Years ago I was forced to join Facebook. Now I’m finally free to quit, so I did.

I never liked Facebook. From day one I refused to join, despising their gated community and lack of interoperability. Lack of accountability and transparency only added to those concerns, which of course ended up in the clusterfuck disaster that it is now.

So why did I join? Because I was “forced to”. On the one hand, Facebook automatically created a page for me, based on my Wikipedia page. People were starting to interact with and in that page, so I figured I better take control of it before anyone else impersonated me. A few years later I realized that was not going to happen, so that stopped being a concern.

A second reason is the fact that as Visiting Professor of the Libera Accademia Belle Arti (Brescia, Italy), I was requested to coordinate class content through Facebook. I opposed, complained, and refused… but they did not cave. So I tried. But I could not take it, so I quit.

Now, finally, I was able to quit Facebook after downloading all the data they had on me. I did take 30 days (during which time, if you log in, they reactivate your profile), but I’m finally off.

Note to those wanting to follow through (which should be everyone - at least delete the smartphone app): check out “authorised apps”, as you may be using Facebook to log in to other apps or websites. Make sure you update those logins before you disconnect Facebook for good. Forever.