Admittedly a senior citizen who still has a flip phone, I have shunned Facebook and Smartphones on purpose. I text, I write notes, I call and I talk to people face to face, and yes, I post comments on the NYTimes and other sites, so I am not in the wilderness. As someone who has prided herself in never being a lemming, don't get me started on upgrading phones every year, or other social platforms . Of course my husband will tell you that I have never seen a Rambo movie either...just march to the tune of my own drummer.
8
Everyone got on just fine before FB existed and they will after it's gone. So yes, do delete it. When everyone does this, the company ceases to exist, problem solved. Social media is bad for you.
13
I agree with the author's premise that we desperately need proper regulation on data privacy. Whether that is done through DOJ and FTC actions to combat anti-trust or an act of Congress seems a moot point. Do we really expect this Congress to take any action beyond self-enrichment? The best thing you can do IS to delete your Facebook. I did over a year and a half ago and I do not miss it at all. It provides little utility not available elsewhere. They were bleeding users prior to the most recent debacle. Thus their purchases of Instagram and WhatsApp, as well as their unsuccessful bid for Snap. Delete the bums. If 10 million Americans do it, it definitely sends a message.
5
How many of FB's users are actually active on the site? If my friends are any indicator, only about 20%, or fewer. These people may have accounts, but they've already "quit" the platform by not engaging with it, as far as I can see (unless that 80% of my friends are just voyeurs, watching but never posting, but that seems unlikely). FB says 66% of its users are active on a daily basis, but I seriously question that number. You have to wonder how much FB is lying to advertisers and the investment community.
5
2 things to keep in mind regarding this subject:
1) As I saw the head of the Federal Trade Commission say this morning on "Face The Nation", "Social media is still media". Which means it is not only a form of communication, but it's controlled by a small group of Silicon Valley oligarchs.
2) Speaking of oligarchs, it's worth pointing out that some of the most noteworthy figures in U.S. high tech (namely Mark Zuckerberg & the late Steve Jobs) actually got their starts as hackers. The fact that they had no regard for others' privacy should not lead anyone to be surprised that their tools lend themselves to hacking & all sorts of privacy concerns.
5
Politicians regulate social media? Not going to happen. They don't need to worry about responding to voters. Voters are easy to distract and manipulate--especially with some help from Facebook.
2
This article has an interesting perspective but it fails to impress. Why? If you're going to tell people to hold onto a shady product (ultimately that is all go fb is - a thing you use for your benefit) you had better provide an effective way for the consumer to complain if it does not please. That's the rub, there are no directions here on the best way to get to the powers that be and voice your complaints.
1
I can't deactivate Facebook as I never activated it. I read what I could on the computer web pages when it was new and decided that it was too demanding of data I would not want to give.
4
"Getting rid of your Facebook account will only offload the platform’s problems onto someone else."
It could also give you the time and freedom to have a real life. Actually make and see in-the-flesh friends. Facebook and twitter have destroyed personalrelationships in America - and elsewhere.
The tile of the writer's forthcoming book “Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy.” says all that needs to be said to justify leaving fb for reality. Of course it won't end fb given the money in play and the mindless part of the population, but it could set a lot of people free to live, breathe and think.
I was one of the early fb members, but I've not signed in for 4/5 years and I'm all the better without it and the dumbing down process of twitter which I leave to the truly stupid at the top and bottom.
6
Maybe this is a good opportunity to ask ourselves whether all the time and attention we put into social media and, more generally, the Web has a positive benefit-to-cost ratio or not. We once got along without the Web's hard-to-resist 24/7 siren call. Would we do better to break that chain, or at least turn it down a few big notches?
2
Forget "extremist" propaganda, so-called hate speech and any imagined threats to democracy. I don't want my personal information used for any purpose I haven't specifically permitted. I've never used Facebook for this reason, and am careful to limit and carefully monitor my Google use. Each individual is responsible for their on-line "selves", and should act appropriately. If more people had this attitude, they wouldn't be in this predicament.
2
The underlying premise is misplaced. The problem an individual faces by remaining on the platform is that they are contributing to the value of profiling data used to undermine democracy. the first action therefore is to get off the platform. Immediately. that first step is called integrity.
6
if someone ever had a Facebook account then Facebook will always have everything that person ever posted and their login info forever. that is why quitting doesn't matter.
1
We are not talking about tens of thousands of FB users walking away from it. We are talking/hoping for a million. They will notice that. They may have hordes of users world wide, but that is largely a gamble/cultivation of future revenue as the economies of these nations develop. The advertising revenue is North America and Europe centered. Losing revenue and stock valuation is the only route to encouraging them to change. Otherwise, it will be business as usual after mouthing platitudes about their concern for user security and protection of Western democracies.
3
There are already companies that do what facebook do without selling us out to the enemy. Facebook needs to be replaced with a company that does not sell our information, that does not allow our information to be harvested and that does not allow propaganda news on it. It should never have been made into an advertisers space. Maybe a nonprofit who charges us all a few bucks is a better alternative. With billions of users, they could make a billion a year just charging a dollar a year.
4
I do not disagree with the arguments of the author, but I chose to delete my Facebook account, as a form of protest. They give me two weeks to reconsider... of course, many people would change their mind, which tells you how pervasive their power is. Surely enough this will not affect Facebook as a business even if a million people decide to disconnect.
If you want to make a real change however, demand change in the way political parties are funded. Washington lobbying, and the effect that this has on policy, regulation and M&As, amplifies the inherent network effect on which companies such as Facebook thrive. In the wider sense, party funding helps create monopolists to the detriment of the consumers/ tax payers and the wider economy.
Until this is done, regulation will be weak and Facebook may keep buying upstart and would-be competitors and it won't matter much whether you decide to delete your Facebook account or demand tougher regulatory action.
3
I would not want to join a place that shows that it is not at all trustworthy. I can't stop others from doing so, but that is their choice.
Does the author really expect the changes proposed will pass this Congress,President ?
1
Facebook has destroyed more of my family and friendly phone calls and real face to face connections than anything ever in my 50 years of life. My children quit using it before I did and then I decided to as well. I had deactivated it more than once already, and then when deciding to delete it my astute children told me that everything ever posted on Facebook can not be deleted only deactivated. That made me feel even worse. My children are the main reason I KNOW Facebook is a horrible platform for being social. They were 10 and 12 when it hit the world. They like their friends quickly had accounts and elaborate names and professions that sounded cool and fun, my son was the owner of a paradise Island anyway, it seemed to be a game and lots of fun. Then in Middle school they started seeing friends bullied, and even comments made by people taken the wrong way causing undo stress and anger in middle school. It was really hard for them, meanwhile I was seeing photos of more people who I either could see if we took the time in person, or reconnecting with old college friends. It seemed interesting, but it never took over or really added to my life, just took more time than I wanted. Like texting even it seemed so in-personal. I miss phone calls and email.
6
oh and I did deactivate my account a long time ago, but it is always going to be there. Deleting what you have posted is not an option. JUST FYI, dont believe me, deactivate or delete, then wait however long you want and log in again. I imagine they even have you passwords on their servers too. It is more possible than not. Honeslty
1
Social networks can be good and most people are on Facebook to connect to others. But Facebook is an advertising platform masquerading as a social network. It would be nice if there was a PBS version of Facebook - one that wasn't built to sell ads but rather to supply information to people.
3
The article would have made sense if the writer had hard numbers on revenues from other countries and continents. My bet is the most lucrative market is the north american market. Social Networks lose value when the network and social part disappears. So yes deleting Facebook is the best thing you can do. For yourself and your friends and family. Use actual phone calls, emails, photo sharing, blog writing. Pay for and read newspapers. Use the internet the way it was designed to be used. For your own personal benefit using open tools and variety of platforms. Do things anonymously for a change. Take that trip to the beach or to the gym without shouting on any social media for a change.
I deleted facebook a couple of years ago for myself a couple of years ago and have had zero problems and my quality of social life has gone up. It has become more real less virtual.
People have been staying in touch and communcating before facebook. I continue to do the same post-facebook with zero problems.
1
Wrong.
This opinionator is simply mindlessly repeating the mantra taught throughout the early development of the Internet.
The Internet was originally developed for rapid transfer of data from one scientific project to another. A Golem ..... designed to protect us from ourselves.
But like a Golem.....it transformed into something the preys on us...........
Facebook provides absolutely NO value..........everything about Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and any other Social MEdia Platform sucks the life out of Reality. The obsession with Virtual Life is actually DESTROYING us......it does nothing valuable.
Worse....all these Social Media Platforms clog the internet up and prevent valuable data from being transfered and utilized for our benefit.
Facebook exists to control eyeballs...ie minds. The Chinese Big Brother has recognized this....and uses Social Media not to allow "freedom" or "privacy"(thats a farce....no such thing as freedom or privacy ever existed on the internet!)...China, much like Facebook, uses the internet to Indoctrinate.
Does anyone not understand how flash mobs are created to influence a mob to act against every individual self-interest??? Arab Spring? Flash Mob maybe? The downfall of Roy Moore? Internet Shaming?? Fake News? Fake this? Fake that? Only the Internet makes it possible.
2
"But even if tens of thousands of Americans quit Facebook tomorrow, the company would barely feel it."
That is a good point. Deleting Facebook is only the first step. Thereafter, a boycott of institutional investors in Facebook, and encouraging businesses and social organizations to move to platforms that do not actively act against the interests and politics their constituents, is in order.
But first, delete Facebook.
14
"Please realize, though, that you might be offloading problems onto those who may have less opportunity to protect privacy and dignity and are more vulnerable to threats to democracy."
Is the Professor really prepared to support his suggested claim that I have a social and moral responsibility to be an activist toward change at a private, for profit corporation?
I didn't delete my account to make a statement, change the world, or push for reform. I deleted my account because I am not going to actively assist those who wish to sell my personal information for their profit. Period.
"If the people who care the most about privacy, accountability and civil discourse evacuate Facebook in disgust, the entire platform becomes even less informed and diverse."
Maybe those who want a platform for private, accountable and civil discourse should create one, because Facebook isn't that platform. Why should I suffer Facebook's invasiveness in some attempt to reform it?
I'm mixing analogies, but the Uber crash in Tempe is still fresh on my mind. It is as if the Professor would claim "If all the prudent and safety minded pedestrians avoid Uber testing zones, there will not be enough targets for driverless cars to ever learn to not kill pedestrians?"
6
Prof. Vaidhyanathan advocates not deleting FB. He feels it will not make a difference in the long or short run.
I deleted my FB account this morning after I had them archive my photos and posts, which was easy and relatively quick.
Sure, FB has 2.1 billion users worldwide as he points out. But it no longer has this user. I'll find another way to vent my political outrage, or let friends know what I am having for lunch and at what restaurant.
I expect some withdrawal. . . But I am feeling better (and freer), already.
28
They already have all of your photos archived and they will keep anything and everything you ever posted commented on or were tagged in. it is their property not yours. That is the problem. They did not tell anyone what they were signing up for, probably because they didn't care, know or just wanted more money. Sadly it will be the young people who pay the price. You can deactivate but you can not delete your account and definitely not things others have posted or will with you in it, so enjoy the platform of social injustice.
Perhaps the best thing to do is delete social media accounts who allow offensive or negative content of any kind or continually promote content you really don't want to waste time looking at. Use and promote social websites that refuse to allow negative content or discourage the posting of negative content. If social media or media support people, movements, or books deserving of their support, use them, not the ones that don't. If FB can survive without you, let them do so. They are like a business entity but also like politicians who survive by functioning as business entities for use by special interests. Business is not democratic but you still have choice as to whether you buy what they are selling by participating or not in their business model or back what might seem like a dubious mission statement.
The thinking of this author is quite illogical. He doesn't understand how the real world works and/or has not been paying attention to the many attempts to get Facebook and Google to clean up their acts, and the recent demonstrations of how willing they are to sell user data to anyone. For years Facebook and Google have only been genuflecting in the direction of protection of user privacy and real and complete informed consent regarding use of data they have taken from the citizenry. The business of selling marketing data is just too tempting, they will never quit their abuses. They will sell it to anybody anytime. Massive withdrawal from use of these platforms is the only way to get them to change NOW. Carefully developed regulation is fine for the FUTURE, but we all know how long that will take to develop.
5
Disagree wholeheartedly. Without American eyeballs Facebook's ad revenue takes a major dive.
4
Too late. I deleted it yesterday. Good riddance!
I downloaded WhatsApp instead. I know this is owned by FB, but there are no ads or propaganda. I am in charge of sharing my messages and texts with whomever I want. I feel this step has made communication with my true friends and family more relevant already...
9
you did not delete it, you deactivated it, but they still own and have everything you ever posted etc. and always will. if anyone ever gets your user name and password it can be reactivated in 2 seconds. I wonder if they saved that information too? probably, and can sell it all, without you ever knowing. So much for those personal photos memories and information, so much fun....
Facebook is the baddest actor in the Universe. Period. It must be removed from society, culture and civilization. If it takes a Federal Government force of "Untouchables"-like efficiency and dedication, Facebook (and all of its peers) must be eliminated from the American scene and landscape and from the World scene and landscape. We have proof of Facebook's criminality, corruption and toxicity. These conglomerates must be prosecuted out of existence.
5
it is an addictive drug and is available to anyone of any age. It imay be more addictive than any drug yet. Time will tell. And do not think parental controls solve anything... kids are too smart for that, they make an account at their firends a fake name a fake email, its so easy a 10 year old or younger can do it. Meanwhile 50 and overs are hiring people to make a facebook for them becuase they NEED it ? really
Ok so if the service is free you are the product. We’ve all heard that. Why not a subscription service? I suppose they’ll sell your data anyway...
DELETE your fakeboook account. there are at least 3 other sites that are similar. TIME to do something and not just talk about it. That's the problem in America--we just talk about everything--and FAIL to do what is right. It is exactly what the donaly said--he could shoot someone on 5th ave and nobody would care. WELL< IT IS TIME TO CARE.
The people who abuse us need to understand that that cannot go on forever.--it shouldn't go on at all, but....
Slavery was abolished during the Civil War--let's not require another civil war to abolish slavery to tech companies.
2
I'm sorry, but this #deleteFacebook movement is naive. it's been obvious from the start that you and your profile are not private. Anyone who thought otherwise is a fool. Every like and click and post should be considered public information. That's how I always considered it, even if for things that were supposedly private. If privacy is your primary concern you shouldn't be on Facebook. Period. What was never secret was how they made their money.
Furthermore, you can control what you post on there. So come on.
Lastly, this notion of privacy went out the window long ago anyway. If you've ever used a credit card, companies are gathering intel about you.
As usual, people just really enjoy taking down anything that gets too big.
2
Wait, your argument is that (1) Facebook was obviously an anti-privacy monster from the beginning, (2) if you care about privacy then you shouldn't be on Facebook, and (3) there is no reason to delete your Facebook page except you hate capitalism, big business and America.
You are dead wrong. It’s the tens of millions of Americans who can make Facebook a discredited dead-zone populated by bots, drones, info-war conpirationists and alt right white nationalists.
We dont need FB share and communicate what’s going on in our lives! We have texting, email, Dropbox. Yes, it’s more awkward and a little more time-consuming— but that extra time is worth not being bombarded by trolls, advertising and the miasma of distracting click-bait from questionable sources of all types.
It’s only those who are seeking “followers” for the purposes of advancing a musical career, say, or some other career agenda. For the rest of us, collecting likes and followers who will only get to view our fabulous vacation video, our new shoes, or the plate of delicious food we ate in Tuscany, or Disneyworld is an exercise in self-attention and narcissism. A bunch of people I barely know, or rank strangers “liking” my crummy iPhone selfies of me and my dog? I’m over it and I can’t believe others soon won’t be.
But what about using FB for political organizing?
The events organized on social media by the high-school kids could have been organized by email, texting and private chains of communication. It would have all been publicized via mainstream media such as this newspaper. Or the networks. Or even YouTube.
Facebook needs to be punished into reforming itself or fading into irrelevance. It’s about as inconvenient to drop as using a cloth shopping bag. Do it now!
2
How can I quit what I never began?
2
Delete Facebook! It is a prime example of self-revealing suicide. Don't any of you get the fact that privacy is your only true treasure in this century and it has been under attack non-stop since the 1940s? The invention of the computer sealed our fate, as did invention of the bulldozer create the ability for insatiable rape of the environment. Facebook and all similar apps were created for robots, not humans who strive for maintenance of privacy and individuality. Today we are mere autotomons blindly permitting ourselves to be fractured into digits for commercial and governmental power and control. Delete FACEBOOK!
2
"So go ahead and quit Facebook if it makes you feel calmer or more productive. Please realize, though, that you might be offloading problems onto those blah, blah, blah...."
Quit trying to shame anyone smart enough to leave FB.
We do not need FB to have a life and our democracy is obviously being threatened by it.
6
Huh? I should continue using Facebook despite despising it, thereby granting them revenues for ads that I would rather not see? What insane world does this academic live in, Trump's America?
4
Last time I checked Facebook is free of charge and optional, not mandatory. Participate at your own discretion. To suggest that those who choose not to participate are "offloading problems" on vulnerable users is ridiculous.
3
Most of the younger people in my orbit quit FB long ago and moved to Instagram, SnapChat, etc because us old folks invaded their platform. Something new will rush in to take its placeand FB’s tone deaf behavior will cause its demise.
3
Don't care too much about Facebook.
It's those daily tweets from some lunatic in D.C. that gets printed multiple times throughout the day that annoy me.
If anything, delete Twitter.
7
A Twitter movement called #DeleteFacebook? Next, we'll see a stop smoking campaign from McDonalds.
6
Why is Facebook unregulatable in the US.? Because it has not been granted a monopoly by government, because it is not a necessary public service, because no one really needs it.
3
The argument here is one used to counter the anti-vacinnation crowd. If you don't vaccinate you put others at risk. That works well for the vaccination issue, but doesn't work well here. Facebook is not a necessity it is convenience, a luxury one that we all can live without and live without well. It's whole reason to be is gather my personal information and sell it. If I wanted that, I can sell my information myself.
1
I have a niece. She runs a business, raises a family, works out -- and finds time to post daily on Facebook.
But I haven't had any of my few emails to her answered, in 3 years. I gave up trying a year ago.
Her mother lives in the same city as she. Her experience is similar, emails answered maybe once in 3 months.
Facebook is an addiction.
4
No. I would delete my facebook account---if I ever had one to delete. I know that everything I do on the internet is cataloged or monitored. Why would I make it easier by aggregating my personal information on one site?
Beyond that, it is time for all of the Silicon Valley giants to fall under the same type of regulations that govern the telecommunication companies and other utilities.
It is also time to consider breaking them up. Not that it will ever happen. Look at the banks.
2
I do not believe FaceBook is serious about being 'fixed'. Their feedback tools are limited and don't have adequate choices that fit troubling circumstances. I keep encountering clearly stolen identities and report them. FB doesn't seem to have enough staffing invested in cleaning up their accounts. Or they do not have the best expertise on this issue. I am giving them a bit longer to show their intentions...but close to dropping.
7
I'm real tired of selling the people out and watching my country fall apart. It seems when ever something happen we want to improve, we get stopped because it might hurt some business. We are a nation of people, not business.
I do not believe Facebook wants to be fixed. It's soul is collecting, moving and selling private information. That's it's core business.
4
#DeleteFacebook is not "about a string of terrible things" - it's about what FB has done with data or failed to do.(other large Internet Cos as well but by far FB has been the worst) They've been problematic since the start with privacy rules or lack of in convoluted "agreement" statements that nobody reads resulting in what we have now. I've looked at their loose privacy rules off and on for years and every time I've concluded the same - no thanks. Most people don't bother with most of these "end user agreements" and they are this way by design so that people are presented with these apps to sign up what they are actually doing is "signing away" their rights. FB has been purposefully deceptive - looking the other way - the last thing they want is to be regulated properly like they are mostly in the EU. FB is not going to change over night, they don't give you the option with a simple check box that is obvious "don't share my information" & honestly would you believe them if there was a box and would they actually protect your data? I disagree with this whole point of view - go ahead and delete away AND also do something about it and push for privacy regulation. BTW - it's not as easy as just clicking "delete" - again by design - besides you can't delete or remove from FB what they now own - after all - you signed it away.
2
Facebook is not a community asset. I quit Facebook long ago because I didn't like how it affected me. Communicating people through platforms like Facebook was destructive to me; not very real. It was no bargain when it was free; now that I see what the real cost it's even less acceptable.
I don't have to sit around for Facebook to change. I changed myself and I can change the world through that.
5
Why not do both? Delete it (or never sign up--my son's generation aren't on Facebook) AND exert pressure through the political process, on all of these companies. How is it that Europeans can enjoy at least some modest privacy protections, while we don't? For platforms like Google, which are hard to avoid, use your privacy settings, download anti-spyware and anti-adware, and don't share data across apps. Will you sacrifice a little convenience? Maybe. Is it worth it? You bet, unless you like being packaged up and sold.
3
First, Facebook may come up with a subscription model, where the users become the customer not the product. I wouldn't mind paying for such a subscription, if it addressed privacy and security concerns. I'm hoping there is growing demand for such a service.
Secondly, the U.S. governments need to regulate better what users' data companies can retain and sell to third parties. This might actually help (long-term) tech companies like Facebook, as it would put at ease user concerns.
Thirdly, better regulation of online advertising, especially political advertising, which may be take the form of "fake news". We can hold political ads to the same standard of medical advertising, where you can't make false statements or unsubstantiated claims.
1
I'm deleting my FB account. Not that I think it will matter to FB corporate, but because I cannot believe that FB will correct the failure of corporate character that resulted in a 2-year cover-up of the illicit use of my personal data. As the old saying goes, a leopard doesn't change its spots.
I am a cyber security professional who has been practicing for 20 years - since the early days of the internet. Besides FB's irredeemable character flaws, I don't believe FB can correct its privacy model. The value of the personal information that FB has aggregated is just too high to malefactors. The bad guys will find a way to circumvent whatever countermeasures FB erects. There's just too much motivation.
In this particular incident, FB fell victim to a form of social engineering. It wasn't a technological failure but a human failure. Had FB not covered up that failure, I could accept their apology. Transparency would have redeemed them. The cover-up showed a failure of corporate character that will take a very long to correct. In the meantime, I will stay off their platform.
27
Perhaps if Federal Trade Commission imposed extremely large fines, FB might change, but I think that is very unlikely given the current administration and political climate in the US.
https://wolfstreet.com/2018/03/20/then-why-is-anyone-still-on-facebook/
1
The underlying rationale for Facebook is to gather as much data about me as it can, then sell it to anyone with a fat checkbook. In return, I get mostly drivel about politics that results in more argument than discussion, the occasional funny cat video, friend requests from ostensibly pretty young females, and, rarely, some news from someone I know that might be interesting. The net benefit to me was negative, so I deleted my account completely shortly after the last election. I haven't regretted that decision for even one second.
At 69, I am no longer interested in changing the world; only minimizing its negative influence on me personally. The torch has been passed to younger people. They will affect the trajectory of history now, and I hope they do a better job than my cohort did. They'd better!
6
Unfortunately the problem isn't social media. The problem is humans. Sadly, we humans are driven in large part by our emotions, not by our capacity to use critical thinking and analysis. A well-crafted message that goes straight to our emotional centers bypassing our conscious thinking mind captures us.
Russians notwithstanding, since the first contested election in the newly formed USA, innuendo, misleading statements and outright lies have been part-and-parcel of the electoral process. A lot of what was "journalism" in the early years would make us cringe today but we are still susceptible to the emotion triggering argument augmented by our increased ability to manipulate peoples thinking with words, sounds and images.
Personally, I don't use social media because I find it a total waste of valuable time. The warning that should be place on all social media should be: For Entertainment Only!
The fact that the Russians, or anybody else, can easily manipulate the electorate says more about our lack of critical thinking than their malicious intent.
When we don't use our ability to think critically, we get the government that we deserve instead of the one we want.
15
Good article, thank you. I would like to see regulation combined with FBs (and Twitter etc) own commitment, to stop users data being sold and used for political manipulation. It should be illegal to sell and make use of users data in the way Cambridge Analytica and other actors have done to target people and manipulate democratic processes such as US elections and Brexit referendum. Yes, this would require ongoing effort and edge case debate but so does enforcement of other laws related to protecting democracy.
5
"Don't quit facebook, because it will still be bad for disadvantaged people in other parts of the world." Did I hear that properly?
Should I also not vote because people in other countries others lack freedom? Pray tell, Professor.
You may have some good ideas here regarding improvements in education and government protections on data security, but you weaken your argument with a position on facebook itself is patently stupid. This tool is broken beyond repair, and its leaders are morally bankrupt. Tear it down.
33
Why should I try to fix facebook? It actually makes it very easy to delete your account. I'm not trying to fix the world by my deletion, any more than I thought I was saving the world by signing up. Just turns out it isn't that useful.
Maybe in a country with more limited options?
20
you do know, that you can not delete anything you ever posted. They have it all and they most likely have your login info as well. so deactivate, but its still there. And always will be. Just try typing back in your login and password. Nothing is gone. Its on Their servers. FOREVER
The sermon I wrote for today, Palm Sunday, is called 'Going Out Together" about how Jesus picked disciples who would betray him, deny him, disbelieve him, and finally abandon him before "seeing the light" of the resurrection. And he stuck it out with them anyway. Emphasis on "WITH them." It is true that real human relationships are fraught with hypocrisy, abuse, inconvenience, selfishness. But technology that promises us a "safe haven" from which we can point at and deride these traits in others without experiencing the humbling that comes with also seeing them in ourselves, is propelling us into a nightmarish world. The only power we have IS to "think and act collectively" yet in my dwindling Presbyterian congregation, I see fewer and fewer people who want to do the work of hanging out together, working through disagreement and conflict about how to help others and spend resources doing it, long enough to understand that power, much less wield it.
13
FB is already passé. I stopped 'using' about a year ago. Many others also see through this absolute shrine to capitalism that Facebook has become since it's IPO. Our memories can be so short.
Remember pre-IPO Facebook? Carefree compared to today's. Remember all those reiterations of privacy agreements we all just clicked 'yes' to so we could continue distracting ourselves in an echo chamber? And Ad's? Well they seemed to have increased slightly since going public. Psychographics? Psychography is more like it.
After a short adjustment period I have not missed anything on Facebook, except for keeping up with my daughter's antics, at all. Indeed it is actually nice to remember what I've read instead of instantly forgetting some clever meme I just read five minutes ago.
Go ahead FB, keep on keeping on, just without me.
3
Here is why Facebook needs to be attacked, both by it's abandonment by users (#deletefacebook), but requires the direct intervention by US and EU regulators:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-12-07/how-rodrigo-duterte-t...
It allowed 50 million personal user info to be used to affect elections in the US and abroad:
https://www.wired.com/story/wired-facebook-cambridge-analytica-coverage/
It has become apparent that Facebook, in its Zuckerberg like greed for revenue, has made a deal with the devil to exploit its platform solely for financial gain. It cares nothing for the "democratization" of the Internet. It cares only about money. Zuckerberg will whine, beg and cry and things will be better in the future, but he has already shown that his greed is his motivator.
Yet again Facebook has been caught stealing the phone data of users:
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/03/facebook-scraped-...
The company needs to be needs to be dismantled, regulations need to be implemented to prevent the rise of another platform like this and Zuckerberg needs to be pilloried for the lies and actions he has taken.
4
I do have a facebook account, and when I first opened it I did allow some "friends" on there for about a week, until I unfriended them all. Since then, beyond reading about all the disruption SN has caused to society, facebook has not been a problem for me.
Folks, social networking should be called instead "social nitwitting" as that is what it has produced -- hundreds of millions of wandering, stumbling, social nitwits.
All you have to do is look at the slack, dull expression on the faces of the strong-thumbed-ones as they stand transfixed (for example) in the middle of a grocery aisle totally oblivious to the twenty others from moving along.
I submit that when the thumbsters are self-stimulating in their parallel non-conversations, they simply do not exist. they are certainly not where there physical body is and folks, cyberspace is not actually a space, ergo they do not exist. They are walking null-sets.
As for friends? To me friends people who are known very well by you and who know you very well as well. They can depend on you in time of need and who you can depend on in time of need. I do not know about anyone else, but "friend" by that definition at least for me limits the number of friends. I have four until one of them dies and that number will be 3
You you ask for people to take even more time than they have squandered in life with Facebook to become activists to force regulation of how data is misused by Facebook.
I counter by saying - dedicate your precious time elsewhere. Get outside. Reclaim your actual life and use digital tools as actual tools, not a way of living.
Let the rest of the developing world get pulled in. Over time, maybe they'll figure it out, too.
14
You could see and smell this reality coming from a long way away.. and nobody cared, including our government. Any efforts at disciplining the undisciplined were hounded down by politicians shouting for freedom for the internet.. Freedom? Guess what!
2
How about this?
Delete Facebook till voters get the Congress willing to strictly regulate (and monitor closely!) corporate snooping!
1
What’s wrong with doing both?
It seems the author doesn’t recognize that FB lost 50 billion In value when they were exposed as being complicit(at least) with Cambridge Analytica. That loss pulled Zuckerberg out of his cave to face the public and try to smooth things over...he didn’t.
The argument that if Facebook isn’t there, some will no longer receive news (Real or fake doesn’t seem to be a concern), ignores the fact that the same access to FB is the same to The NY Times.
This is a big deal because FB is so large and INTRUSIVE.
A long term legislative fix may be a good one, but deleting an account is immediate and effective.
5
Of course, this FB problem may NOT be solved by indignant Americans leaving the service. I'm more inclined to think foreign governments will take charge of the problem. Facebook is dangerous to democracies, regimes, governments, dictators, politicians, etc. Governments will want the power Facebook has.
1
Facebook is a monopoly because of its utility to users. It enables users to connect with multitudes of family and "Facebook friends", and apparently for many does so better than networking using snail mail, email, phones, or walking around the neighborhood. Or MySpace--remember it?
Users simply need to understand that Facebook is not "free"--it is costly in terms of its need to occupy your brain with ads and to co-opt your information for profit. Note I did not say "private" information, because I'm not sure why anyone would characterize information that is purposely posted on Facebook as private. When you posted it, you gave up privacy.
To break up Facebook would reduce its utility and thus would be anti-user, not pro-user as suggested here, and is a dumb idea.
The network can be self-regulated--which is to say, users, adjust your preferences. Adjusting preferences may reduce the utility of the network to you and your friends and family which in turn may cause you to ultimately lose interest in the network and delete the app.
But you'll miss all the cute puppy and baby pics.
You go, Users!
So I should continue to use a product that has proven to be dangerous and over and over again, and I should do this why? Because some other company will just pick up the slack with their own dangerous and defective product? Facebook's business model is the mine its users personal data and sell it to third parties for use in targeted advertising, one such third party is Cambridge Analytica, and what were they selling? Trump.
2
Do something? Like what, exactly, while using it's News Media to Keep in touch with thousands of "friends" while hoping for privacy? Are we that obtuse? Facebook makes it's billions from selling a product, Us!
2
I've quit Facebook and recommend others do as well. The author rightly points out that their model for advertisers is designed to amplify the bad stuff from the Russians and others trying to disrupt our Democracy. The most straightforward way to send a message to FB is to leave. They've shown little remorse and interest in moving away from this model. If you are hesitant remember how bad FB has become, with stories to get us excited and constantly confusing us about why something is being shown in the feed or not. It truly has become a cesspool.
2
This is a fairly obtuse columnist. The reason to delete Facebook is not to punish Facebook or to protect yourself from Russian propaganda. It is to preserve your right to privacy. Facebook tempts users by giving them a free web presence to post details and phots of their private lives where acquaintances can see them. But there is no such thing as a free lunch or free website. Facebook makes money by getting these posted details of your private life-and some other details you may not of really thought about, such as who exactly all of your friends are, what organizations you like and who you call on the phone, and sells that info. In effect, you sacrifice your right to privacy in exchange for the ability to post baby pictures. I do not see that as a fair deal. My right to privacy is worth more than that to me.
7
Just say no
I have a FB account, I just don’t bother with it anymore Don’t need the unavoidable poison that’s seeps into it (exhibit a - 2016 presidential campaign) I don’t need to make a statement by deactivating or deleting it.
I just don’t click it anymore.
Just say no
In this case, it really is as simple as that.
Unless of course, you are addicted to it.
2
I've lived 14 years without FaceBook, Twitter, or any of the others. YOU can do that, too. It is destructive to our society, our mores, and our self-esteem. It spreads lies, more than it spreads truth. The founder of this awful business is amoral, uncaring, greedy, and completely immune to the concept of consequences. Delete FaceBook, and let Mr. Zuckerberg try to make an honest living for himself. Band aids won't fix this.
4
I too have never used FB, Twitter et al and have done just fine, thank you very much. If FB were to disappear from the face of the earth tomorrow, life would go on, and after a period of adjustment, I'm sure FB users would survive (and most likely thrive!).
1
Before you make that claim, look through the cookies installed by various web visits in your browser. Dollars to donuts there is at lease one Facebook tracking cookie.
1
Just as its tech category suggests, the Facebook medium trades in social content. That would be "free" content, delivered to the platform at the simple cost of providing a bunch of personal information. Then engaging in a process of networking with "like"-minded souls, looping their loops, tagging photos, building affinity clans for the host to bundle and market to ... whoever pays. I jumped into Facebook in the early going, found it irritating in its design, and a huge waste of time. E-mail did and still does work well to link me and my friends, share photos, and plan face-to-face life. My FB account languished, until I killed it the other day. I resent being used, and having my vitals shared with Russians and dirty tricks political consultants. If FB fails, I will shed no tears.
2
I never felt Facebook was necessary for the things I do. Occasionally I'd post send things to friends but never took part in extensive debates or anything like that. As far as leaving it - no problemo. I really resent the fact that they manipulated data in order to elect a clown like Trump whether or not they were an influential or not (was the whole Hillary pizza thing from Facebook? - if so it did have an influence). This doesn't sit well at all. If people want to pour their hearts and wallets, and preferences to a group of people whose interest in you is next to nothing be my guest. Me? - I'm outta there!
1
On the upside Facebook can be a great tool for joining groups with similar interests. I like graveyards and non vascular plants. There’s a worldwide group for that. Interest groups have moderators and are fairly well regulated. I can also stay in touch with my local political group. Again moderated.
Facebook can be a good thing if it fixes its problems. I’m willing to see what happens. I give them six months.
I also believe that this problem is more wide spread than just FB. Platforms like Google haven’t been caught yet.
8
as in the "old days" people went to meetings once a year, wrote to their colleagues and that woud do a world of good for the travel industry and help save the post office, and perhaps teach people HOW to write letters again.
DELETE FAKEBOOK
I can’t afford to travel to Britain, Thailand or even Ma. Facebook let’s me communicate and share photos of fungus, lichens, and mosses with folks around the world.
I really don't understand how people can say that on the one hand they know that engaging on FB makes them complicit in building a brave new surveillance state, but nevertheless they need FB to keep up with their grand kids, so they will continue to use it. Democracy can be inconvenient ,and our choices have consequences.
17
Delete facebook. Stop using all social media that does not allow you to choose who gets access to your information.
Every BIG social media entity is owned by the International Mafia Top 1% Global Financial Elite Robber Baron/radical religion Good Old Boys' Cabal. They want to brainwash us into thinking WE want their kind of world while they reap TRILLIONS OF $$$ from selling OUR personal data.
Nothing in recent HIStory is so sinister. They won't fix it so the answer is to starve the beast.
Delete facebook, twitter, snapchat and all other social media companies to wake them up.
WE THE PEOPLE will not let this stand in America - or the world. Not now. Not ever.
7
Does Mark Zuckerberg have a job? Is he really the chief executive officer of Facebook? Does he personally guide the decisions that define the corporation's present and future? Or is he a billionaire bobblehead in a t-shirt who is trotted out now and then when there are problems with a reminder to mention his warm and fuzzy dorm room? And, so, are we wasting time trying to get him to respond personally in some meaningful way to what happened with the misappropriation of customer data and what can be done about it, or should we be plowing down deep into a massive and professionally managed multinational corporation that only sees data and forecasts? Should we be thinking about good intentions, or structural changes provoked by investigation, oversight and regulation as any soulless corporate behemoth? One suspects that the latter may be the case.
5
I get it, and it’s important, but with so many pressing and critical issues such as our broken political system and dangerous president and gun control and so much more, reforming or fixing Facebook will likely never make my priority list.
2
in order to fix, you only need to Delete YOUR ACCOUNT.
The problem is that the whole business model of Facebook, and many other social media websites, is flawed. The only way for Facebook to increase revenue to to have more data about its user that it can sell. How about Facebook let users pay and opt out of ads/having their data sold. It's not like Facebook per user revenue is that high. 2017 $40.6 billion revenue and 2.1 billion users. So for $20/year you should be able to opt out of being anoyed or tracked.
The problem is that per user revenue has more than doubled in the last three years. The only way they can get that is by selling more information about users. Which means that to keep revenue growth the same
4
Jj, "How about having users pay. . ." To not have their data sold. How about you pay, they promise, and then they sell your data anyway. The Executive branch, both legislatures, and the Judiciary are in the hands of "pro-business", meaning pro-billionaire, forces. If they violate, what are you going to do about it. I deleted my Facebook account years ago, and I'm happier. Not to mention I don't consent to being a crime victim.
Especially in the current political environment it is wishful thinking to think regulation will help solve the problems Facebook has created. Regulation, at best, offers companies a way to keep misbehaving. And they can hide behind the regulations by saying they are following all the relevant laws. The laws their lobbyists have helped "our" politicians put in place.
I recommend deleting Facebook. I tried Facebook briefly years ago and found I did not have time for it. I didn't have enough time to be well informed or follow my interests. Once I deleted Facebook I found many more valuable ways to spend that time. I think my life is much better. Try it. Delete Facebook. You may like it. I love it!
26
I’m done with Facebook. I don’t like the price I’m paying in loss of privacy in order to use its platform. Also, I reject your thesis that I owe it to our society to stay connected with Facebook in order to improve it. Facebook is a flawed service that is rotting out society. I think it’s better for us to drop it and move forward. If there’s a market for a better alternative than I’m sure we’ll see that offfering in the near future.
24
My family and many friends are Facebook users. I am not. The idea of chronicling my highs and lows, and every little twitch in between is unappealing. Of course I miss out on the immediate conversation, the latest pics, the political insights and outsights. But yesterday my nephew’s wife texted me a snapshot of her pregnant belly. Texted especially to me. One of my nieces called Facetime so my partner and I could fawn over her beautiful daughters. My youngest nephew and I sometimes talk an hour, so not only do I get his Facebook highlights, we get to ask follow up questions, check the emotional sentiment beneath the surface. Another nephew and I text long messages dissecting the political climate. I get the pulse of his generation. And yet nephew another regularly updates the latest, cutest pictures of his two young ones. Photos of my loved ones are magnetized to the fridge. I don’t have to log on to admire them, brag about them.
Listen, email and texting are anything but old fashion. Like letter writing of old, they carry a personal touch. Otherwise I keep what should be kept to myself to myself.
13
the political insights and outsights...."
It is all manipulated so you are not missing out on anything that would be valuable. subscribe to a print newspaper or read the best journals. USE the library.
As understandably disturbed as I am by Facebook's infringement's on my privacy and possible role in Trump's election to the White House, I am also thrilled with how the social platform has allowed me to reconnect after decades with old childhood friends, high school classmates, college friends, distant relatives, and Army buddies. I make a point of not checking it very often.
8
Facebook will feel the pain when advertisers realize that the loss of these accounts, hundreds and thousands, represent real users who actually have buying power. So the pain for FB is not the loss of the user but of the advertisers who follows them.
5
You can block and report ads to Facebook. Add a comment on that ad that states you are boycotting any advertiser until Facebook gives us back our privacy.
In the past few days I have been hit with more spam ads on my page. I’ve done everything I can to not get junk. The ad settings are a joke. I’m convinced that Facebook is increasing its ad presence to make up for lost revenue from the recent privacy scandals.
1
Raise concerns about privacy to your average millennial and the typical response is a shrug. Many adults of other age cohorts feel the same. This is mostly due to a lack of understanding of what is involved in using apps like facebook.
I've been a systems and web developer for close to 20 years. My first (shell) account on the internet was in 1989. Those of us who truly understand how the underlying technology works tend to be a lot more reticent about how we use network apps than the average user. For instance, to the great consternation of my coworkers, I still refuse to use a smart phone. When I am on facebook, I use facebook purity, adblock plus, and only access facebook inside an incognito window. This largely prevents facebook from displaying any ads to me, and because I only access it through a web browser much of the data they would obtain from me through their phone-based apps is missing.
Until people actually see the value of privacy online, and understand what is truly being collected about them and how it can be (and is being) misused, nothing will change.
36
my teenagers quit Facebook before i did and then taught me all the reasons it is horrible. Before you think you have outsmarted the youth, realize they know a lot more about technology and have used this stuff since they were in middle school getting bullied on it. My born in 2000 children convinced me to deactivate my account and also told me that it will always be there, there is no delete....
2
Great idea. The only reason I have a FB account is that is the only way my grown but unsettled grand daughter communicates with me.
2
I believe I understand the argument presented here, but cannot quite follow what seems to be one underlying principle: do not abandon FB because that will mean an additional burden on those who remain.
In other words, man up, take your share of the hits. FB has the potential to become a good citizen, a benefactor to society. There is, if you will, a moral imperative here.
Or, transferred to a different situation, do not challenge or criticize the President. We can bring him around, transform him into a noble world leader.
Am I the only one who thinks there is something wrong with this picture?
74
I understand the comparison, but it's between apples and oranges. Normally, we elect presidents because of who they are, or who they are not. We don't attempt to shape them into to who we want after election.
A service like FB is a work in progress, and can be shaped by the people's will to provide what the people want it to be.
The analogy breaks down here, so shape FB. Elect another president.
2
This reply and this column share an underlying thesis-giving up your right to privacy is no big deal, you just want to make sure that only good guys know everything about you. I value my right to privacy and would no more give it up than I would my right to free speech.
Privacy concerns with Facebook aren't new. For years now, it has been very clear that the user's personal information is Facebook's inventory. As for deleting or deactivating an account, I can't help but believe that Facebook still has it all on their servers. If you really want privacy, stay clear of social media.
4
I don’t believe it’s either deactivation or activism. It can be both.
Many of us were never in Facebook to begin with. I never understood the appeal. So much aggravation, wasted time and misplaced energy for such small rewards. It looks like an addiction really. Chronic exposure to this digital toxic environment has led to a societal cancer of political manipulation. Progressives who continue to be on Facebook will look like a lung cancer patient who still refuses to give up smoking.
It used to be that people were shocked to find out I wasn’t in Facebook. Not lately.
3
Sorry, but expecting our politicians to stand up to tech behemoths and write into law, provisions that require them to "declare up front how they will use the data, and users can withdraw consent at any time" is quite unrealistic.
Things are different in Europe, and US media does its best to hide those differences, lest US workers demand the right to periods of 28-hour work weeks, as a German union won recently.
On this side of the Atlantic, commerce trumps rights such as privacy. Hopefully the young people who mobilized yesterday will persevere and broaden their agenda to economic grievances - with a millennial unemployment rate twice the rate of general unemployment, scandalous tuition increases and student loan usury, there is much to take on.
8
The real issue is the complete freedom from any regulation or anti trust activity directed at all tech companies. We all learned 140 years ago with the emergence of unfettered capitalism in Railroad, Steel, Oil etc. that corporations are interested in the growth and dominance of themselves and that they must be regulated for the good of all. 25 years ago we for got this about Tech Industries of all sorts and we are paying the price now.
3
Monopoly. So why is there no competitor to Facebook? I believe now that history has established that "free" is a problem. It would seem to me that a Facebook like entity that provided similar benefits, but as well offered real privacy and did it for a monthly fee would be just what the world needed right now. Then Fbook could be forced by "competition" to begin to change its policies. Until there is competition and or government oversight in the form of say, the issuance of regulations by the FCC, then we really only have one choice. Deletion.
15
Definitely do something and delete Facebook; kill to birds with one stone.
Several years ago, Facebook were caught conducting mind control experiments in connection with and funded by DoD, Department of Defense. American's need to become tech literate and we need to know there are other options besides Microsoft, Google, or Apple Web-Browsers, email, Cloud services and yes Operating Systems. More importantly we need question what control and./or power we give up for convenience.
15
In Facebook, every post you make doesn't automatically appear in the timelines of your followers. FB uses a complex algorithm to show it only to people who they think would like and interact with the post.
FB recently changed this ranking algorithm in favor of posts from friends and family, and at the expense of posts from businesses, organizations, nonprofits, charities, etc. FB wants those organizations to pay for advertising instead.
The timing is terrible for FB, whose reputation has become so toxic. Why would these organizations pay to advertise on a platform that so many people no longer trust?
6
Not either/or. Quit social media (I was never a big participant in them. So it wasn’t too hard for me), AND work towards measures to protect privacy and rational deliberation. Not easy, but no more difficult than turning away from (anti-)social media.
4
I recently deactivated my Facebook account because 1) I am troubled by its linkage (indirect or not) to election interference, dissemination of "alternative facts" and Cambridge Analytica; 2) It has become too big, too pervasive and too powerful a platform for the collection of personal data; and 3) it was a mind-numbing drain on my attention and energy.
56
that is because they still have everyone's account everything they posted on the Facebook servers and more importantly your login info....why they want it is almost as puzzling as why people so willingly put it there?
Do something: something to do: huge class action lawsuits over violations of privacy.
12
I don't think it is possible to control facebook. The staff have no desire tp change it as it makes so much money for them. The only solution is simply to wipe if out and start over with a better term running it.
I have never joined facebook, because I distrust it and I don't tthink I am alone.
9
Face Book? Never use it. I can send and receive emails, selectively without a barrage of easily forgetful information from "friends." I do not say Face Book will be a fashion, like the obsolete reference to the automobile, but it will diminish in use, subject to a replacement.
1
The idea that it's so hard to quit Facebook is part of the problem right there! It's like people can't imagine a life without it. It has wormed it's way into our lives and knows more about us that anyone can imagine. I find it surprising that so many people are fine with that as long as they can be a voyeur into others lives and brag about their own. I quit it and my life is better without it. It's true that I now have to keep in touch with people the old fashioned way. But I'm OK with that. Also, there is a great opportunity for someone to come up with a new platform, what FB was initially... simply a way to connect... with no ads or weird spying, analytics, quizzes, politics, companies and ads. I'd gladly pay for that to keep in touch with relatives in a private setting. Everything else... no thanks.
13
Regulating consent is perfectly fine but I don't see how that solves the problem anymore than dropping Facebook entirely. You're a speaking like an addict. I know heroin is bad but if we just make it safe. Yes, we've seen how "safe" works out with heroin. Prescription drugs are safer than needles but they possess the same destructive qualities. Facebook's business model is inherently destructive. They take something positive, a human impulse for interconnection, and exploit that impulse for profit. No consent form is going to change that underlying purpose.
What we really need is a non-profit, open source, ethically driven alternative. This really can't be very hard to accomplish. Social media has been around since the 1970s. I could probably reverse engineer the Myspace platform by myself. The challenge is not technical in any strict sense. There are however a few critical problems.
1) Just like withholding consent or dropping Facebook entirely, enough people have to engage with the new platform in order to make the new platform viable. Social media is self-monopolizing. You need to gain enough critical mass in order to effect change. Facebook has that mass right now.
2) People don't want to abandon Facebook. Their timelines and histories aren't easily portable to other systems. Your options are basically delete your data or stay with Facebook. That's a tough impulse to overcome.
3) Corporations will do everything in their power to destroy you. There will be resistance.
9
You also need money to run the servers for this social media platform. Where will that come from?
I think the reason this Facebook incident has turned into such a rout is that Facebook's 15 minutes was just about up anyway. I mean, really, I'm treated primarily to pictures of my friends' dinners out. Perhaps it's me, but I never did understand the attraction, but then I've never gone to my class reunions either.
DBA hit the nail on the head: "I may check in once a day for a few minutes, but that's it. I just don't care anymore."
5
The lifecycle of disruptive innovations often ends with regulation. I have called for Facebook and other social networks to be regulated as utilities which would solve many problems. Additionally, you should be required to prove certification in using these products before you access a utility that influences millions. This is akin to pulling a permit before remodeling your kitchen’s electrical and plumbing. The permit pullers have to show their licenses and prove their competence. There’s nothing like this for social networks and there should be. Finally, quitting FB is a great way to demonstrate to management and the board of directors that share price and revenue growth are in the balance. Forget the millions of people joining, it’s the churn rate’s very existence that’s important.
8
Oops, too late. I hadn't used it or posted in years, but finally deleted it last week. And dead honestly, i don't feel that it's even remotely my problem or responsibility to remain on it and fight the company for the sake of others.
4
Western civilization is finally waking up to the absolute corrupting power of capitalism, a system based on magic hands and amorality. The surprise is that it took this long. Facebook only acted rationally under the regulations government put on it. No different than auto makers, oil companies, gun manufacturers, and junk food producers. The US is more the land of the “convenient” than the “free”.
As long as the nation is organized to promote greed, amorality in business will continue to be the norm.
1
And as long as these companies buy off our politicians, the nation will be organized to promote greed. Fish rot from the heads.
1
If enough people deleted Facebook, it would send a pretty strong message. And you can still advocate for curbs on power and abuse by companies like Facebook. It is clear Facebook, Google, and Twitter have major questions still to answer about how they behave as citizens of the world.
6
Use privacy settings. No need to accept all "friend" requests. Reject advertisements. Only open friends' personal messages; never open their forwarded sites. Never play Facebook games.
22
That is exactly what i have done since i have been on facebook. No games , I get no advertisement , No personal info , no personal pictures. We should all know that when on the WWW we are subjected to the stealing of private information. I have thought this to my children and they rarely are on facebook . I use it more for Cooking information and support groups and hobby sites .
As my daughter mentioned ( she is 35) yesterday ,young people have lost their social cues and skills. She is noticing it at her work !! and she is not even that old !!!
and everything you post is forever in the hands of facebook enjoy, even if one of your friend tags you in a photo and you dont want it there. It is there forever, My father died 8 years ago, all his everything is still there and I guess it always will be, I often wonder what he would think about that.
I have never been on Facebook because it seemed a time sink. Sure, I missed some favorite extremely niche band concerts (brass bands in slavic Macedonia or Occitan a capella folk anyone). Finding Facebook tracked my phone conversations with people who are on Facebook was not welcome and decidedly intrusive. So medical conversations protected by HIPPA with a nurse on Facebook appeared! Does that get shared with insurance companies? And forget any future IMs on medical stuff.
15
"But even if tens of thousands of Americans quit Facebook tomorrow, the company would barely feel it. "
Good point. So let hundred of thousands and millions of users around the world tell the company to take a hike and let governments from many nations exert long overdue increased regulatory oversight. The Facebook monopoly needs to be strongly disrupted.
61
And those left will be the children and those posing as the children. And that is why it needs to not be a free platform.
I haven't quit Facebook, but I find myself spending far less time on it. I may check in once a day for a few minutes, but that's it. I just don't care anymore.
9
I agree , people put to much daily mundane stuff on it just to get a like - sad they need that attention !!
About six months ago I started decreasing my Facebook usage and four months ago virtually abandoned it with only two or three looks. I decreased my overall internet usage and have been mulling over what I will eventually do with it. I do not know with any degree of certainty but I had seen a great deal material posted that I easily determined to be false. Most of it intentionally mislead and misinformed the reader. I saw so many reposted news reports done with no time for the poster to verify them. I tracked down a number of them including one to a conservative news aggregator based in Bulgaria. I tried to notify friends of false and misleading information but most of the time it made no difference. I am interested in the ultimate outcomes of the various investigations. There were bad actors in every direction. Easy profitability was one culprit. I am referring to the social media companies Facebook and Twitter among others and to anyone looking to get a chunk of the vast amounts of money from the increase in money from various political funding groups and individuals. I will probably keep Facebook but the federal and state governments should be looking to establishing guidelines for their operation. Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to the United States of America and to much of the rest of the world. I do not allow people into my life or allow them to remain in my life where I can reasonably control. Mr. Trump's behavior lost me by the 1990s.
19
Deactivation still sends a pretty strong message. Having said that, I'm not worried about Facebook surviving. It's not about Facebook, it's about my personal integrity. Facebook’s platform doesn't do much for me anymore, hasn't for years. I don't derive anything of value from it and I will be deleting. Sometimes complex problems have pretty simple solutions.
89
Users make FB powerful, but the opposite is true, too. Great nations fall, and so do great companies. Remember Kodak? The more the public understands the beast, the better. Familiarity just may breed contempt.
11
I have thought about quitting Facebook on more than one occasion. But then I remember the instances when I have pointed out unsubstantiated claims and outright fake news to my friends and realize I might add some value by staying connected.
24
Sounds like rationalizing to me. Quit.
1
Systemic changes are needed and the ones recommended are good ones. That said, individuals can and must change how they operate. Don't be gullible. If a "news" story on FB amazes, surprises, stuns, titillates, or comes 'out of the blue,' check it out with a known reliable news source before sharing (or even believing). In this weird and wired world, more healthy skepticism is needed. The old saying, "don't believe everything you read" is true now more than ever.
Change what personal information you share on Facebook; change settings so that friends cannot share your info when they engage an app (yes it can be done).
I have on FB a community of colleagues and friends with whom I have interesting and engaging discussions - political, moral, theological (I'm a pastor). I'm selective about my 'friends' accepting only some of those who send requests because I truly want to connect with the people I have friended. I also use it to connect with a few childhood friends and family members. I want to see THEIR posts, which I could not if I had 500+ 'friends.'
FB can be a very useful site where we can engage and find community. It is disruptive to daily work and life only if you allow that (shut off the intrusive notices and 'check' FB only when it suits your schedule). And, yes, change can happen from the inside. Once you leave you are only a disgruntled 'former customer.'
43
Working to change the system from within is only worth it if the system is worth saving. FB isn't worth it. "Face" it.
3
We as the consumer determine the time we spent on it , called discipline :)
Ann-Marie Hislop, pardon my ignorance (I've never had a social media footprint), but can't all of your purposes in connecting w your contacts be accomplished via 1:1 or group emails?
Really, I'm not an unintelligent person, but I just don't get it.
Is Facebook just too easy? Or addictive?
Shaking my head.
#DeleteFacebook
1