One thing to watch out for, is that on some platforms (those that are not doing correct email account ownership verification) account might get recreated either by accident or not, by a person using your email address. I think it is better just to remove as much personal data as possible, cleanup account and leave it with updated, more secure password.
Internet spring cleaning: How to delete Instagram, Facebook and other accounts
81–90 of 210 posts
Re: Internet spring cleaning: How to delete Instagram, Facebook and other accounts
#82I've found myself between deleting, deactivating, and moderating my use of these apps for many years of my life. I never found deleting or deactivating to be very helpful. At some time or another you're going to need said account for something. While deleting is a bit extreme, some of these services will respect the actual deletion and others will not. I suppose the question at the end of the day is...why bother? I'v…
> At some time or another you're going to need said account for something.
Nope for almost all of these. Different strokes different folks.
> Facebook Nope. Haven't had one for more than 10 years now. So easy to live life without a FB account. I stay in touch with family and friends by phonecalls and Mumble.
> Instagram Used it for maybe 10 minutes in 2013, haven't touched since.
> Snapchat Same as Instagram, but in 2016.
> Tiktok Same as above.
> Spotify I listen to music on my harddrive.
> Venmo Still using Paypal since 2012.
> Twitter Nope, in fact my life has been significantly improved since I've not had an account. I use Nitter when I want to read a Twitter thread.
Amazon and Google are the only ones that I find very hard to avoid, but Google has gotten increasingly easy to avoid as alternative services are popping up.
Re: Internet spring cleaning: How to delete Instagram, Facebook and other accounts
#83Anyone who reads the Mozilla Blog probably doesn't need this guide, so for whom is this article targeting?
The hackernews comments section, populated by people who are looking to talk about their latest argument against social media (guilty), but who typically need to find an appropriate article for that rant to be on topic.
Re: Internet spring cleaning: How to delete Instagram, Facebook and other accounts
#84Most people don't need to delete their accounts.
I have a tasty bottle of rather expensive whiskey on the bar in my basement right now. Luxury consumables are a good gift, I guess.
I don't want to drink it right now because I have things to do requiring sobriety, its a bit early in the day for that sort of thing, etc. I got my reasons, none of them terribly interesting.
If I don't want to drink it for various reasons, I merely need to not drink it; for me this is very easy to do, not having an addiction.
An alcoholic whom does not want to drink it, would absolutely need to perform the ritual of dumping it down the drain.
Note that the ritualistic act of pouring alcohol down the drain does not cure alcoholism, it just wastes time and money. And it is just so with social media addicts periodically deleting their accounts. Usually comes alongside a long rationalization and projection about privacy and paranoia about sharing information.
Re: Internet spring cleaning: How to delete Instagram, Facebook and other accounts
#85One thing to watch out for, is that on some platforms (those that are not doing correct email account ownership verification) account might get recreated either by accident or not, by a person using your email address. I think it is better just to remove as much personal data as possible, cleanup account and leave it with updated, more secure password.
If somebody creates an FB account with my email address, I will took it over immediately and remove it.
Re: Internet spring cleaning: How to delete Instagram, Facebook and other accounts
#86To protect my mental wellbeing, I find that carefully selecting who to follow on some of these services improves considerably my experience. For Instagram and Twitter, my rule of thumb is to prefer topical accounts to entity ones. That is, accounts that are dedicated to a single topic, no matter how narrow or large the scope, over those of people and/or companies. Personal and business accounts, no matter how focused…
> To protect my mental wellbeing, I find that carefully selecting who to follow on some of these services improves considerably my experience. For Instagram and Twitter, my rule of thumb This. These services aren't toxic if you don't follow toxic accounts. Also, I didn't think much about it in the past but now that I split my time between 3 countries and 2 continents, having FB (messenger) is the best way to keep in…
>This. These services aren't toxic if you don't follow toxic accounts.
Your ability to moderate your usage of these services doesn’t make them not toxic. Your statement is victim blaming.
These services are still major proprietors of surveillance capitalism. They sell your future behavior to the highest bidder. This is toxic in itself.
Beyond which, your participation in these services is a signal to those who trust you that these services are safe for them to use. They are not, because they are not safe for anyone to use. That you have mitigated the harm through devoting even more of your attention to them doesn’t change that.
Re: Internet spring cleaning: How to delete Instagram, Facebook and other accounts
#87I've found myself between deleting, deactivating, and moderating my use of these apps for many years of my life. I never found deleting or deactivating to be very helpful. At some time or another you're going to need said account for something. While deleting is a bit extreme, some of these services will respect the actual deletion and others will not. I suppose the question at the end of the day is...why bother? I'v…
What really helped me was getting rid of the app and distracting my muscle memory. It was weird to realize how often I was looking at the screen in search for the icon when I was otherwise idle. Once the habit to fill empty time with those was broken life was better. (less "stupid" posts on my mind, more enjoying the outside by looking up instead of the screen etc.)
And once in a while I unfortunately "need" Facebook: Restaurants having current info only there etc. and each time I'm happy not to waste time there anymore
Re: Internet spring cleaning: How to delete Instagram, Facebook and other accounts
#88To protect my mental wellbeing, I find that carefully selecting who to follow on some of these services improves considerably my experience. For Instagram and Twitter, my rule of thumb is to prefer topical accounts to entity ones. That is, accounts that are dedicated to a single topic, no matter how narrow or large the scope, over those of people and/or companies. Personal and business accounts, no matter how focused…
> To protect my mental wellbeing, I find that carefully selecting who to follow on some of these services improves considerably my experience. For Instagram and Twitter, my rule of thumb This. These services aren't toxic if you don't follow toxic accounts. Also, I didn't think much about it in the past but now that I split my time between 3 countries and 2 continents, having FB (messenger) is the best way to keep in…
> This. These services aren't toxic if you don't follow toxic accounts
Well. They do their best with recommendations and popular posts which try to lurk into your feed anyway. The whole TikTok is kinda based in that idea.
Re: Internet spring cleaning: How to delete Instagram, Facebook and other accounts
#89Here's a sample letter for European citizens that would like to make a legally-binding data subject deletion request: https://www.datarequests.org/blog/sample-letter-gdpr-erasure... Send this letter by email and my registered snail mail letter to the Data Protection Officer of the company (e.g. Facebook's Dublin Office). Violating such a request can lead to fines of 4% of annual revenue of any offending company.
Nit: EU residents, not EU citizens.
The reach of the law is concerned with where you are, not what your citizenship is.
Re: Internet spring cleaning: How to delete Instagram, Facebook and other accounts
#90> While the tech giant will likely continue to loom large over our lives, from search to email to our calendars, we can delete inactive or unnecessary Google accounts.
This is a missed opportunity to recommend good alternatives, especially for email and getting people onto their own domains.