Pat, here is a new approach. @aschrijver suggested mewe.com to me, and I am trying it out. Without ads and constant bombardment by marketing messages, it is like an empty spot in a noisy shopping mall. When you first create an account, it can be disorienting because you are given a blank canvas. Gulp, you think, I don’t know what to do… But then a thought comes to you and then another, and suddenly you are filling the canvas with color and things you love. So mewe challenges–and allows–you to be creative in new ways. Here’s my link in case you want to join me there.
Liberté! Finally deactivated my FB page. I had about 100 friends, three of whom followed me to mewe.com. A couple of friends who didn’t expressed sadness at my leaving, but I am not worried about them; we are in touch by email, and they have several hundred friends anyway.
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Good to hear Pat. You also would need to run a tool such as this to delete all your likes, all of your posts and so on. Otherwise people will still be able to see your activity even if you’ve deactivated your Facebook account.
You should also consider permanent deletion, but I would definitely recommend running a deletion tool first because even if you delete your account, who knows if Facebook will still be showing some your comments.
This Facebook is really a surveillance system, so I recommend you delete all you can and never use it again.
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Thanks for the good advice, Free. A few comments here about my presence on FB:
Re pictures: I tried to refrain from posting pictures of myself. When a friend posted a selfie he took of himself and me, I was pretty surprised. But respecting his wish to share the moment, I let the picture stay.
Re political views: I expressed these in indirect ways: by sharing articles, petitions, cartoons, and the like.
Nonetheless, someone trying to compile a portrait of me would have a pretty easy time of guessing my education, background, opinions, and voting habits.
Aren’t we divulging these things all the time, though? Google is reading our email–or at least scanning it for keywords–and can’t profiles of us be constructed from what we’ve posted at this forum?
I suppose there’s nothing too dangerous about being able to be found online, unless you have a need to stay hidden. But still it’s an important safety precaution to stay hidden just in case so good that you’ve taken care.
The way the internet and devices have developed it seems almost impossible to have privacy these days – very few services respect our privacy. I think the main people tracking us are numerous companies building advertising profiles and governments looking for criminals or to wage hybrid warfare (propaganda). But who knows, maybe spammers and criminals are tracking us too? Maybe somebody you know wants to search for your past Facebook activity? I’m sure we only see a small part of what’s going on and too much is done in the shadows.
Thanks for your response.
I think some of these things are just habits that develop as one gets older: don’t draw attention to yourself; be careful where you put down your keys and who you speak to; and so forth. The kind of openness or exhibitionism that FB and other social sites encourage is most dangerous for young people—especially pre-teens and teens who are loath to listen to adults.
A few odd things have happened to me: a site that I only browsed ended up charging me for an item it didn’t sell. I reported this to my bank, but the person I spoke to merely replied that I’d perhaps forgotten buying the item. This was several years ago, so the same bank is not cavalier anymore.
I agree that people are observing us and looking for weaknesses in our online activity. Woe be to those who are careless—or so addicted that they can’t stop.
Great link to explain cell phone overuse!! Can you post this separate as well John? Maybe post in awareness or time well spent category somewhere?
Creating self awareness on phone use will lead to better informed decisions on how to spend their time.