic. Mid divorce and lots of shade thrown by the wife in my direction. Even 7 years out, I dont like to think about that time, dont know if I will be ready in 3 more years.

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#247

Post by iak8god » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 3:01 PM UTC

free_everybody wrote: post #212

I deleted my Facebook account recently ONLY because of how spammy the notification system is! I didn't want many sources for my news feed so I unsubscribed to all of my hundreds of friends save a few. This redeemed my faith in the news feed, although I would have preferred to have just turned the whole feature off honestly. The problem came when I stopped using Facebook often so I wouldn't have any notifications, at…

I refuse to install Messenger, so I'm actually annoyed by FB's lack of notifications (by email) when I receive a FB message. It used to be the case that FB would email you the message text. They switched that to "you have a message, click here to see it," but now it seems to be completely random whether I'm ever notified. The immediate effect on my behavior is that I find myself logging in to FB frequently just in case I have a message, and then falling into the endless scroll of crap in my feed.

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#248

Post by yuhong » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 3:03 PM UTC

The studies they mention in this is pretty fun, both the self-censorship and the news feed one.

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#249

Post by ssivark » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 3:11 PM UTC

whiddershins wrote: post #216

The one greatest internet life hack I discovered in the last couple of years is to delete browser autocompletes (cmd + shift + delete or similar). Once I became aware of the "slot machine" effect of websites I deleted the default autocompletes for Facebook and Hacker News, for example. Prior to doing this, if I typed "F" into chrome I went to my Facebook news feed, and "N" in chrome took me to HN. I deleted those def…

I use a slightly different trick in the same spirit. I prevent my browser from saving login credentials for Facebook. So, any time I want to check Facebook, I need to type my email address and long password. One can also set the password to be some message one wants to reinforce, eg: 'nomorethanfiveminutes'.

Re: Why I deleted my Facebook account

#250

Post by whiddershins » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 3:12 PM UTC

ivm wrote: post #228

whiddershins wrote: post #216

The one greatest internet life hack I discovered in the last couple of years is to delete browser autocompletes (cmd + shift + delete or similar). Once I became aware of the "slot machine" effect of websites I deleted the default autocompletes for Facebook and Hacker News, for example. Prior to doing this, if I typed "F" into chrome I went to my Facebook news feed, and "N" in chrome took me to HN. I deleted those def…

Yes, I have a separate laptop for all the distracting sites including HN. My main machine is for work. But why do you need Facebook app on your iPhone at all? Messenger is enough.

Events. If for no other reason, that would be more than enough reason.