So you wish to\u00a0remove your Facebook account.\u00a0 The process consists of visiting your \u201caccount\u201d tab (upper right hand corner of your FB screen), clicking on \u201caccount settings,\u201d and then clicking on \u201cdeactivate\u201d at the bottom of the screen showing under the \u201csettings\u201d tab.\u00a0 .\u00a0 .<\/p>\n
Now reflect on what is strange in the following discourse routine:<\/p>\n
Before following your instruction, FB makes an argument inviting you to second guess yourself, asking \u201cAre you sure you want to deactivate your account?\u201d and warning that deactivating your account will disable your profile and remove your name and picture from everything you have shared on FB.<\/p>\n
What follows is an array of images of friends from your friend\u2019s list, attached to each is a comment that implies disapproval of your intention, and an injunction to provide an explanation:<\/p>\n
Dawn will miss you.\u00a0 Send Dawn a message<\/p>\n
Anthony will miss you. Send Anthony a message<\/p>\n
Wendy will miss you. Send Wendy a message.<\/p>\n
.<\/p>\n
.<\/p>\n
.<\/p>\n
In fact, you cannot leave FB without giving\u00a0it<\/em>\u00a0a reason for your action by clicking on one of a list of buttons that explains your behavior in FB\u2019s terms or that asks you to provide further explanation.\u00a0 Clicking on one of these buttons, you are met with a dialogue box that explains how you can address your problem without leaving FB.<\/p>\n Soldiering on undeterred, you click to \u201cconfirm\u201d that you wish to deactivate your FB account. \u00a0\u00a0FB then asks you to retype your password, and then, after confirming your password, to enter two coded words it provides for you in a second \u201csecurity check.\u201d\u00a0 Submitting the matching security check words will finally succeed in \u201cdeactivating\u201d your account, which FB confirms with the following message:<\/p>\n \u201cYour account has been deactivated.\u00a0 To reactivate you account, log in using your old login email and password. You will be able to use the site like you used to [!]\u201d<\/p>\n So after running the gauntlet of hurdles to get disconnected, you find that \u201cdeactivating\u201d your account is akin to simply logging off a session. And when you log on to FB the next time you will see that all of your pictures, profile, and history of activity remain as if never disturbed.\u00a0 You discover that when FB threatens to \u201cremove your name and picture from everything you have shared on FB,\u201d what\u00a0it means by \u201cremove\u201d is just to cover (some) things until you log back in.<\/p>\n That is, when FB threatens you with removing your name and picture, it means pretty much just that: even after you are \u201cdeactivated,\u201d all of your messages on FB remain on your correspondents\u2019 message boards, though instead of being accompanied by your profile picture, there is only the ghostly shadow of the picture that once inhabited the spot. \u00a0Other people\u2019s photos of you remain, even those in which you are tagged.\u00a0 Depending on your or your friends\u2019 privacy settings, even such things as your status updates and comments in the News Feed stay put.\u00a0 In fact, FB tells you that your friends can invite you to events, tag you in photos, and ask you to join groups, despite your being deactivated (you can click a special button to disable this function as well).<\/p>\n In the final analysis, \u201cdeactivating\u201d doesn\u2019t even make as much of a ripple as adding a new friend or clicking a \u201clike\u201d button: there is not even of word of it on your \u201cRecent Activity.\u201d\u00a0 Your removal and reinstatement has been processed without even a whisper to your friends.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>What assumptions and inferences can we make about FB in order to make this scenario seem more understandable?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So you wish to\u00a0remove your Facebook account.\u00a0 The process consists of visiting your \u201caccount\u201d tab (upper right hand corner of your FB screen), clicking on \u201caccount settings,\u201d and then clicking on \u201cdeactivate\u201d at the bottom of the screen showing under … Continue reading