Mail Bag: Are You Glad You Quit Facebook?

Tonight’s question is about deleting your Facebook account.

Joshua,

It has been some time since you quit Facebook.  I’m thinking about doing the same thing.  What are your thoughts?

Mariah

It has been four months since I shut down my Facebook account and I have to say: It is one of the best decisions I ever made.

The Good About Giving Up Facebook: 

• If people want to get in touch with me, they call, schedule a lunch date, or stop by my home or office.  I’ve had more cookouts, movie nights, and brunches in the past few weeks than I have in years.
• It is one less site I have to check and, due to the nature of my work, makes me harder to reach, which has advantages.  
• It’s far less difficult to get distracted when sitting in front of a computer, increasing my productivity.  
• I no longer feel complicit in the success of a business that has onerous privacy policies that violate my sense of ethics.  I’m thrilled with the European Union’s development of “right to be forgotten” laws and want to see them introduced in the United States.

The Bad About Giving Up Facebook

• The dozen apprehensive messages, texts, and phone calls asking if I had de-friended people, what they had done wrong, and if I was angry at them or blocked them from my profile.  This is temporary.  It was also unexpected.  
• The loss of convenience in that I was able to use Facebook as a 21st-Century post office, sending the equivalent of virtual post cards if I needed to reach someone quickly.  

My grandmother doesn’t like me being off the site because it is her preferred method of communication.  That is the only real issue.

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