To think that not being on facebook makes you FAR less accessible generally

[WoburnSands]

I've been both on it and off it - came off it completely a while ago - in 2011. I don't miss it one bit. It was a great novelty when I first went on it in about 2008 - but after that the novelty sort of wore off.

I'm happy I the knowledge that the people I don't want to bother with at all - now can't find me! - I also love having the 'privacy' of not being on it!!

happy in** the knowledge

Yes! I came off a few months ago and I love my newfound privacy.

I meant no. YANBU.

Brilliant and liberating isn't it swishy?!!

I'm not on it either. I miss out on a few things, the school puts stuff up on FB instead of sending letters out. Sometimes there is an event or something on locally that I don't hear about. Generally it's a good thing not being on there, the pros for me far outweigh the cons.

Agree completely.

That's why I'm not on Facebook, never have been on Facebook and have no intention of joining Facebook.

Sorry, Mr Zuckerberg, I'm just not interested.

I myself wish I'd come off it a lot sooner Bonnie

Oh wow, I find out about so much local stuff from FB i don't know what I'd actually do without it! I'd have to search for specific things that I didn't know we're happening I really couldn't come off it.

I keep seeing 30 second videos of recipes in my news feed, I love it! Today I made one of the dinners and it was delish. And as pp said its how I find out about all the fun stuff that happens in my city. And there's the spying on old flames of course. It's brilliant.

The only thing not accessible to me now is the gossip, which I wanted to avoid anyway.

I don't miss Facebook at all.

Ps came off about 2yrs ago now.

Watching. I've never joined and am in two minds about joining now.

Streetlife is also good for local stuff - and you can also select how 'local' you want to go iyswim.

But it's good you've found good aspects of fb

If it's any consolation minipie I really loved it for a few months after I first joined.

If I could go back in time to circa 2008 and give the 'me who is about to join fb' some advice it would be - have it but ffs ONLY let in people you've know FOR QUITE A WHILE and trust - do not compromise your privacy!!

I've deleted the app now and am in two minds about deleting it all together.

The thing that gets me is that I have some many lovely pics on there I want to keep.

Is there an app that can download and save them all?

I left for years and not one person bothered to contact me and if I contacted them to ask how they were I was told 'I posted on fb about it' - needless to say I found out who my real friends were. I didn't miss it or them one little bit.

I had to rejoin when I went back to uni as the class would only communicate through it and all these people from my first account kept asking me where I'd been. Really annoyed me. Nobody bothers with real life anymore just posting dross on fb. I much prefer Twitter where I have zero real life friends and all strangers.

Oh I will look into street life, thanks OP.

But (and I'm not being awkward, just describing) a lot of the way i find out about stuff is like (real example from this evening) "registration for [class at leisure centre] cancelled, further details to come at a later date" was posted on council FB page, and the only reason I saw it was because a friend had commented under it. Now I hadn't realised registration was opening for that class and I will now keep an eye out for an update so can hopefully register my DC. Things like that would be totally missed if it was dependant on me actively looking for it. A lot of stuff is pure chance that it pops up on my feed or someone tags me in something they think I would be interested in.

If you are part of any FB groups you can just have the FB Groups app installed (if you haven't left FB altogether). I am doing that whilst having a break from FB. It means I can keep abreast of local stuff without seeing my feed.

Queenbean I lost some lovely pics on there as well - was gutted but I'm still glad I came off it.I'm not very 'techy' about IT stuff but maybe you can store photos in 'cloud' or something? Though disclaimer - I never have!!

Bloopbleep I definitely preferred Twitter as well!

I've never been on it except when I created a fake account to have a nose around and in general, I'm glad I don't have a presence on social media. I have a few friends and they are people I see / keep in touch with regularly. I hate the idea of people I once went to school with or knew in a very loose sense being able to find out anything about me. I know you can make your account private, but the algorithms used to suggest people I may know etc worry me.

JenLindley - it seems as though a lot of things are now done 'through facebook'.

In work a colleagues asking people if they're coming to her'facebook party'. What., in hells name, is that??

What do you mean by privacy?

You can put your settings so that no-one can find you in a FB or Google search and so that only friends can read your posts

That sounds a good compromise Margo