Deleting Meta

I left Facebook more than 8 years ago. In the past 8 years, I’ve missed being on the platform for precisely zero days. At the time I wrote: I am not decrying digital platforms or online engagement. We live in 2018. I’m not dropping out of society. However, I have recognised that Facebook has made me less human, not more. I’m trying to become better, not worse. And, for me, Facebook is causing regression rather than advancement. Until now, I’ve held on to my Instagram account. I joined in November 2010, a month after it launched and two years before Meta bought it. I was early. I was enthusiastic. I liked that I could post and observe a steady stream of photos. There was no algorithm or ‘AI’, just visual moments in time. Instagram has progressively become everything Meta stands for: attention-grabbing addiction and monetisation for relentless profit. In the past four years, I’ve posted eleven times. I’m not really there, yet I am. And I can no longer support or be associated with…