
Ask HN: Are there anyone who does not use Google and Facebook accounts? - paradite
By Google and Facebook accounts I mean everything related to them, like Google&#x2F;Facebook login for 3rd-party websites or WhatsApp (owned by Facebook).<p>Using Google search or viewing publicly available Facebook pages without respective accounts does not count as long as you remain anonymous to the service.<p>I am asking this because I thought most of people (even on HN) are using these accounts, but others seem to have different perception.
======
rajeshmr
I refrained for a very long time from using facebook and whatsapp - but
relented to using them. I also actively researched ways to get rid of the
google ecosystem - but what i realised is that, you cannot be on another
ecosystem, if people whom you want to communicate with are using the very
ecosystem you want to avoid. Its a collective problem and unless everyone is
aware of the perils of using them, people who care / worry about these things
are in the minority and unable to convince the majority to refrain from using
google / facebook.

I have been getting a lot of stares for suggesting to people to not use
facebook.(I finally put a facebook profile last year but am not active on it.
I rarely login to facebook).

All the people i wanna communicate with are on whatsapp - i have no hopes of
convincing people to switch over to signal and i have given up this pursuit.

I am tired of endless conversations to explain to people about the "bubble"
and also the privacy issues that come along with using these products (we are
the product anyway).

Worse, after all the convincing arguments i submit to people, people nod in
acknowledgement and use those very products anyway. It's like noone cares. And
i found myself increasingly isolated for quite some time, and finally relented
to using fb(rarely)/whatsapp(use it like an sms app \- i have exited all the
groups).

------
observation
Don't have Facebook account. I did get a Google account but only used it for
the purpose of communicating to somebody on a Youtube Livestream. Now that I'm
reminded of that I'm going to delete it... done!

I recommend Fastmail for email. It is pretty much for the same reason that
Saul Goodman asked Walter White for one dollar.

I know I mentioned using Youtube in the other thread we were talking in - but
actually I don't use it conventionally, I usually use youtube-dl to download
720p copies of the videos to my hard drive, and sometimes download entire
channels that way.

It's so much easier than dealing with youtube's playback issues, it's a much
higher quality experience.

------
timonoko
There are of course various other levels of participation. B-)

Facebook is only good for shitposting, because you cannot really engage in any
"serious" discussion if at any moment your account can be frozen for weeks.

You have to be more careful with Google however. Professor Jordan B.
Peterson's Gmail and Youtube-accounts were suddenly disabled "for good"
without any explanations and no possibility to appeal. It is kinda difficult
to use an Android-phone without Gmail-account.

------
pwg
Use neither. Never plan to use either.

Your assumptions were distorted by being in a Facebook/Google bubble where you
missed the forest for the local set of trees you could see.

~~~
paradite
Yes, and this thread is my attempt to break out of the bubble. Thanks for your
response.

------
linopolus
I have neither a Google nor a Facebook account. DDG for search and OSM/Apple
for maps are sufficient 99%/time. Only thing I have is WhatsApp, as all of my
friends/family/work/etc have it..

------
billconan
I had a facebook account but 6 years ago I decided to abandon it. I set a
ridiculously log and random password for my account and never logged back in
since then.

I don't use whatsapp, and other fb products.

------
znpy
I have a Google account on which i am only logged from mobile phone and a
Facebook account that i have disabled nine months ago and that i reactivate
upon need.

------
greenyoda
I have never had a Facebook account (or any other social media) and have not
had a Google account for many years.

------
Finnucane
I have a gmail account that is attached to an empty FB account that I use for
logins and nothing else.

