Wednesday 14 August 2013

Deactivated Facebook Account

This is just a note for the 150 or so people who wonder if I have Defriended them on Facebook. I haven't. I have deactivated my Facebook account for now.

Incidentally, with only one or two exceptions, I have added only people I have met in person to my Facebook page. The same goes for other social media sites although I really do not keep up those sites.

If you want a shock of reality, see what any stranger on Facebook can see if he calls up your "Timeline."  He'll see some updates. He'll see your photos. He'll see a list of your friends--and then have a look at their Timelines. This is fantastic news for investigative journalists, but not necessarily so great for you.

6 comments:

sciencegirl said...

I quit facebook last year, and don't miss it. It sometimes inconveniences friends who have to email me in addition to posting about a party on facebook, but there haven't been any major problems.

Christine P said...

"He'll see some updates. He'll see your photos. He'll see a list of your friends--and then have a look at their Timelines."

Actually you can get rid of almost all of that using your privacy settings. My current profile picture and cover photo can be seen by strangers, and that's about it -- no posts, no groups, no events, no pictures, no friend lists. And if you set your account to not appear in search engines, that'll give you a privacy boost as well.

Ally said...

Yep, get thee to thy privacy settings everyone if you haven't before now - hiding your friends list (even from YOUR FRIENDS) and pretty much almost everything except your name and your profile picture is pretty easy. Do most people take the time to make sure of this? no. But they should.

Jackie said...

Huzzah for standing up to FaceBook!

I quit in disgust as some 3rd party website stole some of my pics off of FB (gosh, this was... 3 years ago?) to use for goodness knows what. Apparently this happened to many, many people and I was part of the large class-action suit. (Offering us each in compensation: $20, ha ha ha!)

Anyway, I have the account stagnant to let certain family members contact me through it, but I refuse to participate beyond that.

Something I have observed is that, on FaceBook, life becomes a kind of performance. So many people appear to be presenting a certain kind of calculated self as depicted through photo albums, status updates and comments about trips, parties, accomplishments etc. Do you know what I mean?

It actually used to bring me down a little bit to see all this. My real, non-virtual life appeared so so ordinary in comparison. Now that I see and appreciate the beauty in the so-called "ordinary" and stay away from the 'Book there is a lot less time comparing/despairing. For me, at least!

Julia said...

Just deactivated my Facebook account. I'd been meaning to for some time, but I'll eventually come back. I deactivated it for awhile last year and I realised how much I don't need it.

Julia said...

Jackie, I read this short article the other day. It doesn't really illuminate much, but it suggests that FB does cause people to 'compare/despair', as you said.

http://health.ninemsn.com.au/healthnews/8707340/facebook-makes-you-sad