I haven’t closed my account but I deleted the apps and only access it via web, on a computer, and only when I need something specific from it. I’ve logged in maybe 3 times all of 2021

You can recreate your social graph at any time by telling it your phone number, or email, or friending the same people.

Any app is doing that and will find other friends on that app with shared contacts. You can even do it in a future FB account.

With that knowledge it is easy for me to delete FB account, even if there are active group chats there.

I mean there’s also 15 years of memories going back to me in college. There’s sentimental attachment there.

Then download your data

I always do download + delete

It's not about the data. The data's the least important part. It's about that data's connection to the other people. That can't be downloaded.

Your social graph already is that data. It doesn't need to be downloaded as it is regenerable.

This is basically what I did. Downloaded my data, said "message me on Signal/iMessage/SMS, here's my phone number" and deleted my account.

I haven't missed anything, and friends/family that lost my phone number usually reached out to someone else to get it. They also don't mind using other platforms to get in touch with me.

Surprisingly, my mother formed a Signal group with my extended family and that's how we chat now. She's not exactly tech savvy, but found it very easy to use.

I don’t share my phone with the 500+ people in my FB network, and vice versa.