So I deleted my Facebook.......yup. It wasn't an easy decision at first, but the longer I thought about it, the more I wondered why I had not deleted months/years before. It's been a weird load off my back. I tried convincing myself that I had friends on there that I didn't have contact with anywhere else, which was true, but it was not enough to keep me on the number one procrastination site in the world. Day in and day out I have found myself just reloading the Facebook page to see if there are any new mundane posts about stuff I don't care about. Witty post, sports updates, "my life is so much worse than everyone else's", I just got sick of them. I wasted so much time on that instead of being productive.
When I went to "Deactivate" it the first time, I noticed a new button that allowed a full archived download of all my photos, posts, blogs etc. That was almost the final push for me because I didn't want to lose all of my photos on there. I could lose the posts, but my photos were very important to me. I clicked the button to archive it and get it ready for a download. I'm sure they have everything about me already archived and ready to view for anyone but I just wanted to stop it where it stood. While I was trying to deactivate the account, the top of the page displayed pictures of me with different friends with word bubbles saying "You don't want to be friends?" "Don't leave." or something similar to those... I deactivated the account for a few days in hopes that it would have the file ready for download when I got back on. When I logged back on to see, it was as if I never clicked the button. Ugh. I clicked it again and to my pleasure was finished within the hour. I had made a final post letting people know what I was doing and that my account would be permanently deleted very shortly. I hit the download button and 1.4GB of my last 6 years was being downloaded on to my laptop. About an hour later, done.
When I went to delete my account, I could not find any section that was easy to get to. I actually had to Google how to delete it and a link from the search brought me to a page on Facebook. I clicked the delete account button and it warned me that it was a permanent action and could not be reversed. I agreed to delete. It asks me to enter my password again. I do so. It then asks me to enter a CAPTCHA(A CAPTCHA or Captcha is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to ensure that the response is not generated by a computer.)This usually consists of a simple quick glance at a word displayed and typing it in the box provided. This was not your typical CAPTCHA, this was Satans CAPTCHA. It literally had all the words melding in to each other. I had to re-load a different word about 6 times and I finally guessed the correct letters. Facebook REALLY didn't want me to leave. I felt like I was solving puzzles in order to be released and be free. After it was all finally done, Facebook told me it would take 14 days to delete my account permanently and I had the option to sign in and re-activate it. NO. JUST DELETE IT NOW!
The Facebook app on my iPhone, apparently, could access my text messages. This also made me happy to delete my account. The content of my texts could lull an infant to sleep, I really have nothing exciting or ground breaking to say in them. Who does? Anyway, it's just the whole idea of my privacy being invaded in ridiculous ways. Google and Facebook are really starting to break those privacy barriers and it makes me feel really uneasy. Ironically, I am using a Google blogging site. This digital age is awesome and terrifying.
Since I have deleted my Facebook, I have found more time! I know...can you believe that? I cleaned out my room, got rid of a bunch of clothes, organized, went through old paper work and even started eating better. I can only associate my desire to do these things with the subtraction of that awful site. I've started eating a lot better, mainly because of a new app called MyFitnessPal. I searched "calorie counter" on a whim and it came up with that app. It tracks what you have eaten, the nutritional content of the foods you eat and estimates what your daily calorie intake should be. I have lost 11 pounds or so in about a week and a half. I have also been using the treadmill. Things are looking up.
