What I Learned from Leaving Facebook

Hello Everybody,

So, I finally did it. I left Facebook. I went to account settings, second (I think) tab from the bottom, clicked the link for “Deactivate My Account.” What greeted me on the next page was a line of five pictures from my Facebook collection which had others of my friends tagged in them. Each of these pictures has the words "[Name] will miss you." above it and "Send [Name] a message." below it. Below the pictures you had to chose a reason for leaving.

I refreshed this page several times, once inadvertently and after that on purpose, and learned that it changed which pictures came up but the people who would miss me were the people who I tag the most in pictures. David and Mom were always on the list (and usually David’s Mom), and the others alternated between my sisters, my brother, my new sister-in-law, and two of my good friends. And the pictures that came up were always ones we two were in together.

I piddled around with the list of reasons for leaving for a little while and learned that when you click any one of these bubbles (with two exceptions: “I have another Facebook account” and “Other”), a proposed solution to your reason for leaving instantly appears below it, usually with a link to another place on the site that will give you more information about how to solve the problem. These proposed solutions stay where they are until you complete the process and leave the page.

Once you explain why in the "please explain further" box, opt out of future invites and stuff, and press “Confirm,” you have to confirm your password, and prove you’re a human before it goes through. Fine.

Then if brings you to the regular login screen, where your email address is just where it always used to be just waiting for the password. And a textbox right below this line says:

“Your account has been deactivated
To reactivate your account, log in using your old login email and password. You will be able to use the site like you used to.

We hope you come back soon.”



Yikes! It’s like a bad relationship! You think you’ve gotten rid of it and it just keeps on – and urges you in every way it knows how to get you to come back.

Call me crazy but I think this is kind of creepy stuff.

So there you have it. Farewell, Facebook!