# Should I permanently delete my facebook account?



## heart (Dec 28, 2009)

I hate facebook soooo much. I'm sick of the narcissism, countless idiots desperate to look cool by posting status updates of the basil ice cream they made or 254 pictures of their trip to Israel (no, I'm not jealous), embarrassing pictures of someone's naked 2-year-old taking a bath. There's also the completely asinine wall "conversations"--aka 13+ paragraph-long comments between two or three people with waay too much time on their hands--about someone being "extremely gassy" during pregnancy and the other two, having not an ounce of restraint, letting loose about their own pregnancy woes ("When I was pregnant with Taylor"-tales of nausea, vomiting and yes, more gas) for all the world to see. Because I doubt anyone that stupid knows how to adjust facebook's privacy settings...I can't take it anymore!!! How do people have the patience for this shit? 

I want to talk only to my close friends via e-mail, phone, or in person. I am very private and don't need anyone to know everything I'm doing at every minute, and I DEFINITELY don't need to know what these mostly acquaintances I call my facebook friends are doing at every minute. Is that too much to ask? Furthermore, are there ANY members of Gen Y not on facebook? Am I committing social suicide by permanently deleting my account?!?! Help!!


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## chiagirl27 (Sep 17, 2010)

If I didn't have to market to my clients via facebook, I would have deleted my account ages ago. I think it's stupid. But I keep up a "happy face" on there so my clients are all happy about who they hired to photograph their wedding. 

Sucks, because I find it pointless and juvenile... 

I deleted my myspace ages ago for the same reason. And I've been toying with the idea of deleting my facebook account despite the client relations thing, and just beefing up my web presence for my clients in other ways - but I think it could be a bad move on my part. Not sure.

Anyway - if there's no MONETARY reason for you to be on facebook? Burn it. :happy:


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## mrscientist (Jul 4, 2010)

Yes you should. Now you convince me. Please.


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## heart (Dec 28, 2009)

chiagirl27 said:


> If I didn't have to market to my clients via facebook, I would have deleted my account ages ago. I think it's stupid. But I keep up a "happy face" on there so my clients are all happy about who they hired to photograph their wedding.
> 
> Sucks, because I find it pointless and juvenile...
> 
> ...


You could get your own website with a blog, clients could write comments there if they wanted to, and then all the content would be yours, not facebook's! I know a couple other photographers who do this and it works great for them. Personally, when I'm curious about a business I've always gone to its actual website and not the facebook page, because it's usually a lot nicer to look at/easier to navigate without annoying status updates and comments everywhere. Not sure if that helps in your decision, though, since I'm obviously biased. :happy:


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## Just_Some_Guy (Oct 8, 2009)

Sounds like you just need to block everyone that is irrelevant to your life. You only subject yourself to the endless steams of bullshit on your news feed if you choose to keep that bullshit around. 

Click on the little "x" and click "block whats-his-face." repeat as needed. Problem solved.


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## skycloud86 (Jul 15, 2009)

I agree with ETG. Recently I pruned my friends list on FB down from around 400 to about 200 (although most of the 200 or so that I deleted were added to another account that I have for political uses, so I don't clutter up my news feed with politics). My friends are now family, friends in real life, some people from other forums, some Personality Cafe members and a few others.


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## Molock (Mar 10, 2010)

heart said:


> Furthermore, are there ANY members of Gen Y not on facebook? Am I committing social suicide by permanently deleting my account?!?! Help!!


I'm not on facebook & 20. I am a massive loner though so I couldn't care less that I don't have a page. When people want to contact me they either a) call me on an ancient contraption knows as a land line or b) email me.

If you really want to keep your facebook but dislike the crap just purge your friend list of everyone you don't care about. Keep maybe 20-80 friends.


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## Heuristyx (Sep 20, 2010)

heart said:


> I hate facebook soooo much. I'm sick of the narcissism, countless idiots desperate to look cool by posting status updates of the basil ice cream they made or 254 pictures of their trip to Israel (no, I'm not jealous), embarrassing pictures of someone's naked 2-year-old taking a bath. There's also the completely asinine wall "conversations"--aka 13+ paragraph-long comments between two or three people with waay too much time on their hands--about someone being "extremely gassy" during pregnancy and the other two, having not an ounce of restraint, letting loose about their own pregnancy woes ("When I was pregnant with Taylor"-tales of nausea, vomiting and yes, more gas) for all the world to see. Because I doubt anyone that stupid knows how to adjust facebook's privacy settings...I can't take it anymore!!! How do people have the patience for this shit?
> 
> I want to talk only to my close friends via e-mail, phone, or in person. I am very private and don't need anyone to know everything I'm doing at every minute, and I DEFINITELY don't need to know what these mostly acquaintances I call my facebook friends are doing at every minute. Is that too much to ask? Furthermore, are there ANY members of Gen Y not on facebook? Am I committing social suicide by permanently deleting my account?!?! Help!!


Do the world a favor and delete your Facebook account, since you clearly don't understand how to be a part of that community.

The "idiot" who made basil ice cream, the baby bath pictures, the preggo posts... that's what Facebook is for. It's a platform for sharing that which is happening in your life. Facebook = Jane Doe's Life (right now)

Who are you to stand in judgement? Are you really so much better than everyone else? If all your "friends" on there are such stupid idiots, why are you on their friends list? You're not interested in what's happening in their lives, and you certainly don't sound like their friend.

I would suggest deleting all the "friends" that irritate you, but then you would just log in to see a blank page. I suppose that would suit you much better.

By the way, you can hide people to prevent them from coming up in your news feed. And no one makes you sit and read your entire feed if you're truly not interested.


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## heart (Dec 28, 2009)

It's not that I don't understand how to be a part of the community, as Heuristyx says. It's that I don't understand why. Why make an update about the macaroni and cheese you just spilled on the floor? I just never have the urge to write mindless shit like that and don't understand why people think that would be interesting to others as they're typing it. 

I should say that I also hate the site for ethical reasons, not just because of the banal commentary. Why people so willingly give facebook--which masquerades as a place to keep in touch but is only in existence now to be a giant marketing machine--every single bit of their personal info. People use all the little pre-made fields to write in the exact ages and names of their children, who their spouse is, their religious/political views, etc. And these days, if you're attempting to add your favorite movies, music, or TV shows in the designated fields of your profile, you have to use the drop-down box with the exact names of the media or a little box comes up that says "that is not allowed." You know, so facebook can track every little thing about you. The site is literally stealing information from people. So deleting my account would be about more than just my annoyance with some of the people on there. It would also be due to the fact that I don't want these advertisers to know about me.

I already did whittle down my friends to about 100. But some of my best friends write really desperate, look-at-me status updates (and I'm sorry, even if you take them off your news feed you still see the updates if you look at someone's profile) and I would rather see them in person than hear about the day-to-day dumb little facts. What can I say, I like deep conversations. This article I found today helps me understand it all more: Facebook users 'are narcissistic, insecure and have low self-esteem' | Mail Online


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## daedaln (May 24, 2010)

heart, I think you should delete your Facebook account. I had the same love/hate relationship with it, but I deleted mine in the end. I think it hurt me more than it benefited me. I felt so liberated and proud of myself after I did it. Keep in contact with your close friends through Skype/MSN or whatever. 

It's obvious that you strongly dislike Facebook for the various reasons you've stated above, so I think no one can convince you otherwise anyway. It's just up to you to let go. I think it's an addiction really - seeing all my friends on Facebook all the time, but that's just my opinion.


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## Thrifty Walrus (Jul 8, 2010)

Delete it, then you'll know who you're real friends are. I deleted mine ages ago, and it was actually a myspace, back before facebook was even popular.


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## suicidal_orange (May 6, 2010)

I've not signed in to facebook since July so I'm going to delete my account now - thanks for the reminder :crazy:


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## skycloud86 (Jul 15, 2009)

If someone is going to delete their Facebook account, make sure you don't leave any personal information on the account. Delete as much as possible and edit what you can't before finally deleting the account.


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## Promethea (Aug 24, 2009)

Typically when someone deletes it they just go crawling back anyway. Besides, you can never fully delete a facebook profile. It saves all of your info no matter what, making it easy to reactivate it (though thats not why they save your info). 

Up your security, get rid of most of the idiots on your friends list.. just cut out a lot of the garbage and aps and use it to stay in contact with the few people you want to stay in contact with.


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## EnigmaticGaffe229 (Sep 30, 2010)

I think about doing this all the time. I toy with the idea of completely annihilating all of my presence on the web, and trying to ground myself back into the tangible reality or just disappearing completely, which I don't think can hold up for long today what with all the snippets of information floating around everywhere on everyone. But, at the same time I love the internet because it's AMAZING. Oh, and I usually like the convenience of looking up words with the dictionary dot com app on facebook. I think that's the only reason I really keep it.


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## MissNobody (Aug 23, 2010)

Either delete your FB account or stop reading other people's posts. There is an option for private messaging if you want to have private chats with friends/family.


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## Windswept Sky (Jul 19, 2010)

I hate facebook too. If you really don't want to be part of it, you shouldn't let anyone pressure you into staying.

I still have an account, but I only add people who I actually care to stay connected with, and I never really log in unless I have the deliberate intent to contact one of them.


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## strawberryLola (Sep 19, 2010)

I would..

I don't have one, because if people really want to contact me, they will via phone or letters in the mail (yes- I do still receive hand written letters- in which I find are a delight).

I even had a myspace account that I deleted. I was too consumed with a relationship at that time, and a few messages were posted on my page that I wouldn't/could not, did not have the time to check and people got offended (which I understand), but I'm not about to post some posed picture of me eating something and positioning myself in front of a camera just so I can prove to the world whatever facade I want to present.

I just want to be me.

Oh- and lastly, employers and people who will look at your applications for job, school, volunteer interviews do check up on that stuff. So for those who post pictures of booty hanging, smacking images, beware. Yes- they do check.


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## heart (Dec 28, 2009)

Update: After deleting every single message, wall post and friend from my account--essentially wiping it clean--I permanently deleted my account. Feels great!


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## Mutatio NOmenis (Jun 22, 2009)

I only got my Facebook to shut my friends up. I don't let people whom I haven't friended contact me, so it's alright.


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## caramel_choctop (Sep 20, 2010)

Well, if you hate it that much & you have no important reason to be on it - yes, delete it


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