There are so many options.
* It's not 2006 anymore.
* That whole privacy thing, never can tell what they're doing with your data.
* I was creeped out when I saw a friend's face endorsing a product on a third party website thanks to FB. I couldn't be sure what my face was selling, so I dropped out.
* It's just gated internet, like AOL all over again. (Hat tip, Cringely.)
* People get addicted to FB, it's good to cut loose and experience the offline world every now and again, force real interactions.
* I think X social network is better.
* I'm a hipster / It's too popular.
* All my best friends use X instead.
* My whole family is on it.
* My whole family is not on it.
* Kept having fights with relatives.
* Spent too much time on it.
* Someone stole/hacked/forged my account once, it was a big hassle, so I've just stayed away.
* I stand with Native Americans / LGBT users / victims of abuse in protest of FB's true name policy.
* Facebook banned me after I [insert amusing story here].
* I don't want to upset Cameron Winklevoss.
She said it was "creepy" that I didn't have one and that I must be hiding something.
SMH. I was hiding something, my privacy.
Now I use facebook and I'm a dopamine junkie looping hamster.
* Makes people depressed * Got caught performing unethical experiments on users a few years ago, monitoring how different news feed items changed their mood and emotional state
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_real-name_policy_cont...
For the more general phenomenon, I recommend "Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names":
https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-...
Never needed to say more than "I just don't". People in my circle seem to understand.
Note: My account is only deactivated, because I have commitment issues, but other than checking in once in the last 18 months, I haven't really been able to convince myself to get back on FB.
"I did not agree with the terms and conditions".
Not that I need to be giving an explanation very often.
>It's also sad to see the internet become a tool to control entire populations and have them see and experience the world in a way that is convenient for state actors. And every effort to circumvent state control gets regulated before going mainstream. Eg- Look at Bitcoin, the calls for KYC norms, asking customer data. Another example is Tor, numerous attempts to unmask users.
I agree, and I have a question. What do you tell people when you don't use Facebook? I don't feel like supporting this, but is there a good way to sum this up for people that are non-informed (shit does that sound pretentious? Trying to think of a better way to put it. I think most people would not approve of Facebook and this associated trend you discuss, if they knew more about it)?