Leaving Facebook by Instructions from Guide Spirits

[Cado]

Originally Posted by royster

Janice reports that there is no trace of my ever being on Facebook.

1984 "un-personed". Just thought you'd want to know what happens when you elete your account.

Um... Yeah. Isn't that supposed to happen? It's not a very thorough delete function if it leaves traces of you anywhere. I wouldn't be happy to browse the site and find myself plastered all over, or even just bits of content I'd posted to my wall.

There's datamining concerns, but the primary reason I left is because it was a very shallow form of communication on the whole. I'd rather someone e-mail me and meet me on Skype or type out an IM. I use all the major clients so it's not like it's hard. I figure if Facebook is the only way to contact or stay in touch with someone they're not all that valuable to begin with.

[interchangeable]

I've never had a FB account or MySpace. I use IM for distant friends and loved ones. My cell phone is also bare bones. I joke with people that my phone has all kinds of cool things like, a world clock, a calculator and I can make and receive phone calls!! Cool huh?!

It's also about 5 years old but it's one of the construction site type phones so I can prettymuch bounce it off the sidewalk and it won't even scratch it. I had to get a new batttery for it 2 years ago and that's it. Compared to everyone else I know who has had issue after issue or accident after accident with their pricey phones.

I dunno. I'm fairly resistant to the whole *newest and best* gimmick. It's served me well. I raised my kids without TV so we also by-passed all the video game systems. All 3 of us are into computers but even with that, I keep a pretty good balance and so does my daughter (who is 23 now). My son, (24) not so much. He's a comp addict. But whatevs. There are worse things.

I just try not to be a slave to anything.

[Andrew Gubb]

There need be only 2 more major steps before the internet becomes the “1984” omnipresent and all-seeing screen.

Seems a long shot to say that...

[royster]

Originally Posted by Andrew Gubb

Seems a long shot to say that...

Not really, Andrew. Observing the lineage of the internet, advertising, mainstream news and other seemingly unrelated events, one gleans a good look at where these are all heading. Shrugging them off and continuing on...well, the Titanic did this with ice warnings. And the Titanic was the biggest, most advanced technology of its day. The same complacency was attached to it, too: "God Himself could not sink this ship!" The question across the board here is: what is all the technology benefitting? Our lives were supposed to be made easier with all the conveniences, but why do we have less time? Why are we always drawn into distractions? What would we do without the internet?

There is no question that the internet has its benefits. And there is little arguement that Facebook has positive merits. My main concern is influence; how is it influencing what you see, think, feel and act? I'm confident that if a person is brutally honest to the core of themselves, they'd acquiesce to the fact that these influences set what is "normal", and the "normal" being accepted is NOT acceptable.

Why is it I can go virtually anywhere and start flappin' my mouth about football, and it's received with enthusiasm. But go anywhere and start talking about the pineal gland or ascension and people put up barriers. We're spirits having a human experience, not the other way around; we should be able to share spiritual insights anywhere we go...but that's not the case. This is by the influences we have no control over, and cannot change, except within ourselves.

And accepting the unacceptable doesn't promote change in ourselves.

[moonrambler]

Originally Posted by royster

Why is it I can go virtually anywhere and start flappin' my mouth about football, and it's received with enthusiasm. But go anywhere and start talking about the pineal gland or ascension and people put up barriers.

And you're blaming this on Facebook?

[royster]

No, moonrambler, I'm not. I'm saying facebook promotes a shallow community ideal.

Please know, moonrambler, cacheborn and you others who are using Facebook with discernment: I hear you loud and clear, and agree. I, too, met up with others i would not have normally been able to do.

If you have the self-restraint to use Facebook, great. There are those who can have a drink or two then walk away from the bar. I am not one of those people, and many are just like me.

But how meaningful is this 'community' when push comes to shove? As I posted earlier, not ONE PERSON even RESPONDED to a proposed 24 hour marathon of education regarding Facebook viruses. NOT ONE. Out of 98 friends, not a peep.

Janice's daughter is enduring the process of breast cancer. While the people on Facebook have been very supportive with words...words that are easy to type...when the sequnce of yard sales were announced, not ONE local Facebook "friend" put in an appearance. That means people she knows personally, who live locally and participate in Facebook, couldn't give any more than lip service. In the REAL community, we all banded together, and pitched in to raise money, and BE THERE for her. On the Pavlina forums, we have a much more active, meaningful community than Facebook will ever be.

Did my 'community' of Facebook friends pitch in to share what we know of computer viruses? No. NOT ONE. Was this due to "it takes too much genuine effort"? Probably.

[moonrambler]

Originally Posted by royster

But how meaningful is this 'community' when push comes to shove? As I posted earlier, not ONE PERSON even RESPONDED to a proposed 24 hour marathon of education regarding Facebook viruses. NOT ONE. Out of 98 friends, not a peep.

I would probably not respond to this either. I understand why nobody did.

Janice's daughter is enduring the process of breast cancer. While the people on Facebook have been very supportive with words...words that are easy to type...when the sequnce of yard sales were announced, not ONE local Facebook "friend" put in an appearance. That means people she knows personally, who live locally and participate in Facebook, couldn't give any more than lip service. In the REAL community, we all banded together, and pitched in to raise money, and BE THERE for her.

I couldn't agree with you more that showing up in person is more important than typing in words. I'm just not so certain that Facebook is the problem.

[royster]

Ever go into the registry of your computer? I do. One time I had to go in there to get Norton out of my computer. The process took two hours, down dark alleys you wouldn't think a computer had.

On such a journey, you learn a lot about how computers...and downloads...operate. And how sneaky little hobos jump on trains and ride them into the next town.

Ever allow Facebook access to your Outlook Express to "look for friends"? Ever go back into the registry and see what's changed? No? Oh.

[royster]

"Don't accept that what's happening
Is just a case of others' suffering
Or you'll find that you're joining in
The turning away"

[moonrambler]

Originally Posted by royster

Ever allow Facebook access to your Outlook Express to "look for friends"? Ever go back into the registry and see what's changed? No? Oh.

No. I don't use Outlook Express, and I don't give Facebook access to anything.

All a person has to do is look at their cookie files or their temp files or run an adware program now and then to understand that it is not just FB. The question is, why are people giving FB access to their e-mail? I don't even link my 'real' e-mail address to FB.

[royster]

You're smarter than most!

A little off topic...but i do wish to say, moonrambler, I have tremendous respect for you. Many others here, too. You need not return the gesture, I just felt it right to express this. <3

[royster]

Originally Posted by Andrew Gubb

Seems a long shot to say that...

Not when you consider the silicone chip implants, the Universal Pricing Code scanner, and the ability to buy and sell on the internet.

How was the UPC code made acceptable and friendly? " Helps find lost pets!" Now childredn are recieving these tatoos..."marks"...and the silicone implants are already in use, with a global data base, for animals. With a Global Positioning System (GPS) and instant electronic monitoring, how is it NOT possible to take the two remaining steps, Andrew? MANDATORY tatoos...and later, silicone implants.

When you wake up, you scan your tatoo on the screen.

The only difference is now, you're doing it voluntarily, and even making excuses to do it.

[royster]

This just in via e-mail...

Do you subscribe to the philosophic metaphor that when one door closes, another opens?



So here we have Roy quitting Facebook----just as Queen Elizabeth II joins. Yes, her majesty has signed on. As one of her subjects, therefore, I say “FIE!”



Swat that fie if you dare, Royster.



And cheers.



Tony

[moonrambler]

Originally Posted by royster

You're smarter than most!

A little off topic...but i do wish to say, moonrambler, I have tremendous respect for you. Many others here, too. You need not return the gesture, I just felt it right to express this. <3

Wow, thank you, royster! What a kind thing to say. <3

[Showtime]

I don't think that anything (including Facebook) is inheriently good or bad, it's what people do with it. And even what people do with it isn't inheriently good or bad, that's just our judgements. Everything just... is.

But from my subjective point of view, I really appreciate what facebook has done for networking. It's so much easier to contact my friends or whoever I need to. The people who post negative status updates, I typically "Hide" all their statuses.

[jak3b]

Originally Posted by royster

Ever go into the registry of your computer? I do. One time I had to go in there to get Norton out of my computer. The process took two hours, down dark alleys you wouldn't think a computer had.

On such a journey, you learn a lot about how computers...and downloads...operate. And how sneaky little hobos jump on trains and ride them into the next town.

Ever allow Facebook access to your Outlook Express to "look for friends"? Ever go back into the registry and see what's changed? No? Oh.

If you must use windows get crap cleaner(google ccleaner).It takes care of all that.I stopped using any of the Symantec mcaffe products.AVG and crap cleaner and your clear.I hear what you saying about facebook but,really its just a reflection of society as a whole.People in main stream society are getting shallower,more callous,less human.Carl Marx(remember the commies?) had stated the more efficient things are the less Human things become.I believe we are at a cross roads in our evolution.We have made massive strides in tech and none in maturity.We are intellectual giants and emotional dwarfs.A bad combo.The mind and ego can rationalise anything to fit its agenda.it doesnt feel.As we move along here I can see a more heart centered approach to tech emerging.There are glimmers here and there,Not much in the US but in the so called 3rd world there are examples of how tech has enriched community and empowered people who were for generations at the mercy of rigid caste and social structures.Things are changing fast, that is for sure. Alot of people feel totaly lost in all of this gadgetry.For me 99% of it is useless.I dont need a GPS to get across town and my vision isnt good enough for games on a cell phone.And if you really look at the iPhone-pads they look they were designed to break.All smooth and slippery and they dont really fit anywhere.

[Andrew Gubb]

The only difference is now, you're doing it voluntarily, and even making excuses to do it.

Well that's a big difference. It's not like the technology to do such a thing is lacking or was before Facebook. People log on to Facebook primarily because an evil dictatorship is not forcing them to.

People in Spain have ID cards and it seemed pretty evil to me. I resisted having one for a while but eventually gave in to the convenience. But heck... I still work in the black without paying taxes. The government doesn't have the climate of panic it needs to be able to track my every move without people like me taking back our rights in an instant.

And it's not gonna get it

[Grrl]

Just to add one more view to the discussion, I also feel that facebook is an incredible time waster... and also that it lowers my attention span and after using it, I feel mindless, zombified, and unmotivated.

I agree that it's all about how you use it. Seems like my autopilot way of using it is not working for me however.

[royster]

but eventually gave in to the convenience

Ah, yes: make the trap desireable and easy.

Thanks, Grrl, for your input.
When our attention spans are lowered and our defenses weakened, we lose the ability to discern, and then we make bad choices.

"Free...and always will be..."
The white man gave American Indians blankets during a harsh winter...how charitable! And FREE!

They were the blankets taken from smallpox victims. It was genocide.

[royster]

Facebook on Wednesday sent around invitations for a November 15 press event in San Francisco.

The social-networking site provided few details about what might be discussed except to say that "this special event is in advance of Mark Zuckerberg's conversation on 11/16 at Web 2.0 Summit."

Zuckerberg will appear at the Web 2.0 conference Tuesday at 4:50pm; the conference agenda did not specify what he will talk about; it is being billed as "a conversation with Mark Zuckerberg." The summit is an invite-only event that will also feature appearances by Google's Eric Schmidt, Yahoo's Carol Bartz, RIM's Jim Balsillie, Adobe's Shantanu Narayen, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, and Twitter's Ev Williams.

Naturally, rumors about what Facebook might announce have been making the rounds. Given that the invitation includes an image of Facebook's iPhone inbox icon, TechCrunch speculated that it might be related to Facebook's fabled Project Titan webmail effort.

During its last event, Facebook unveiled "Groups" and announced that users would be able to download their Facebook information. An August press conference, meanwhile, included the launch of Facebook Places.

[curiouslyrandom]

I'm doing okay with facebook (the majority of my contacts there are people I've known for several years who live far away), but what does it say that I can only spend about 10 minutes on this forum before I tense up and want to vomit? It's a recent development and probably has to do with my session with Angela a few days ago.

I read a bunch of posts here, consider whether or not I have anything to contribute, decide no, then leave. I keep coming back because I miss having conversations with people who are interested in topics like yours, royster, but it looks like I'm going to have to find somewhere else to fit in.

[royster]

I'm boo-hoo-ing as I read my facebook profile and find all your funny comments are gone!

This kind remark is from another forum. It's been 2 weeks already! I haven't missed Facebook one bit, and have felt an underlying relief ever since. While I enjoyed my stay there, being away from it makes me realise this was good guidance; my time has been better spent and my focus better tuned.

[royster]

Here is a biased skimming of this thread only (I did not take any comments from "Facebook Is The Devil"). Now that this journey has concluded for me, I can report: only ONE notification from Facebook, and that is prompted by your request to delete the account. There were no further messages from Facebook.

THANK YOU to all who responded to this topic.
COMMENTS:
The annoying factor is being checked on. For example the advertisements are always more or less related to my interests (aside from fast food ads that i love to report as being "offensive", lol). So obviously some strangers keep putting their noses into your profile, even with strict settings and refusing applications...

So even FRIENDS are not willing to group together for a common cause, which would benefit all.

what's clear to me is that cctv, facebook, increasing loss of freedom and increasing loss of privacy are here to stay. A successful rebellion requires a critical mass, and the chances of that happening are... well, zero from what I've seen!

Can you survive without technolgy, without natural gas, without elctricity? If so, how long could you last? When you start thinking about it and getting anxious about it, do you attempt to drown that anxiety under yet more crap or to shut it out with yet more distractions?

Nobody has to 'like' anything there or interact with any of the gadgetry.
If you really cannot select out the values you want, then I understand why you need to dispense with it.


People who make money through Facebook tend only to care about making money, as opposed to doing good and improving conditions for employees/overseas workers/the environment
A lot of information about a lot of people and their connections, all centralised, as you say it's easy to connect several of these networks
Facebook lax with privacy policies/don't seem to really value this
Distractions and games instead of things that develop and fulfil long-term (contant checking for new messages etc)
Activism has gone from picketing to "Start a Facebook group"
Other users can control a lot of data about you and link it to your account, including photos (and de-tagging yourself will be irrelevant once facial recognition improves)

The harmful aspect of facebook is the addiction. And unfortunately, its quite easy to get addicted to. This addiction leads to wasting time and energy. So..you can deal with that in two ways... 1. Delete your account. 2. Go check into facebook rehab or, you can just overcome the addiction like any other.

You definitely have a good point here. Facebook sucks so much of our time, attention and really, I think, can be harmful to real-life relationships.
No time for your friends? No need to make time - just post on their wall and call it a day!
Long-lost high school "friend" wants to add you even though they barely spoke to you 10 years ago? Cool!
I've thought about leaving FB but I don't know if I really want to right now. Am I addicted? I do think so. Sigh.

There's datamining concerns, but the primary reason I left is because it was a very shallow form of communication on the whole. I'd rather someone e-mail me and meet me on Skype or type out an IM. I use all the major clients so it's not like it's hard. I figure if Facebook is the only way to contact or stay in touch with someone they're not all that valuable to begin with.
__________________
I couldn't agree with you more that showing up in person is more important than typing in words. I'm just not so certain that Facebook is the problem.

I don't think that anything (including Facebook) is inheriently good or bad, it's what people do with it. And even what people do with it isn't inheriently good or bad, that's just our judgements. Everything just... is.

Just to add one more view to the discussion, I also feel that facebook is an incredible time waster... and also that it lowers my attention span and after using it, I feel mindless, zombified, and unmotivated.

I agree that it's all about how you use it. Seems like my autopilot way of using it is not working for me however.

I read a bunch of posts here [at Pavlina Forums], consider whether or not I have anything to contribute, decide no, then leave. I keep coming back because I miss having conversations with people who are interested in topics like yours, royster, but it looks like I'm going to have to find somewhere else to fit in.

[moonrambler]

Originally Posted by royster

For example the advertisements are always more or less related to my interests (aside from fast food ads that i love to report as being "offensive", lol). So obviously some strangers keep putting their noses into your profile, even with strict settings and refusing applications...

Royster, you are responsible for my first loud cackle of the day. Out of curiosity, I went to FB to check the ad on my page. I never see the ads, I haven't since the first week or two, when I found them annoying. Ever since, they're like invisible to me. So I looked today and saw an ad for Tide detergent. It took me a couple seconds to realize the ad was a response to my posting Thursday in which I said "Laundromat. Rugs." HAR!!

That's so ridiculous though. Practically everyone does laundry. Just because somebody mentions it, they put an ad there? Good grief.

[Cado]

I've elaborated on some of my previous thoughts in a little rant I put together as a warm-up. Seeing as this topic is part of what got me goin, may as well link you to it: Communication Soundbytes | Stripping the Emperor

[royster]

Excellently stated, IC.

[royster]

Originally Posted by Andrew Gubb

Seems a long shot to say that...

"28 Nov 2010 King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia told a senior White House official to consider surgically implanting homing devices under Guantanamo Bay detainees’ skin. That’s one of the many potentially embarrassing comments from diplomatic back rooms now being made public by WikiLeaks. During a March 2009 meeting with John Brennan, President Obama’s closest counterterrorism adviser, Abdullah proposed shooting electronic chips into the residual Guantanamo population, "allowing their movements to be tracked with Bluetooth." Abdullah appears to have come up with the idea on the fly during their meeting -- "I’ve just thought of something," the cable quotes him saying -- and considered forced subcutaneous chip implantation uncontroversial, since it’s already "done with horses and falcons." Brennan appears to have gingerly waved him off: "[H]orses don’t have good lawyers," he replied..."

Children, dogs and prisoners are what we need to learn from by watching the PTB manipulate them. Gandhi said you can learn a lot about a people by the way they treat their animals...in America we have the extreme of a pink poodle to a chicken stacked in a cage, waiting to be ground up into fast food. Fast food for the poodle.

Accepting small, subtle nudges allows this all to creep up behind you, and it occurs all at once, for those permanently tuned-in to the "entertainment".

"The Mark Of The Beast" is impossible for anyone to wash off or avoid, according to certain streams: the fact that the population's pineal gland is surrounded by calcium is one such "mark", as are the chemical deposits we've unquestioningly accepted through the years.

Chemtrails, anyone?

Or Adamantine Particles Of Light?

[royster]

I had also joined Twitter in order to resume contact with an old radio friend. Once that contact was made, I let the account go dormant. Recently, some skanky-slutty-disreputable types started "following" me...e-mail notifications informed me.

So I deleted Twitter, too. When you're electronically 'out there', anything can attach itself to you. It's just more maintenance to try and keep your name clear.

As Facebook becomes a larger and larger beast, supportive of mega-corporations, it becomes a frightening threat looming on the horizon. I encourage anyone who doesn't really need Facebook to get out while there's still time.

[Federer]

Facebook is fine for me. Once two year ago, i deleted my account from indian social networking site named orkut. You know what my classmates are saying, "you are too simple for this world." LOLLLLLL

I know i know you all want fame and name. I don't want this all, so i deleted orkut account. Still on facebook, it is really nice and good for my personal development and communication.

[LoveLightLaughter]

To the OP:

(My apologies to you ahead of time. This post is not meant to offend however I feel it necessary for you to hear this.)

As a very spiritual person myself, I can understand where you are coming from in your post. However, I do feel the urge to tell you something.

Facebook, or any other website, is not harmful in itself.

They are simply pixels on a screen. Furthermore, Facebook and other websites do serve a useful purpose; to maintain contact with those of your choice. For example, I just recently got in contact with my paternal side of the family of whom I haven't seen or heard from in over 20 years. If it wasn't for Facebook, I may have never contacted them. But now that I have, we are establishing a close relationship with each other, one of which I am very grateful for.

In regards to privacy:
It all boils down to user/individual responsibility. It is your responsibility not to divulge critical personal information on the internet. And I hate bust your bubble, but if you've already joined Facebook, whatever information you've already let out there is out there to stay. Many websites, including Facebook, backup their systems daily and is cached forever. So, in all honesty, leaving Facebook won't change a thing other than preventing future oppurtinities to reveal personal information. And even then, everything about you is already accessible to authorities. Consider all of the cameras on the streets, your cell phone, address, SSN, credit cards, and loans you have, your house or apartment. EVERYTHING you have is tied back to you and your name, date of birth, location, SSN, your family, etc. There is no escaping it. Even by just logging onto the internet, you are sharing yourself. So, in retrospect, Facebook reveals very little more than is already out there. Our individualities are being globalized just by existing. I gaurantee that if I knew your first and last name and a rough estimate of your age, I can easily find your date of birth, place of birth, parents names, any children you've ever had, your parents names, most the places you've ever lived, as well as where you are employed. This is ALL publicly accessible information shared by the governemt online.

Well, my laptop is running out of battery so I have to come to a close very shortly.

In respect to your spirituality and "advice from your guides":
I am not one to typically judge, nor am I judging you, however I do feel as though this may be a misinterpreted message. I'm fairly certain that our angels and guides understand what Facebook is, the uses of it and the harm of it when the users misuse it. However, I'm also sure that they understand exactly what it is that I've said here; that in the grand scheme of things, facebook poses very little threat. And surely they have better and more important things to be advising you on. I am not saying that you are lying or anything like that. I'm merely saying that maybe you should take a step back for a second and review these emotions and messages before acting on them and passing judgement.