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I deleted my social media accounts

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Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#21
post #2

I wouldn't delete social media accounts because they might become available to register for malicious actors who can then impersonate you. Keep the accounts, just don't use them any more.

There isn't anything unique about your account on most social media platforms. This isn't a "plant your flag" situation like when trying to prevent identity theft. You don't need to register your account before a bad actor does. Sure, I created an online account with the IRS, credit bureaus, etc. before somebody else could. That's important because they are tied to unique identifiers like your SSN, etc. But somebody…

I’m pretty sure GP is saying if you already had an account and you delete it, it’s trivially easy for someone to register with your old handle and impersonate you

Of course people can always impersonate you but the goal here is to prevent them from impersonating you with a social handle people knew you had.

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#23
post #7

> Once the accounts were finally gone, I realized just how much of a grip these platforms had on me. The number of times I reflexively typed "t" or "f" into my browser bar (which autocompletes to twitter.com or facebook.com) was honestly terrifying. Waiting for assets to build? Hit Twitter. Software update running? Quick Facebook check How many different accounts do you have to delete though? For many of those people…

Yes, that's right. But social media platforms always tend to have something new on it each time you check them, which creates a strong incentive to check them even more often. News sites, for example, on the other hand, don’t use algorithms that encourage doom scrolling and keep you engaged far longer than you intended.

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#24
post #7

> Once the accounts were finally gone, I realized just how much of a grip these platforms had on me. The number of times I reflexively typed "t" or "f" into my browser bar (which autocompletes to twitter.com or facebook.com) was honestly terrifying. Waiting for assets to build? Hit Twitter. Software update running? Quick Facebook check How many different accounts do you have to delete though? For many of those people…

It's a stepping stone. The mere act of noticing yourself typing "t" and remembering it's not there, and feeling the feelings and realizations that accompany that, can lead to real behavioral change.

If you care about yourself and want to have healthier and more mindful habits, you will hopefully start redirecting what were once mindless impulses of avoidance or boredom into more meaningful activities for yourself.

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is quaint but if my friends and family each had their own blog that they wanted me to look at, I wouldn't. There's a reason these social media places caught on, because they act as aggregators. I get it, it's different types of content, one requires more effort than the other, and the argument is that, if you don't have anything of substance to say, don't say it, but it still requires extra effort to read that I p…

That’s what RSS is for.

That solves the "there is a new post" aggregator problem, sure, but I still need to go there and read it.

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#26
post #17

Facebook removing 'fact' checkers is good, they weren't fact checkers, they were bias enforcers. Community notes is far superior to the bias enforcers.

It’s the why, the how, and the context of how the replacement will be built, and the context of how he’s selling the change. Zuck told Trump’s team before he told his own content board. He’s building something aligned to the new administration more than the principle of relaxing a problematic fact checking solution.

He complained about undue influence from the Biden administration, as if he isn’t going to be subject to undue influence by the Trump administration.

And if all this is so he can buy TikTok, then…

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#27
post #17

Facebook removing 'fact' checkers is good, they weren't fact checkers, they were bias enforcers. Community notes is far superior to the bias enforcers.

Yea it’s odd how so many people have become pro-censorship.

I don't think it's that strange. Most people are happy to have their views supported even if it's by means that they would call terrible if used against them.

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#28

> and why you should too This is not actually explained in the article. It rightfully explains how X, meta and others have taken a turn for the worse to say the least, but it doesn't say why I should delete my Facebook or Twitter account. Neither do the hundreds of calls to delete such accounts in the past few weeks or months have. I get that the point is "You should stop using such social media", but I don't get wha…

Deleting your account makes somebody's numbers look bad. It also marks a more serious commitment. (I deleted my Facebook in 2016. I did make a new one recently when I got my Meta Quest 3. I was hoping to get into Instagram recently because (i) I think the content I post on Mastodon/Bluesky would do great there and (ii) was thinking about doing a marketing project where that was the right venue. Meta won't let me create an Instagram account, probably because I deleted my Facebook account, I sure as hell haven't done anything else offensive with a Meta property)

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#29
I'm just not reading any of it - not interested. SM addiction is so 2015. I have technical accounts to be able to search for something (e.g. while training loras) or to watch without annoying popups when someone links me to it.

This dramatic deletion is overreaction, solve the underlying problem instead.

Rather than scrolling instagram and tiktok, visit /news and /newest, and then /ask, /show. If nothing interesting there, refresh the /newest until there is. You can be first in upvoting or commenting on it, and can get a good bump to your score if you say something that sounds smart before it hits the frontpage. Then you can re-read the quality content you produced and count how much is left to the round number, like it's only 40 to 9700, only 340 to 10000, etc. Much healthier than just scrolling endlessly and sharing memes.

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#30
post #17

Facebook removing 'fact' checkers is good, they weren't fact checkers, they were bias enforcers. Community notes is far superior to the bias enforcers.

That's not all FB is doing.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/meta-new-hate-spee...

"Meta will allow its billions of social media users to accuse people of being mentally ill based on their sexuality or gender identity, among broader changes it made to its moderation policies and practices Tuesday.

...

The long list of changes to the new hate speech guidelines include removing rules that forbid insults about a person’s appearance based on race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, religious affiliation, caste, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity and serious disease. Meta also scrapped policies that prohibited expressions of hate against a person or a group on the basis of their protected class and that banned users from referring to transgender or nonbinary people as “it.”"

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