I Deleted My Facebook Profile But We Still Have a Fan Page
I just deleted my Facebook profile because it was complicating my life. I’m all about technology, but we are also interested in simplifying our lives, whether that be through technology or the lack thereof. We try out different things and see if it makes our lives more simple or more complicated. For instance, pioneers didn’t have chain saws, but there is no way in hell I’d live without mine. I also make a living by telecommuting over the Internet, so our high-speed DSL connection is an absolute must-have. But Facebook?
I found myself checking it several times a day and, while it was only a few minutes each time, those minutes add up and I realized I could be spending that time doing something productive – like building a bridge across our creek (photos coming soon) or working harder for my employer. I was also losing my social filter. You know those things that you wouldn’t say to someone in person – even though you 110% disagree with their viewpoint – because you don’t want to sacrifice your relationship with them (e.g. Politics and Religion)? Well I found myself getting in arguments with loved-ones because that filter isn’t as strong online as it is face-to-face. In the end, Facebook just isn’t part of my “Live a Simple Life” plan. BUT…
We DO have a Facebook fanpage for Living a Simple Life. What is the difference between a Fan Page and a profile? In my mind a fan page is about a blog, brand, organization… and is therefore less personal than your own profile. For instance, several people can co-own a fan page at once. Also, we will not be posting any personal views unless they are very specific to this blog – voluntary simplicity, homesteading, gardening, etc…
Many of you are probably better than I am at not arguing with friends and family, and you probably don’t check your profile several times a day like I was doing. If so, I certainly see how Facebook could be a useful tool in keeping in touch with people you care about, and how it could simplify your life by making communication easier. Missy still has her profile up for those reasons. Anyway, for those of you who have one, here’s the Living a Simple Life Page.
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Category: The Transplants, Uncategorized
We believe that humankind has lost some important things in the march toward progress. That is not to say progress and simplicity are mutually exclusive. We believe we can have both, and this site catalogs our journey as we try to do exactly that.
The Transplants
TreeStone Farm
The Old-Timers
I have really enjoyed reading this blog. I have a family on 15 acres and we have been working to declutter our lives and get back to what life is about – not things or hustle/bustle.
Nice to see what others are doing. Thanks for sharing.
Now I feel better about being so anti-facebook. I only seem to manage to check on how folks are doing on there once a week, and I get so bogged down by the endless stream of minutiae that I usually give up before reading back through the whole week of “information”.
But I have trouble with fan pages too. Specifically, I can’t figure out how to get facebook to notify me if someone comments on my fan pages without going through and manually clicking “like” on each entry. And the RSS reader that moves entries from a blog to facebook seems to wait a few days and then put up several posts at once. Have you found any solution to those problems?
Everett, I deleted my Facebook page a while back too, and I’m so glad I did. Keeping up with a Facebook account was for me, too much. It took up too much time and energy that would be better put to use elsewhere. I always felt kind of sick after I spent a big chunk of time there, like I had just wasted an hour of my life that I would never get back!
Besides all that, I’m a pretty private person, so the idea of people I went to elementary school with knowing all the details of my life makes me uncomfortable. Neither do I wish to know all the details of their lives.
I know Facebook is a fabulous thing for many people, but for me, it’s one of those modern technologies that’s more trouble than it’s worth.
Funny you should mention FB. I just got off of FB not 5 minutes ago, depressed that a person I thought was a friend appears to have blocked me. Reality check: If they did, SO WHAT?!! And know that I actually only go in to FB once or twice a week, for 15 min. max. It’s apparently 15 minutes too long.
I used to have a problem with my social filter online. However, over time, I’ve come to the conclusion that if I can’t say something to your face, I shouldn’t say it at all. If I find that someone is doing something I find janky or wrong and I cannot tell them about it in person, I don’t mention it online. Because regardless of it being impersonal, it still can hurt.
i actually stopped posting to my photo blog of kids/family, as uploading to site or via picassa was too much work with wordpress. fb has no limits on photos which is cool, and uploading pics is a breeze.
videos and photos are a breeze with fb. why upload to utube then paste back here? double dipping is not more simple, more work…..
your a wp’er. i used to be too. i hated fb till this year, myspace too. i used to hate google too….trying to stop hating also…..lol.
I also took myself off facebook, good for you guys I agree with everything you were saying , the lack of filter, ect. I think we would all be better off and have more meaningful connections without fb!
I there are too many Facebook zombies out there. I used to be with that crowd until I delete that terrible profile last year.
Thank goodness I’m free!
I am sad to see you leave FB. It was a good way for me to stay in touch with you. Glad that you converted Missy to FB though ;p
I resisted FB until last year when I found out it was a great way to network in our mountain community here in Virginia. I mostly use it for staying up to date on gatherings and potlucks in our community and have no interest in sitting on there reading peoples’ thoughts of the moment or random talk points. As a bonus, I was happily surprised I could post pictures of us and our girls so that my many aunts and family members could see them. Now I don’t get hounded to snail mail or email them pictures. They can check my FB page for the newest (although it’s been quite a long time since I uploaded pics) pics of our girls. Anyway, I can see how it can complicate and bog down our lives if used in that manner, but as with many things in life are you going to let it control you or are you going to take control of it.
Okay, where’s the article for those of us who started a FB just to show pictures to our family members in other cities/states and now I’m addicted to keeping up with everyone else’s lives? I don’t want to completely delete my FB account, I just don’t want to waste an hour of my day everyday checking on how everyone is doing that day. I need a list. I’m a To Do List kind of person. step one….
Katie I’d be willing to bet millions of Americans feel the same way. Step one… delete your Facebook account. ;-P Honestly I get along better with my family when I don’t keep up with them as much. But then again, we don’t exactly see eye-to-eye on most major issues.
I plan to just deactivate my facebook account, I still would like to login sometime in the future, I just need to focus on some important projects nowadays. The only thing that’s holding me back is my worry that my fan page for my travel blog would be deactivated as well? My fan page is connected to my personal facebook profile, and I don’t intend to deactivate it, only my profile. Was your facebook profile connected to your fan page? How did you go about deleting your personal profile while still having access to your fan page?
Well, I might permanently delete it when I see better results. Let’s see…. But in the meantime, I am waiting for your reply. Thanks in advance!
BTW, I like your blog’s concept about living a simple life. These days I’ve been thinking about my life’s priorities and what really matters most. Thus, the need to deactivate facebook and ending up on this page.
Hello Carey,
You can always just open up a fake profile and then make that the administrator of your pages. That’s what I did. Don’t use your real name and don’t make any friends. That sort of reduces the urge to use FB.
By the way, I removed the link to your travel blog. Maybe I’m just paranoid because I do SEO for a living, but it seemed to be the reason you commented. My apologies if I was mistaken.
I do have another fake facebook profile and I already made it as one of the administrators for my blog last month. I’ve searched the facebook help pages and can’t find any official answer about the question of keeping the fan page if the profile that created it will be deactivated or deleted. I’ve done some searching over forums and blogs about this though, and the answers are a mix of yes and no. But I guess with your experience, I’m assured that the fan page stays.
And my comment wasn’t meant for getting a link or traffic to my blog. I was actually looking for a way to contact you by email but can’t find any here.
Thanks for the response!
Hello Carey,
I’m sorry about my confusion. You get a little jaded in the blogging world after awhile. I put http://www.happysteps.net/ back into your signature.
RE: Facebook. I think the mixture of yes/nos comes from recent changes that put more separation between personal profiles and fan pages. For instance, if you have multiple fan pages you should now be able to comment on them or from them and choose which fan page (or your own account) you are working from. It used to be you’d always have to post as the fan page on the fan page, and always as your own profile everywhere else.
They may have made some changes that allow you to have a fan page without a profile, but that would be against their interest. They want to make everyone addicted to their product. If Facebook is THE place where all of your friends and family are communicating you don’t want to be left out. But we got along just fine before Facebook and I think we get along just fine without it if you ask me. Recently I’ve been posting a wee little bit to a couple of select friends from my new “fake” profile because they know who runs that profile. It’s like an ex-smoker who hangs around smokers all day…. sometimes it’s tough.
Good luck!