Why I chose to delete my facebook

I deleted my fb account as well. Fb has admitted to manipulating the feeds you see on your news feed in order to manipulate your views and responses. Fb has worked with dod with similar stuff. Fb app will now follow you at all times.

Fb is a social enginering platform that has and will change and censor and sell what you see, brows, like and click on.

No thanks mark

The only thing I find useful are the group pages where people put ideas together about topics of interest. Keeping up with people or stalking has never been a profound interest of mine.

I also use the messaging option to talk to friends without text messaging. Never anything secretive, just odd conspiracy talk.
I dont really have anything to hide from anyone, I know that is not an excuse, and I value my privacy, but you should know morally what you are allowing anytime you use a group tool. Facebook is a tool like it or not. And like tools, you must maintain them or they will break, when you agreed to the digital lifestyle, you agreed for your data to be maintained.

Facebook is what you allow facebook to be. You cannot be mad at the illusionist, only yourself for allowing to be distracted.

I joined fb when my son was in Iraq. After he came home I completely lost interest in it. The couple HS friends I found were more interested in self promotion than actual conversation. Postings from some family members were a bit disturbing, openly airing their dirty laundry/mania etc. I really didn't want to get sucked into their vortex of hate/drama so I avoid fb like the plague.

I never log in, I didn't friend that many people but my email gets full of crap fb notifications. I would very much like to delete my account but I'm not sure how to go about it. I haven't perused the tools or settings much so I'm not fb savvy. Any help would be most appreciated.

originally posted by: Britguy
I remember happier times, where if people didn't hear from us or we didn't answer the phone for more than 24hours, they'd refrain from calling in a missing persons report. If we didn't respond to a message within a few hours they didn't think we no longer cared about them. The world kept turning, business was booming - without the internet, mobile phones and instant messaging - and people had more interest in more important matters. Oh, happy days!

Yes this, but I'd argue that the problem isn't so much the "addiction", but rather the "requirement by employers" to have a web presence. Although not wide spread, it won't be long before we are all required to have something like Facebook or game profile to be employed.

Here is an article from the WSJ about a similar employer trend regarding the game "Worlds of Warcraft" (WOW):

Can 'World of Warcraft' Game Skills Help Land a Job?

Facebook participants and "Massively multiplayer online role-playing games" are demonstrating to employers that they are predisposed to be PERFECT WORKER BEE'S because from the employers perspective, there should be no desirable work trait that can be inferred from the public announcement of ones devotion to a videogame, but according to employers somehow there is.

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) for example are very time consuming, for the participant/player. They require real life schedule juggling, among many people, in order to conduct "raids", require many hours of near uninterrupted concentration & screen time until "quests" are finished, require the ability to "put fires out" quickly AND the people playing MMORPG's are willing to PAY for the pleasure of doing all of the above nonsense.

So what does that mean to the typical profit seeking "owner of capital" looking for worker-bees?

MMORPG'ers (most avid gamers and facebook'ers included), specifically those addicted to Worlds of Warcraft videogame, are predisposed to be PERFECT WORKER BEE'S. Their demonstrable, dedication to MMORPG's on their resumes, are a VERY good signal to the employer, that the same can be asked of them, in a real-life work environment. Basically, if someone would pay out of their own pocket to do "MMORPG drudgery" in their spare time, certainly, the "owners of capital" can expect to offer the same "drudgery" in the office environment. In essence, the "worker bee" character of the potential employee has already been willingly advertised, by saying they are a dedicated WOW player.

Your comment made me think more about how MMORPG'ing is relevant to the job market when compared to "other" traditional past-times and I now think I have an explanation for why some employers would value it.

Note, its not what most here are thinking, nor would I consider it a positive attribute that one wants tied to their long term career.

For example Golf, Tennis, Box-Seats at sporting event, Biking, Running, etc, ALL have an environment that can foster casual business talk during the activity, which, in turn, lead to "new" partnerships, sales and opportunities. These activities are usually done by those in "management" or those on track to be. Hence, the nature of these activities which foster "business small talk", will ALWAYS be relevant to those moving "up the ladder", in the eyes of employers.

But in contrast, how can MMORPG's foster casual "business small talk" during their online activity? Well, as far as I know they can't because nobody "seals deals" during "online chat".

So why would business find an MMORPG touting resume appealing?

I can answer.

Its a character study of the worst kind. MMORPG's for the participant are time consuming, requires schedule juggling among many people in order to conduct "raids", can require many hours of near uninterrupted concentration & screen time until "quests" are finished, requires the ability to "put fires out" quickly AND people playing MMORPG's are willing to PAY for the pleasure of doing all of the above nonsense.

So what does that mean to the profit seeking "owners of capital"?

American cliches dictate that those of "Management material" go out and meet people face-to-face, creating new opportunities. MMORPG'ers in contrast, hunker down and grind out XP in solitude in front of a screen. Though some employers may find MMORPG experience to be "desirable" among their rank-&-file staff, its also likely a "mark" against them as employees for management tracks. In my opinion, a person wouldn't necessarily want to be labeled like this because it signals "take advantage of me", "flog me to death" and "pay me very little" because the only value I bring to the table, is working long hours while on salary.

MMORPR'ers on the surface, to employers, are NOT expected to bring in revenue as an asset, just spending it as an overhead liability because they have shown to do much the same in their spare time, on their own dollar.

In summary American cliches dictate that those of "Management material" go out and meet people face-to-face, creating new opportunities. MMORPG'ers in contrast, hunker down and grind out XP in solitude.

Once you accept these insights it becomes very easy to see why employers would find heavy Facebook users and MMORPG experience to be "desirable" among their rank-&-file staff. It essentially signals "take advantage of me, flog me to death and pay me very little because the main value I bring to the table is working long hours, because I have clearly demonstrated that I do not value my own personal free time.

I joined several years ago as a naive greenhorn on the interwebz - something I frequently regret.

Never posted anything, never appealed to me (a friend recommended it).

But I'm still a member because I can't delete my account.

How do you do that?

I don't understand this 'delete facebook before it controls you mentality.

First of all if you don't like using it then just stop doing so. This theatrical deletion of accounts nonsense is just disgruntled people trying to throw themselves the illusion of control. Who gives a damn if some dull, never used facebook account with single figure friend list and your name on it is there? Do people knock on your door or call your phone because of it? get a bloody grip. Worse than that are the users that don't like this that or the other thing someone does or posts and they de-friend them instead of just ignoring them. Again theatrical illusions of control and the God-like ability to simply remove annoying people from your life. It's not Facebook's fault if all your friends are so dull or annoying your Facebook experience has become a negative one and now the toys are about to come out of the pram as you storm out of facebook slamming the door behind you. The irony being Facebook accounts can be un-deleted. Not a lot of people know that. The sulky account deleters know that though, because it tells you that before you delete it. So all the bra-burning anti-facebook bandwagon has a much increased ratio of lameness once you know that.

I never delete any friends no matter what they do. Real life doesn't work like that. I'll ignore their posts in much the same way one ignores idiots in real life. All of my 200+ people on my fb friend list are all people I know in real life, people I wen't to school with, worked with, family, associates. Sorry, but if you have 'deletable' people in your life, you're doing it wrong. Either that or you're misusing facebook. In mast cases it's the latter.

Even dumber than that is the content argument, oh I don't like what I see or the cat pics and videos are ruining my life because I am so easily distracted. blah blah etc. Don't like the posts? don't read them. Don't like the person? Don't read their #. If you don't want people to know your business, don't bloody post it.

If you want to keep up with friends and relatives then do just that and exclude everyone else on your friend list if you are that self-conscious. That does of course entail finding out how to send private messages. This requires thought. Some people would just rather leave facebook than try to figure out how to use it properly.

Honestly if you are that mentally challenged that you can't use facebook without it controlling or ruining your life in some way you really do need to get the # off there. Try something else. The internet just isn't working for you.

I joined facebook years ago, around 2008-09 and I never posted anything for the longest time. Only when I began to look into the philosophy & metaphysics category here on ATS did I begin to get on facebook more. I don't look at funny pictures, or videos, I don't take selfies, or post personal info and I DON'T play those facebook games (I am NOT here to play games). All I do is share political, spiritual and what I deem to be solution based posts.

I personally try and find uplifting posts, and posts that help people to see the solutions that are out there and that can be utilized, I may not reach too many people b/c most are looking for funny things, but if I reach ONE person then it's been worth it. I keep facebook b/c it's where the uninformed majority are, and I want to TRY and reach out to them in whatever way I can. That's why I WON'T be getting ride of my facebook - I will continue to 'try' and reach out, even if it is in vain!

And clearmind you are COMPLETELY right! when I began to add tons of pages that focused on spirituality, metaphysics & philosophy, and pages that acknowledge the problems within the world and then 'focus' on solutions to those problems; my news feed was 'filled' with posts and information that I believe/d could HELP people, and I shared TONS of posts from those pages; but not too long ago, about two to three months, all those posts and pages that I like and shared with a lot of people have disappeared from my feed. It used to be everywhere all over my news feed but now I could scroll for a straight thirty minutes and not find ONE page or post that I once loved.

If I find anything on my news feed now it's on the fear mongering side, focuses on the problem and doesn't even ACKNOWLEDGE a solution. it's quite unfortunate, but that will NOT stop me. I will simply go to my 'liked' group pages and continue to share and post information to whoever I can that I believe is Closer to Truth.

So, there is indeed a manipulation of your news feed going on over there; and a few times before I began to largely share such posts I would get a little message from facebook asking me to post more b/c they couldn't "find me" - lol.

But I never put anything personal on there, don't even talk about myself sans my type of views and opinions.
That is also why I am here on ATS, it doesn't happen on all of the forums and categories, but people here talk about and share ideas, and what I personally find, are ideas WORTH spreading and talking about. I can't really find too many people around me who know about such information and talk about it, and I need to become better acquainted with such info so that I can talk with someone who is completely clueless on the subject.

So, it IS HOW you use what is essentially a tool, that defines it for you. You, OP, don't use facebook in the way or intention that I do, so it's completely useless to you, but not to me. And many people don't use the internet in the way that I do either, lookin' at you 'and14263', see here is a 'great' website that I personally believe proves how useful the internet is AND I found it on facebook.
collectivelyconscious.net... and a very good website that I found HERE on ATS:
accredited-onlinecolleges.info... (sorry for the plug-in, just wanted to prove a point. )

So yes, it is HOW You USE it peeps! TRY and reach out to the uninformed!

In Lak'ech

BTDT, I've mentioned on ATS a few times that I deleted my account over a year ago. It started out a great way to keep up with people, but it eventually degenerated into a cesspit of total self-absorption (ex: "Look at the 50 different photographic angles of my face/coffee cup/couch!") and holier-than-thou asshats (ex: "how dare you disagree with my opinion after I posted about it asking what everyone thinks!!!")

I came to the conclusion that my small group of a little over 50 FB friends from various part of my life that had once been a nice way of keeping in real-time touch & having thought-provoking conversations had become an ego masturbation fest, devoid of meaningful conversation. Believe me, I tried with relevant news & topics. All crickets while someone's new Lulumon outfit got oohs and ahhs.
Utter waste of my time to be expected to fawn over the stupidest of crap instead of maintaining relationships, thus I axed my account. I made sure everyone had my email and phone first. I wasn't too surprised to find that only one person out of all of them bothered to keep in touch off FB (and still does daily) Whelp, guess I figured out who my friends aren't, huh?

What's a facebook?







Ok I lied,

m.facebook.com...

But I haven't had a real facebook since 2000 something.

a reply to: DeadSeraph

Can one use Facebook accounts as reason for divorce,,,,irreconcilable distances?

a reply to: clearmind

ATS is my only source of social interaction. No Facebook, Tweeter, ICQ, AOL, etc. My other social interaction is going to TACO BELL for a encharido.

originally posted by: scolaiWhat better way can you think of to keep large groups of people from rising up against a corrupt global government?

What's even worse is that it's keeping people from realizing that a corrupt global gov. even exists.

I asked a couple of people I know who practically live on sites like Facebook and Instagram what do they think about the new world order and they were dumbfounded as to what I was talking about. I didn't even try to explain at that moment, I just dropped the subject.

I can't cut the cord.

There, I said it. Lol.

In all honesty, when I first got FB, I'd log in once a month or 3. Then it was weekly. Now I've been on leave from work and have joined a few buy/sell groups so I had to start logging in a couple times a day to check on messages (as I refuse to access FB through my phone). Now I'm logging in several times a day and it's driving me crazy. I'm tired of seeing the same arguments, seeing the same memes and seeing the same attention seekers craving validation.

I need a detox. Like, going back to work. I'm never adding another picture of my face. I don't post pictures of my children. Privacy on highest.

But I can't cut the cord right now. It's my only life line to several friends and family members. So for now, I lurk and I don't say anything I wouldn't say publicly.

edit: after re-reading this I think that the detox starts tomorrow.

I don't get Facebook , but i get how it takes you to another plane , another level so to speak . I watch in awe as my workmates walk around and are able to avoid obstacles while their head is buried in a phone . Some real ju-ju going on there . But i too have fallen to the Zuckerberg witchcraft albeit momentarily . I joined Facebook to help ATS gain enlightenment , Seems if they get 100,000 likes they reach a higher level of conciousness or something . Being the good ATSer i am i sold my soul for the greater good . What is life without whimsy .

originally posted by: TrueMessiah

originally posted by: scolaiWhat better way can you think of to keep large groups of people from rising up against a corrupt global government?

What's even worse is that it's keeping people from realizing that a corrupt global gov. even exists.

I asked a couple of people I know who practically live on sites like Facebook and Instagram what do they think about the new world order and they were dumbfounded as to what I was talking about. I didn't even try to explain at that moment, I just dropped the subject.

Oh, but it gets even worse. I was part of *ahem* "Occupy" (which accomplished nothing, for the record)

All the people on my facebook were aware of the corrupt global government. As liberals, of course the argument was typical: "Let's ask the government to end corruption in the government" (mind you, I hold the same disdain for liberals and conservatives -- but liberals are WAY more fun to bash). It got tiring watching the blissful ignorance of those who imagined that a corrupt political party would save a corrupt government.

Facebook like a gun is just a thing, it's the people behind it that make it more than just a thing.
If people waste their time on Facebook it is the person not the thing with a "problem".
I have a pretty sizable network on Facebook which sustains my business as well as making valuable contacts. I see people launch Gofundme page on their Facebook and bring in tens of thousands.
There are medical marijuana groups that are delivering through contacts in the group which is off the hook.
I've even seen people hook up and get married.

I use email and Skype for family and friends, that's it, not even a cell phone, no bookface, twatter, idiot, whiteberry, thingamajiggy, I have a landline, but that's for ordering pizzas, and yes, I too spend far too much time on news blogs, but I want to know just how far ebola has spread, where isis is now, and what the food situation is in the parts of the world where my food comes from.
Also what the weather is doing to affect the regions where my food comes from.

a reply to: scolai

I like to use Facebook as a social experiment. I post and re-share all sorts of junk I don't believe in or like just to see who loses their collective minds.

It's kind of like a Rorschach Test for net-dweebs. I just sit back and watch people who I know, and who often don't know each other, tear into each other over garbage that has little to do with reality. I'll admit that it's kind of shameless, but at the same time it's a litmus test for different personalities. I even warn people that I purposely do it just to gauge reactions. They fall for it anyway.

I refuse to give retorts or comments. I usually end up sitting on the side lines like a referee. When it gets too stupid I step in and ask people to respect my views and play nice, and I remind them that I don't always post things with regard to my views or opinions. It doesn't help most of the time and people still fall for it. I'll admit that it is a bit sadistic, but it can be kind of entertaining too.

I use a similar philosophy here at ATS. I don't usually post new stuff. I usually lurk and read other people's questions and ideas. It isn't that I lack the ability to post new things, but I have had the displeasure of watching post after post devolve into chaotic white noise and pointless banter. It becomes rather dull and it isn't stimulating. But I often find other people's ideas very refreshing and it gives me hope that there can be decent conversation and intellectual stimulation without a bunch of cynical and skeptical and derisive comments from people. I still have hope ATS, that's why I still come back.

a reply to: scolai

Yes, a 'prison' you were able to 'escape' from just by hitting Unsubscribe.

What a load of rubbish.

People who are not in control of their lives have reason to fear Facebook. Nobody else has.

Then again, people who are not in control of their lives have reason to fear everything.

a reply to: MidNight sun

I began to add tons of pages that focused on spirituality, metaphysics & philosophy, and pages that acknowledge the problems within the world and then 'focus' on solutions to those problems; my news feed was 'filled' with posts and information that I believe/d could HELP people, and I shared TONS of posts from those pages; but not too long ago, about two to three months, all those posts and pages that I like and shared with a lot of people have disappeared from my feed. It used to be everywhere all over my news feed but now I could scroll for a straight thirty minutes and not find ONE page or post that I once loved.

There is nothing sinister in this; you just don't know how to use Facebook properly. No material is deleted from personal Facebook accounts. If you posted a link and the original page you linked to has been taken down, then you're not going to find the page even if you do find the link.