Rob Manuel

I’ve tried to quit Facebook a handful of times. No big flounce and I’m off but a quiet retreat from something that I find myself looking at too much whilst shaking my head. Yes there’s privacy issues, yes it’s a creepy bit of tech that turns all our memories into mulch to sell us product but mostly I want to leave as it sucks time.

But when I’ve tried to quit I get a message about needing to stay out for 14 days else my account will be reinstated. This is the problem. As Facebook has become a reflex – I’ll often log instinctively when hit with a browser, staying logged out is a problem.

Imagine trying to give up cigarettes but Philip Morris made you sign a legal document demanding that you carried around a packet for two weeks. You’d quite possibly hit a trigger for sparking up (leaving tube stations was a strong one for me when I used to smoke), reach for the fags, smoke half of it before realising, “oh damn, but I’ve given up. Oh well, it’s obviously too hard, I’ll stay on the cigs.”

This is how Facebook operates. It’s the pusher of an addictive product that puts massive barriers in the way of leaving.

But there is a way to just say no to the cyber-cigs. Change your password to something awkward rather than that flurry of characters you’ve ended up using on half the sites on the web. Then you can’t log in by accident.

Feeling emboldened that I’ve managed to get out of Facebook I decide to close as many sites as I can – well not Twitter as I’m not ready to shake that addiction – but all the sites I faffed around with and then got bored with. It says something very clear about the ethics of a site in the ease of letting you leave. These things should be fun, not prisons.

Google plus – very easy. Nice and clear. No weird psychological pressure. +1 for Google.

Flickr. No trouble. One of the good guys.

Ebay – easy but won’t let me leave properly for 180 days in case there’s problems with my transactions. Hmmmm.

Posterous – very difficult to find the leave button but emailing them got a prompt response allowing me to bugger off out of there.

Linkedin – won’t let me close immediately and says it needs a moderator to approve my decision to leave – apparently having over 250 contacts is significant. Later I get an email saying. Still remanded in cyber-custody as of writing this.

Quora – like Facebook makes a distinction between closing and deleting your account. A deletion can only be obtained via emailing an admin. Waiting on this as of writing.

Obviously, all these sites have potential for almost infinite abuse of your data but I suspect the willingness to let you leave represents some level of respect for you as an individual. As that great philosopher Sting once sang, “if you love someone set them free.”