Just leave. I left in February last year. I made a post on facebook announcing that I’d be leaving the following week and that if people wanted to stay in contact with me, they could find me on my email, on Signal or call or text me if they had my number. I proceeded to gradually delete things manually. I am under no illusion that my pictures and posts aren’t saved somewhere in some database despite me deleting them, but I did it as a ritual and also in order to “pass time” while I waited for most of my contacts to have seen my message.

I found a tutorial on how to delete your facebook profile (this is one of the newer walkthroughs, and yes, it is fucking ridiculous), because that button is hidden several layers deep into your page so that only the most persistent mf’ers can find it while most people may go look and end up thinking “urgh, too much of a bother” and then just leave it for a later that never comes.

I was genuinely surprised that there were anyone who followed me to Signal, but people did and now, a year and a half later, I have grown a kinda long list of friends and family on my Signal and have heard that some of them have started using Signal as an alternative to other messaging and video call services with their loved ones. Most of these people were very iffy about joining Signal in the beginning. They lowkey feared it because it was new to them and they had heard bad stories from the news, but after learning how to use it and realize that there is nothing scary about it, they all seem pretty chill with it.

I am tired of telling my friends to stop using Instagram.

Don’t do that. Tell them where they can find you if they want to stay in touch. :D If you want a bird to come to you of its own free will, you have to leave the window open instead of chasing it through and closing it. Respect its autonomy and right to choose, and it will be way more open to come to you.

Any Recommended Stratergy To make them ditch Meta ?

Again, you cannot make anyone ditch Meta. It is a misguided way to think of it. I do understand that a lot of discomfort comes with being the first to do something within your social sphere. That is also what made me hesitant to leave facebook for several years. That and I didn’t know of any alternative to messenger which was the only mode of contact I had with my best friend, who lives on a different continent than mine. The minute I learned about Signal and she agreed to join it, I was gone.

My friend herself hasn’t left Meta. None of my friends and family have left Meta and I will never tell them to do so. At most, I will tell them why I left. However, I have noticed how some are starting to use Signal more than messenger. One of my family members prefers Signal to Messenger because they like the video call option better on Signal than on Messenger.

I have lost touch with a ton of people by leaving, btw. A ton. I don’t care much. I don’t see it as a loss. If I feel the urge to stay in contact with someone, I will reach out. Sometimes they reach out to me out of the blue. I like that.

I also like that when I get updates from friends and family, it isn’t from some feed on some platform, but from their own mouths.

I don’t have FOMO. I don’t feel left out. It was scary to leave initially, because you have been used to having access to everything, but life with less access is actually nice. I like that it has become a tiny bit harder to stay up to date on what’s going on around me. It has been rewarding.

It’s been a year and a half for me and I am currently reading more books, watching more movies and I feel more present in my own life. I barely remember what it is that I actually “lost” by leaving. Not much, other than a level of stress that I didn’t really know was there until I shut down my profiles. Highly recommend! As long as you get into the mindset of accepting that you cannot control what other people do nor should you.