Seriously Facebook, WTF?

Once again, I am creeped out by the machine

As many know, I deleted my Facebook nearly two years ago. It was the best decision I ever made. I could truthfully go on forever with a post about how life-changing deleting my Facebook account was, but I’m not going to (right now). Numerous people have written about this. The great supercomputer in the sky is probably creating some huge database on the effects of Facebook on the human condition based on the stories. I don’t need to add mine.

I am only bothering to say anything else about Facebook because it has gone from the point of mild annoyance to complete creepiness. That is literally the only word I can use to describe it. Creepy like Airbnb hosts spying on their guests. At least in that scenario, you walk into the situation knowing there is some inherent risk in staying in a stranger’s home.

However, I trusted Facebook.

Laughable I know; but not the kind of trust that most Facebook users likely have … the trust that Facebook will use your data in an honorable fashion.

No, I trusted Facebook to mean it when they said I could delete my account. Maybe I didn’t read the fine print. Maybe it actually meant that I could delete my supplied content, but that they will retain all of my connections, and tie it back to any new profiles. This way they can continue to entice me to once again form personal connections with the people in my life so that I can openly share my data for their use.

Nice try.

I’m not connecting.

Here’s why I came to that conclusion.

In 2016, I deleted my Facebook account. I then realized that I needed to maintain my Facebook pages, so I had my son create a Facebook so that I could still market my freelance writing business. My son relucted (he hates Facebook), but I pulled the mom card.

Using a cell phone, I created a new account, regained ownership of pages and joined the groups that I needed to maintain for my offline life. I accepted no friend requests, and I told no one about my profile. It was peaceful. It was the perfect mixture of anonymity and convenience. I had won.

Until I forgot my password. I couldn’t get a reset, because my son lost his telephone, and I had no email addresses to give Facebook that it didn’t already know. No worries, I had the browser set to remember the password.