Sam Radford

April 9, 2021

Leaving Facebook

It’s official: I’m leaving Facebook.

I’ve toyed with the idea for several years. Dramatically reduced my usage in that time. Stopped following many of the people I’m friends with. (Sorry, not sorry!)

It didn’t feel like a good use of my time.

The best bits for me (and the parts I’ll miss) are interactions with international friends, or friends further afield. It’s nice to see what people are up to!

But that’s no longer enough of a reason for me. There are other ways to stay in touch with people.

Also, I don’t like Facebook the company! Only this week it’s come out that 530 million of us have had a our data stolen from Facebook. Our phone numbers and email addresses are now publicly available. It was actually a breach from 2019. Do they intend to apologise? No. Are they going to tell people their data has been stolen and shared? No.

And then there’s all the ways Facebook contributes to the sharing of misinformation. They say they want to be a force for good, but every decision they make is more focussed on maintaining their bottom line.

No company is all good, nor all evil. But Facebook keeps swinging to the evil side of the pendulum. And I’m done.

Sadly, leaving Facebook isn’t straight forward. I’ll delete my Facebook.com account in the coming days, but Facebook the company also owns Instagram and WhatsApp.

Do I trust them with my data there? No. But I’m not going to immediately remove my Instagram account. It’s on my radar though. As to WhatsApp, I’d love for everyone to move to Signal, but we’re some way off that happening unfortunately. So this is just a first step.

On staying in touch with me, the best way will be to subscribe to this blog / newsletter. And, for those who will appreciate it, I'll be adding the occasional personal and family related post into the mix too. My email is always open as well. Oh, and I am still on Twitter.

Over the last year I’ve been interacting with more friends over email. And you know what? It’s great! Having thoughtful, longer-form conversations with people is wonderful. I want to do more of that. So don’t hesitate to get in touch, and keep an eye out for an email from me too!

–Sam

About Sam Radford

Husband, father, lover of books, writer, tech geek, sports fan, and pragmatic idealist from Sheffield, England.