Due to the increased amount of awareness we have in regards to Facebook’s actions, it has never been so popular to jump ship on a social network since Myspace died out and became what it is today. The #DeleteFacebook hashtag has been trending pretty hard across all major platforms like Twitter and even Facebook itself.
It has been in the news everywhere as major celebrities have been one-by-one, joining the cause. Brian Acton, co-founder of WhatsApp, did a great job of ruffling feathers by reaching out to all of his followers (over 32k followers) on Twitter yesterday, telling them it is time.
It is time. #deletefacebook
— Brian Acton (@brianacton) March 20, 2018
It all boils down to the fact that, yes, Facebook is absolutely selling your information every which way they can. It’s how they have grown as large as they are today, and there is little to show they will ever find the light by choosing a better path for their business practices (just consider all of the repeat offender theories and statistics).
Is it right that they do what they do? Of course it isn’t. However, everyone has signed their own contract by allowing them to do it, simply by agreeing to their policies every chance they become available. The issue extends far beyond Facebook since nobody ever (mostly) gives the time of day to read any of that legal jargon. So the majority blindly click accept and move on with their lives pretending all is well. People think Facebook is a wonderland of social interaction, and what makes it all so amazing is that you don’t have to spend a dime to make use of it. However, a network like that takes an intense amount of resources to keep up without showering you with ads around every corner, or forcing you to watch a commercial before you could sign in–or, simply charging you for portions of your service. Unless of course Mark Zuckerberg was a philanthropist with bottomless pockets.
Of course, I share that rant with you as I am not much better. Although I do take the time to read “some” of that text, I too have had a Facebook page, and gladly use used it every week (usually somewhat daily, like many others). I did so, knowing that Facebook was following me all over and collecting whatever they could. To minimize it as much as possible, I didn’t share anything too detailed and tried to keep everything as simple as possible. I never submitted the images of last week’s ski trip, or my mother’s Birthday. I posted a few memes or thoughts here or there but nothing personal, over the top or shocking.
However, no matter how mild I kept my interaction on Facebook, programs can easily sniff all of that information into one collective while developing a profile identification of me that can assist with advertising and other interests (someone’s interests…just not mine). A little bit of information that is far too personal can make a big difference about understanding someone. However, a lot of little bits of information that is the furthest thing from personal becomes personal just as quick, and can say a lot about you. That’s worth a lot of money to some, and Facebook seems to be more than happy to deliver.
Despite all of this, I continued to use Facebook as it was a good means to communicate with friends and family. However with all of the recent popularity of jumping ship, I wondered how easy that could possibly be. To unplug from the Matrix and move on. I had over 300 “friends” on Facebook, which is a lot of people to lose that kind of contact with. However, how bad can it be right? Maybe I can disable the account, and go from there?
So that last thought had me thinking. I would disable my account. Before I did that, I began to clean out some of the images and reflect back on everything I have posted in the past. Sure enough, there wasn’t much that got too personal, but I started deleting the things I felt were no longer relevant. Images, posts, recommended stories and so forth. I found it difficult to stop, as I kept asking myself: “do I absolutely have to have this?”. I then started going through the friends list to find out that most of these people never reach out, despite us all being just as equally active on the platform. Some of which I ran into at a convention somewhere, or at another event.
That led me to post a simple update, stating that I am going to pull the curtain over the account for a short bit. If you need to get into contact with me, you more than likely have my contact in one form or another (ie, email, phone, etc). That led to some really positive comments. At this point, I was at the office and someone had mentioned they didn’t think I would do it. I said that all I was going to do was disable the account. However, that got me thinking again. Why couldn’t I be able to do it? Why does it have to be so hard to quite? Is it an addiction?–why yes, it is.
Thus, the account was deleted instead of disabled.
I didn’t think any further about it. I didn’t want to hesitate. I simply let it go.
What I thought was going to be a heavy feeling of anxiety caused by my actions, actually resulted in a clear conscience. I feeling of relief started to surround me as the day went on. Now, I feel like I am no longer tied to such platform. There is no worrying about what today’s updates are about everyone else’s life. Now, I can focus further on my own. If someone really needs to reach me, they still can (and in many ways). However, just because they have somelthing funny to say about their lunch this afternoon, doesn’t mean they “have” to reach out to me (and thus they won’t now). When someone calls, it’s usually about something much more interesting (like going out for a few drinks, or to plan the next ski trip).
This isn’t all that bad at all. So this is what life felt like before social media. I am once again starting to remember it all.
Of course Facebook isn’t the only beast behind everything. Companies like Google make their money with data mining along with so many more. So what’s next? Where does it end? It probably won’t go anywhere as most will either not join in on the mutiny, or will simply find their was to an equally as invasive platform somewhere else. At least for now, some have found their way out of the Matrix–even if it is only for a short period of time.
For the many of you who prefer to ride the train just fine, this is just me. Poc Network is still around on Facebook as well as most everyone that work here. So you more than likely don’t have to worry about losing “social” touch with all of your friends (real, semi-real, fake, or commercial). I just thought it would be interesting to talk about what I experienced from walking away. Hey, maybe I’ll see you out there as I spend my new found time hiking new trails and enjoying the real world.
