A Year Without Facebook

One year ago, I signed out of Facebook, but I didn’t delete my account or deactivate it. I just logged off and didn’t look back. I haven’t signed back in a single time. I had told myself that maybe I’d delete my account if I could stay away from it for a year. Well, I made it. So will I delete Facebook now? Mmmmm, no, not yet.

Delete: why or why not?

Over the past year, there were two or three times when I thought I might need to log into my Facebook account for a very specific reason. But I managed to avoid it. And now that I’ve been off Facebook for so long, I feel much more confident that daily living is perfectly fine without it. I’ve proven that a Facebook account is not necessary in modern life. So deleting it would make sense.

Yet I think part of my success in staying off Facebook is because I know I can go back if I want or need to. And I have a Facebook account, so I don’t need one. Does that make sense? I don’t lack one, so I don’t need one. But if I delete my Facebook account, then I might feel like I need one even if I actually don’t. It’s some kind of psychological thing, I think. So not deleting it might be best for now.

Still social

At this time a year ago, I totally deleted my long-standing Twitter account; I’m glad I did. Facebook then became the last social media I had.

Now I’m active on Micro.blog, which has a social timeline, but it’s not built like traditional social media. It’s more of a blogging platform. Yet Micro.blog provides enough social connection online to scratch that itch. And thanks to the Fediverse, being on Micro.blog also gives me interaction with people on Mastodon.

I was active on niche social cataloging sites since they’re more about their utility and focus on a single topic: Goodreads for book reading and Grouvee for video gaming. I’m not so active on those anymore. I prefer to focus on just my blog and Micro.blog. It’s simpler. And I think it’s enough.

Future deletion

I may eventually delete my Facebook account just on principle if for no other reason. Yet I hesitate because I’ve deleted my previous Facebook accounts several times and always end up creating a new one. The main reasons I’ve done that were “peer pressure” and “FOMO.” But in the past year, I’ve felt neither of those. That’s telling. To me, it’s evidence that Facebook just isn’t what it used to be; it’s on the decline. That said, there’s still some utility to Facebook. But I think it’s slowly waning.

Well, I’m leaving Facebook alone, ignoring my account. I’ll keep going as I have been. Maybe in another year, I’ll revisit the idea of deleting it. Or maybe I’ll wake up one random Saturday this summer and just nuke the thing.