Jan-Lukas Else

Thoughts of an IT expert

I deleted my Instagram account

Published on 2020-12-08 in ✍️ Posts

Short link: https://b.jlel.se/s/da

⚠️ This entry is already over one year old. It may no longer be up to date. Opinions may have changed.

Today I finally deleted my Instagram account, or rather initiated a deletion for 30 days. Yesterday evening I started a data export, today I was able to download a ZIP file with all my data from Instagram, including all photos, likes, comments and stuff like that. So if I think of something important, I can still pull the data from the archive.

The link to delete the account was quite hidden. In the settings I only found the link to deactivate the account. But then the account will not be deleted but only hidden. But Just Delete Me helped and it seems to be easier than deleting a Facebook account.

I liked Instagram for a long time, I created my account there in 2013, so over 7 years ago. For a long time it offered me a platform to share parts of my life there in form of photos. Through Instagram I even made contact with my dear girlfriend for the first time. So it was not all bad.

But Instagram belongs to Facebook and I don’t like Facebook, as a platform and also as a company. Privacy only plays a superficial role and the business model is also displeasing to me. And I don’t like how some digital companies spend billions on lobbying to try to make laws according to their desires and against the well-being of the citizens.

So, adíos Instagram!

The last remaining Facebook service I still use or need to use from time to time is WhatsApp. The penetration of WhatsApp in Germany is very high and sending SMS is rather unusual. Telegram is on the rise (unfortunately known as a platform for conspiracy theorists), but let’s see when all my contacts will use Telegram. When I finish my studies, at least I can leave some WhatsApp groups.

P.S.: By the way, I use my blog as an alternative. My content, my platform, my domain, my rules. Take a look at the IndieWeb if you want to know more about that. 😉

Tags: Instagram, Privacy, Social Media

Interactions & Comments

Cyb3rrunn3r Cyb3rrunn3r: "@en@jlelse.blog But, pssst, Insta = Facebook and …" - chaos.social @en But, pssst, Insta = Facebook and will be never deleted realy.
Bascht Bascht: "@en@jlelse.blog I got rid of it in November as we…" - The olde Yakshed @en I got rid of it in November as well. :) https://bascht.com/blog/2020/11/13/instafedup/ still feels like the right decision.
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