Deleted my Instagram account this morning.

[grahamdunning@post.lurk.org]

@sodslawyer Mostly worried about losing connections with folks. But hopefully giving people enough options to find me elsewhere.

[sodslawyer@mstdn.social]

@grahamdunning Sure, and understood. But to be clear I meant in terms of sheer faff, isn't it difficult to navigate closing your account? I may be getting mixed up with a different site.

[grahamdunning@post.lurk.org]

@sodslawyer actually not too bad. I downloaded all my data first. Untagged myself from others posts, which took a while has had to do them individually (not sure it was strictly necessary anyway).
Finding the appropriate page to delete from took a bit of menu diving.
Deleting the account only takes full effect after 6 weeks or something. But it's effectively closed from now.

[grahamdunning@post.lurk.org]

@sodslawyer actually thinking about what I've read elsewhere, I think having WhatsApp is a lot more difficult.
Other users cannot see that you have closed your account. So messages do not bounce or announce that they were not received - it just looks like you are still present but ignoring everyone.

[deangraham@toot.io]

@grahamdunning what prompted you?

[sclews@mastodon.art]

@grahamdunning I've done the same, I've got 30 days to change my mind, but lately I've been so tired of the endless ads, suggested posts, suggested accounts, threads etc. on instagram. Closing those popups is like whack-a-mole. The platform is so damn bloated.

[chewie@mammut.gogreenit.net]

@grahamdunning ️

[grahamdunning@post.lurk.org]

@sclews yeah partly that for me. Partly just not wanting to contribute to what I see as a fairly toxic ecosystem. Not necessarily the content but the way it's exploited.

[grahamdunning@post.lurk.org]

@deangraham a number of factors.
Zuckerberg backing Trump. Endless ads. Annoying posts screaming for your attention, made just for clicks, that even if their original ideas or whatever are good their post makes me hate it.
The fact that, even when my own posts got several thousand interactions, I didn't see any increase in traffic to my site or music purchases.
Not being able to put links in posts or comments.
The fact it's becoming ubiquitous as a mode of connection and people struggle to imagine an alternative.
That kind of thing!

[philmaguire@mastodon.ie]

@grahamdunning Been considering that for a while but would find it difficult to replace (made a lot of connections with it). i never use bluesky so considering binning that as well.

[grahamdunning@post.lurk.org]

@philmaguire yeah that's my one concern but hoping i can still make connections in the real world, and in other ways digitally too

[brian@beige.party]

@grahamdunning

Good job. I did it a year or two ago and haven’t regretted it. I occasionally wish I could still see some music listing stuff, but it’s a small price, I think. Just wish I could ditch WhatsApp. Convincing people to move to Signal is a tall order, but I’d love to get rid of Meta stuff altogether.

[c_reider@sonomu.club]

@grahamdunning have considered it. it's basically un-usable to me.
but there are a few friends there where that's my only means of connection, so.

[grahamdunning@post.lurk.org]

@c_reider yeah, that's fair enough.

[grahamdunning@post.lurk.org]

@brian similar thoughts here.