How to permanently leave Facebook • Hacker News Board

Re: How to permanently leave Facebook

#11

Post by IloveHN84 » Mon, Oct 29, 2018, 4:40 PM UTC

piocho wrote: post #3

One way to reduce the time you are using it, is to uninstall it from your phone as drKarl said. If you still want to be on facebook or messenger to keep a link with your friend, go only with your computer (if you have one) and limit it 15-20 minutes to check news and answer. Leaving facebook depends also on your friends. If they understand your choice, then they will contact you with messages or phone calls. If they…

None of mine used an alternative way to contact me, it means I lost contact with many of them since I've deleted my account last year

Re: How to permanently leave Facebook

#12

Post by slow_donkey » Mon, Oct 29, 2018, 5:21 PM UTC

dolessdrugs wrote: post #9

drKarl wrote: post #2

I just uninstalled the facebook app from my phone, and I don't use Messenger, although I still have to use Whatsapp (which is owned by Facebook) because that's what literally everybody uses.

"because that's what literally everybody uses." This exact same statement could be said about TheFacebook.com. How is using WhatsApp any different, if the goal is to disrupt Zuck's data collection?

I'd argue the purpose for most people leaving FB is to waste less time and privacy is generally a nice side effect but rarely a primary factor for the general population.

Re: How to permanently leave Facebook

#13

Post by noobly » Mon, Oct 29, 2018, 9:05 PM UTC

vertline3 wrote: post #8

Yeah, I told everyone I was concerned about data collection and deleted it, this was around year 2012. It took two weeks of not logging back in. There's a difference between deleting and deactivating I think, I deleted mine. That was it.

I believe when people claim you can't delete a FB account, they mean it from the perspective of FB. That data is still sitting in their databases, it's just tagged as "deleted", from what I've gathered.

Re: How to permanently leave Facebook

#14

Post by LifeQuestioner » Mon, Oct 29, 2018, 9:59 PM UTC

change password to something insanely long and boring to type write it on paper stick it in your draw, log out of fb, clear all passwords Laziness wins most of the time and you wont be bothered to take out your password and type it into the browser that is fjvhcji8987sdhcsl@!j

If you desperately need it, you will. When your out and about you wont have the pass as its in your draw at home

Re: How to permanently leave Facebook

#15

Post by piocho » Mon, Oct 29, 2018, 10:06 PM UTC

IloveHN84 wrote: post #11

piocho wrote: post #3

One way to reduce the time you are using it, is to uninstall it from your phone as drKarl said. If you still want to be on facebook or messenger to keep a link with your friend, go only with your computer (if you have one) and limit it 15-20 minutes to check news and answer. Leaving facebook depends also on your friends. If they understand your choice, then they will contact you with messages or phone calls. If they…

None of mine used an alternative way to contact me, it means I lost contact with many of them since I've deleted my account last year

I'm facing the same problem. I still have my account for now.

What I'm thinging is that if I delete it, the ones that will contact me with an other way (messages, phone, email, ...) will be my true friends and not only fb friend.

Of course we will lost contact with John or Sara or Maria who is somewhere else in the world, but concretely what was the last we discuss each other ?

Re: How to permanently leave Facebook

#16

Post by JackSquat » Mon, Oct 29, 2018, 11:09 PM UTC

piocho wrote: post #3

One way to reduce the time you are using it, is to uninstall it from your phone as drKarl said. If you still want to be on facebook or messenger to keep a link with your friend, go only with your computer (if you have one) and limit it 15-20 minutes to check news and answer. Leaving facebook depends also on your friends. If they understand your choice, then they will contact you with messages or phone calls. If they…

I will be your friend. Message me with your preferred method of communication.

Re: How to permanently leave Facebook

#17

Post by vertline3 » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 12:21 AM UTC

noobly wrote: post #13

vertline3 wrote: post #8

Yeah, I told everyone I was concerned about data collection and deleted it, this was around year 2012. It took two weeks of not logging back in. There's a difference between deleting and deactivating I think, I deleted mine. That was it.

I believe when people claim you can't delete a FB account, they mean it from the perspective of FB. That data is still sitting in their databases, it's just tagged as "deleted", from what I've gathered.

I see, was thinking he meant the "deactivated" thing,

Re: How to permanently leave Facebook

#18

Post by clusmore » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 9:57 PM UTC

jryan49 wrote: post #7

Just uninstall all apps, and log out of facebook did it for me. The act of having to log in would stop me.

If that still doesn't do it, change your password to random gibberish that you don't save in a password manager, forcing you to do a password reset to login. If that still doesn't work, set the recovery email to an account you also don't know the password for. But honestly, just logging out should be enough.

Re: How to permanently leave Facebook

#19

Post by yesenadam » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 11:57 PM UTC

Noprocrast on here works great, I have it boot me off for 6 hours after 1 hour on. Why not make something like that.

Re: How to permanently leave Facebook

#20

Post by Zelmor » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 11:29 AM UTC

piocho wrote: post #15

IloveHN84 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of mine used an alternative way to contact me, it means I lost contact with many of them since I've deleted my account last year

I'm facing the same problem. I still have my account for now. What I'm thinging is that if I delete it, the ones that will contact me with an other way (messages, phone, email, ...) will be my true friends and not only fb friend. Of course we will lost contact with John or Sara or Maria who is somewhere else in the world, but concretely what was the last we discuss each other ?

I'm keeping in touch with a dozen people via emails. They never had Facebook, and as far as I can tell, they are better off than most people. Our mail exchanges are long form and meaningful, with pictures, links to interesting things, and so on. They can be sporadic, sometimes months go inbetween, but we always come around to write a couple pages to the other person.

Facebook Messenger is a convenience that I have, but the people who do reach out to me usually do so just to organize a night out. They said they would call if they couldn't write.. We have group talks organizing board game nights, because communication is easier, and we have group chats for sharing random cute shit like cat videos. I do not get rid of it because for one specific friend I'd need to use Whatsapp anyway, because he is precious and I understand that he doesn't want Yet Another Secure Messaging App (telegram to be specific) on his phone/desktop just for me.