Should I quit Facebook?

[UbercornsGoggles]

I am increasingly concerned about the underhand and poor practices of social media, particularly Facebook, in terms of harvesting data and manipulating what we see when we log on. The report from the House of Commons Committee released this week makes for very worrying reading.

But... I love Facebook! I'm not a really heavy user but I love the way it keeps me in touch with people I would otherwise lose contact with. People I knew well a few years ago, or went to uni with, who I still have plenty in common with but who live far from me now. I love being able to dip into people's lives through the posts they share, to know what they're up to (and vice versa) and see how their lives are going.

I'm really struggling with the dilemma - do I stay with Facebook for the good it brings to my life, or do I quit out of fear that I'm being manipulated or exploited without knowing. Interested to know what others feel/have done.

[viktoria]

I feel similar to you, OP.
I stopped liking or commenting on posts.
Instead I message the person - so I still use messenger.
Not sure if that actually makes a difference as in information about myself that can be used by Facebook.
I don't post anymore.
Ultimately I would like to get off Facebook but it's useful for me as I work freelance and am part of a few freelance groups where jobs are posted.

[FindoGask]

I quit for the third (!) time back in April. I'd drastically pruned my friend list anyway, had virtually stopped posting, and regularly flagged things I didn't want to see in my newsfeed, and eventually I just decided to sack it in. I had to download an add-on that blocks sites to stop me going on it, because it had become such an automatic thing to get on facebook as soon as I open my browser.

I'd quite like to delete my profile forever but that sounds a bit of a faff. At the moment it's just deactivated. My husband is still on there and sometimes I do use his profile to sneak a peek at what distant pals are up to - because the thing is, when you get off facebook, people on there that you don't see in RL don't make the effort to contact you any other way, so you probably will find you lose touch with some people unless you're prepared to put the legwork in. I'm OK with that but you might not be!

[Goandplay]

In January I actively reduced my time on FB. Giving myself limits, such as not using my phone to access it, not more than once a day etc.
Then I deactivated for a few months and about 2 months ago completed the brief form to ask them to delete and forget all my information.
A couple of times recently I thought of a few things I would need FB to look at (be nosy) and the fact that I had completely closed my account stopped me. I doubt I'll ever restart an account.
I am pleased.
I am reading more, I am not mentally bogged down with 'fear of missing out', 'what are they up to' etc and now when I hear someone speaking about something I can tell it's something they got from FB.
FB is ok, but it has addictive qualities and I won't say on my deathbed 'I wish I'd seen more on FB'
Saying all this, I do still use Instagram but find that doesn't absorb me as much which is a good thing.

[ChorleyFMcominginyourears]

You can deactivate Facebook but it leaves messenger so you can still keep in touch with people you're friends with as long as you don't delete the messenger app. I got rid of Facebook and messenger a few months ago and I feel so much better! I spent hour upon hour trawling through my news feeds reading people's rants and non statuses, what people ate for every meal, the millionth time they checked into the gym or a&e for the huns etc and I'm so much happier in myself now I'm not reading other people's rubbish!

[alwaysthepessimist]

I plan to leave FB in September when I leave a group that use it now (I can't leave before then sadly) - I have drastically cut back my usage though over the last few months & now rarely post anything

[TwoBlueShoes]

I think pretty much everything we do these days is being monitored.

My Ex works with "big data", and what do you think happens to the data car companies harvest from sat navs? What kind of data do you think mobile phone companies can harvest? What kind of data are banks and credit card companies harvesting. Google probably knows more about us than our friends and family.

All this data is valuable. It's not just Facebook that's harvesting it.

Today I googled where a restaurant is and it had details about what times people visit, how long people spend there. How does Google get this data? Because it's gathering all this data about our movements from Google maps.

It's creepy as fuck, but there's no escaping it.

[UbercornsGoggles]

It's the monitoring and spying element that gets me, but you're right it's not just Facebook doing that. Google is probably a lot worse

[Pippylou]

If you go in Google maps on your phone, there's a setting where you can change the date & see where you went that day..someone mentioned it on here & I looked, well spooked!

[FairyPenguin]

I want to quit Facebook as well. I’m the same and have stopped posting and liking things. But a lot of businesses use FB to advertise events and sales, etc, so I think I would actually miss out if I quit completely. For example, when tickets were released for something last week, I was able to see that and buy before they sold out in less than an hour. My daughter wanted to do a holiday workshop and the company running it only advertised on their FB page and not on their website. Or finding out about local events. It’s things like this that are stopping me from leaving.

[Pebblesandfriends]

I quit several months ago and don't miss it a jot. Yes I can't nosey at what people I haven't seen in real life since I was 15 are up to but I think my life is all the richer for it.

[UbercornsGoggles]

@fairypenguin That has become true for me since I became a parent. So much seems to be advertised or promoted through Facebook and nowhere else.