NEVER WILL THERE BE At this point, it’s not a good idea to remove your Facebook account For the most part, people aren’t logging on as often anymore, and when they do, they’re met with an endless stream of reheated viral stories and status updates from a few distant friends. However, it seems that the moment has come to cut the cord.
The Wall Street Journal has been running a series of articles alleging that the firm consistently disregarded internal studies into the different dangers its products create. When you think about it, it’s hard not to wonder why so much of the world’s internet traffic is routed via a single business like Google. And there’s the overall impression that Facebook isn’t a good thing for society in the long run. You reach a tipping point when it becomes too much to handle. For those of you who have gotten to that point, here’s how to leave Facebook permanently, as well as how to restrict how much it can monitor you once you’re gone.
How to Deactivate Your Facebook Account
Some of these actions may feel like cancelling your Facebook account, but they aren’t really deleting it at all. What happens if you take it off your phone? Cathartic, maybe, but ineffective. Removing yourself from Facebook? Even so, the platform retains all of your data, eagerly waiting for you to return at any time. This is somewhat better.
If going cold turkey isn’t an option for you, maybe a nicotine patch can suffice. There are no incorrect answers!! The down arrow in the upper right corner of your Facebook page will deactivate your account. Then choose Settings from the drop-down menu that appears. Click on the left-hand panel of choices and choose Your Facebook Information from there. Afterwards, you may return to the main menu and choose Deactivation and deletion. Phew!
Clicking it brings up the deactivation and deletion choices that were offered. If it’s already set to deactivate, just click Continue to deactivate the account. You’ll be prompted to enter your password again, which will take you to a page where you must provide a reason for your decision to leave Facebook. From there, you can choose whether or not to receive emails from Facebook (notifications that a friend has invited you to join a group, for example) and whether or not to continue using Messenger. Click the blue Deactivate button after selecting everything that applies.
It’s nearly there. In actuality, deactivation does very little. Inboxes and friend lists aren’t going anywhere, so your friends will still be able to see the messages you’ve sent them. Admins can still see the posts and comments you’ve made in groups. For the record, Facebook will keep all of your personal information for as long as you use the service. Logging back into your account is all you need to do to reactivate. It’s like writing a lengthy “leaving New York” article while still living in a one-bedroom Astoria apartment.
How to Delete Your Facebook Account for Real
Assuming you’ve made your final decision, spend a few moments to check whether or not Facebook has any data on its servers that you’d want to preserve. In the late ’00s, you could have used it as a picture book. You may have communications that you’d want to save. Is there a chance you’ve ever written a great post? If that’s the case, how was it?
The point is, before you delete your Facebook account, it’s worth storing your data—or moving it to another provider. This isn’t difficult, but it does take some time. Use the same downward-pointing symbol you used previously to get to Settings & Privacy, and then Settings. Go to Your Facebook Information in the left-hand window. Changing the location of your online files is as simple as clicking on Transfer a Copy of Your Information and then selecting one of the nine possibilities that appear. (These are services like Dropbox, Google Photos, and Backblaze.) There is also a Blogger option. Choosing a service allows you to choose the kind of data and the amount of data you wish to transfer; for images, for example, you may specify a period range or particular albums to select. Once you’ve made those options and connected to the destination service, the transfer may begin. A few times may be necessary if you want to separate photographs and other content from one other.
Alternatively, you may download all of your information by visiting Download Your Information. Despite the fact that there are 44 types of data, you won’t need all of them. There is no need to retrieve your bug bounty programme history before deleting your Facebook account. (For most users, this is not a problem.) Spend some time removing the items you don’t want to see. Create a file by setting the date range to All Time, the format to HTML so that you can interpret it, and the Media Quality drop-down to High. When your download is complete, Facebook will contact you through email.
And that’s a wrap! Now that you’re ready to remove anything, click Delete. To deactivate your account, go to Settings > Settings & Privacy > Your Facebook Information > Deactivation and Deleting Your Account. Continue to account cancellation by clicking Delete Account. If you choose to stay using Messenger, you’ll be prompted to deactivate instead and reminded to download your files before you go. You’ll be prompted to enter your password and click Continue after clicking Delete account. When you’re gone, there’s no going back.
Still a ways off, I’d say. If you change your mind, you can always go back into your Facebook account and choose the Cancel Deletion option. Even if the corporation promises it will destroy your account’s data after 90 days, it may nevertheless store part of it in “backup storage” for future use. On the other hand, this is as far removed as it gets.
How to Limit Facebook Tracking You
You were all set, weren’t you? Sorry, but you’re not done yet. Even if you haven’t used Facebook in a while, the company still has your information. The company’s other applications, such as Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, as well as Oculus Rift, may play a role in this. Facebook’s massive ad network offers it access to the vast majority of internet users regardless of whether they’ve ever signed up for its social networks or not.
Unfortunately, your alternatives are somewhat restricted in this situation. The Digital Advertising Alliance’s YourAdChoices webpage allows you to opt out of various ad-targeting activities. DuckDuckGo, for example, is a privacy-focused browser. Alternately, you may throw away all of your modern devices in favour of a more natural lifestyle. If you don’t want Facebook to monitor you, you’ll have to do something else.
You may begin by deactivating your account. That’s why now looks like the best opportunity of all.
