Goodbye, Facebook, and Good Riddance

Let me put my cards on the table; I’ve never been a fan of Facebook. However, it seems that most of our neighbours are avid Facebook fans, so after holding out for years, I decided that I’d open up a Facebook account in November last year, primarily as a means of being kept up to date with what was happening in my neighbourhood.

Even after I signed up, I rarely accessed my Facebook page, and contented myself with batting away the many, many Facebook notifications that appeared in my email inbox or on my Windows Phone. My prime channel for revealing my thoughts to the (largely indifferent) world has remained this blog.

Then today, out of the blue, I got a notification from Facebook that I’m restricted from seeing the profiles of people that I don’t know for one week:

Er, excuse me? I don’t make a habit of trying to see the profiles of people that I don’t know (I have tried looking up two old friends since I joined), so why the restriction?

Well, sod this for a game of conkers. I don’t need Facebook, so I’ve deleted my account. Goodbye and good riddance.

Addendum 15 October 2016: It is with great regret that I have to confess that I’ve been forced to reopen a Facebook account. There’s a group of us lobbying for internet services via optical fibre in our area, and it has been decided that a closed Facebook group is the best way of keeping the group organised. Sigh. I still loathe and detest Facebook, but needs must, I suppose…

Addendum 23 June 2019: I should point out that once the lobbying action was (successfully) completed, I deleted my Facebook account – and have been Facebook-free for over a year. Don’t miss it in the slightest.