Facebook mind
From enfascination
Talked to my friend M6 today, he pointed me to this awesome article: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/nov/25/generation-why/?pagination=false
Could anything inspire you to take down your Facebook? I didn't imagine that anything could pull that from me. Now, while your friends are migrating to Google+, now is the perfect time to pretend that you've migrated too. Disappear for a little bit. Why? pagination=false.
I liked all kinds of things about that article. "tiny, exquisite movie star trailed by fan-boys through the snow." yes! I know that reference, that was my first moviestar crush.
This line too "I don’t think exclusivity was ever the point; nor even money. E Pluribus Unum—that’s the point." There is an echo when you read the Latin, even when you don't understand it, because you just read the word money. You only read that line when you read money and, in this case, "money."
And the articles message. Since when does a movie review have a message? The point about people simplifying themselves to fit in FB fields has a little talent, but its really just another of those self-important claims that are typical from guru types in human-computer interaction. So what argument got me? It was the romance of "its none of your business." I've heard it before, but I've only recently started opening up to it.
If you like eating your dessert slow, closing your Facebook is something with parts, and you can enjoy all of them. Don't go straight to deactivate. Turn off every single option in every box. Read, experience, enjoy. It might take about an hour. I found myself googling "How do I turn X off of Facebook," "Can people see Y on Facebook?" you might go back and double check that this one thing is off. You can see your profile from the perspective of every friend to check the switches.
I love experiences, and I love sharing. Since that is what Facebook is About, every thought you have while shutting it down is ironic. Wanting to share the experience of doing it, or lessons from it, or wanting to preserve any information that was on the page, and every doubt I have before clicking something. I rarely feel irony so densely, I can tell because I'm also feeling the panic of needing to call it out before someone else can notice it on their own. I've never felt like such a part of my generation.
Stage one ironies
- writing this, to the world
- Also, when I was writing the status update on Facebook to say that I'm doing it
- The update was longer than 420 characters, and I spent a few minutes trying to shorten it
- And when I thought of starting a Group for people to quit after reading the article
- And when I concluded, without checking, that there is definitely already one out there. I just know it.
I chose to just make everything private instead of deleting my account. I've never appreciated how many privacy options they have. Its a lot of options. Its been over an hour.
Stage two ironies
- I've reduced what I share and who i share it with, changed my emergency contact to someone else's email address, changed my password to something I don't know, and changed the language to some inscrutable. All that is somehow easier than simply deleting my account.
- I've been selective about what I close off: I'm keeping the link to this website public, I'm keeping messages, posts, and friend requests mostly public. All this is so that I can continue to be exposed and have exposure. There is some cognitive dissonance in there somewhere. Maybe its obvious to you, but I don't see it yet. It will be fun to tease out over the next few days.
- I'm making choices that will be reversible. It makes room for this to be just a crisis. Maybe it is. It feels good right now, liberating too, and the process of doing it has been a ball.
- Continuing to write this post.
Amazing things I didn't know about that say something about the sophistication of Facebook and the number, length, and knuckles of its fingers
- The "download your information" option under Account Settings is pretty cool.
- I never use FB apps, so I was really impressed that there were sixteen random websites that I had allowed to have access to all kinds of stuff about me. I never used to care. I'm only kind of sure that I care now. The doubt comes because I know I don't care as much as I know I should. You can kill those apps if you can find the page.
- Behind the scenes you'll find that they have lots of good information about security, privacy, and the law. Facebook showed me which of my friends "Liked" which of those information pages. That really says a lot, about the site, about the friends, about what they think, like, feel, and expect of others. And the fact that I'm getting all that from a security page. This is all so rich.
- If you've noticed random pages saying that this or that friend likes this or that event or brand, well they're doing it with you too. You can turn all that off, though you have to go to three or four different places, under both Account and Privacy settings.
- You can change your language to "English (Upside Down)." CHECK, MFers.
- There are many many many options and things to deactivate. It is much more difficult and informative than deleting your account outright. Oh, misspeak. There is no deleting your account. You can deactivate it. You'll be back.
- When you are in Japan, you have the option to share your blood type. (Stage three: You can't tell what books I like but a picture of me sitting on the toilet is still on the internet.)
- Click on every option, tab, and blue link. A lot of options, like "Only me," are hidden in "Custom." FB is hiding its disapproval ...
- ... with one exception: Facebook got worried when I turned off one of the social advertising features. I got a popup assuring me that I had been misinformed. Its like it feels.
This whole thing might just be a crisis. After I don't move out to the woods, and keep checking my email, and miss parties that my friends are holding, I'm bound to return. Closing down your Facebook page is hard. The metaphor to suicide is hard to miss, and it isn't lost on Facebook. I've got a screenshot of the deactivation page. The further I go through the stages of withdrawing (I did not say withdrawal), the more I learn how much its a great idea.
Thanks 6! And thanks especially to all those invisibles who actually quit, and who did it with no compulsion to blog it.