Presented at CHI 2013 in Paris, France by Madeline E. Smith & Victoria Schwanda Sosik on May 2, 2013. Full Paper: Baumer, E.P.S., Adams, P., Khovanskaya, V., Liao, T., Smith, M.E., Sosik, V.S., and Williams, K. (2013). Limiting, Leaving, and (re)Lapsing: An Exploration of Facebook Non-Use Practices and Experiences. In Proceedings of CHI '13. PDF: http://goo.gl/oKC4d Abstract: use such sites. This paper presents results from a questionnaire of over 400 Internet users, focusing specifically on Facebook and those users who have left the service. Results show the lack of a clear, binary distinction between use and non-use, that various practices enable diverse ways and degrees of engagement with and disengagement from Facebook. Furthermore, qualitative analysis reveals numerous complex and interrelated motivations and justifications, both for leaving and for maintaining some type of connection. These motivations include: privacy, data misuse, productivity, banality, addiction, and external pressures. These results not only contribute to our understanding of online sociality by examining this under-explored area, but they also build on previous work to help advance how we conceptually account for the sociological processes of non-use.

1. Limiting, Leaving, and (re)Lapsing
An Exploration of Facebook Non-Use Practices & Experiences
Cornell
University
Northwestern
University
CHI 2013
Paris, France
Kaiton WilliamsVictoria Schwanda SosikMadeline E. Smith
Eric P. S. Baumer Tony LiaoVera KhovanskayaPhil Adams

2. Non-Use of Technology
trestle.org.uk
• Kline (2003)
• Wyatt (2005)
• Satchell &
Dourish (2009)

3. Research Questions
RQ1:
What is the prevalence of both actual
Facebook nonuse and consideration
of non-use?
RQ2:
In what practices do Facebook non-
users engage, and what is the
prevalence of these various practices?
RQ3:
What motivations are used to justify,
and what experiences surround,
Facebook non-use?

4. Do you currently have a Facebook account?
Yes (I have an active account or an account that has been deactivated)
No (I have permanently deleted my account, or have never had a FB
account)
Have you ever considered permanently deleting your Facebook account
1 (No, I would never consider it)
2
3
4
5 (Yes, I think about it all the time)
How happy were you with your decision to permanently delete your
account?
Very unhappy
Somewhat unhappy
Ambivalent
Somewhat happy
Very happy
Data Collection & Analysis

5. Data Collection & Analysis
Please describe a time that you questioned your choice not to have a
Facebook account or felt pressured to sign up for an account.
Please describe the time that you deleted your Facebook account, how
you decided to do it, and what happened afterward.
Please describe a time that made you consider deactivating or deleting
your account and why you eventually chose not to.
Please tell a story about when you or someone you know either left
Facebook or systematically limited their Facebook use.
http://hdl.handle.net/1813/30908

6. Profile of Respondents
• 410 respondents
o 199 female, 160 male, 4 other (47 no response)
o 19 to 76 years old; mean=35 (48 no response)

7. Resisting
Male, 42 years
UX Designer
I'm a non conformist. I was never
interested by it. It is a passive way of
keeping making friends. Now that
people can friend company's [sic], I feel
my choice was right. I abhor
commercialism.
• 75 respondents

8. Leaving
Female, 49 years
Academic Researcher
I tried to permanently close my account
but apparently I only deactivated it.
This survey has made me aware that
there is another procedure to remove
my account permanently, although I
doubt whether I will be able to find it
since I looked for this before!
• 127 respondents
noelgreen.com

9. palmpartners.com
(re)Lapsing
Female, 31 years
PhD Candidate
I deleted my account permanently in
May 2010. However, when I went to
India to do fieldwork, I found that I
couldn’t avoid facebook and do my
participation so I have a
researchcontacts only account.
Female, 25 years
Student
I deactivated 2 or 3 times during my
finals. I used to get distracted during
the final week. I was happy to get back
afterward.
• 59 respondents

10. wallpaperstock.net
(Systematic) Limiting
Female, 39 years
Postdoctoral Fellow
“I was writing my dissertation and
found FB to be my number one
distraction. I had my husband change
my password and he’d log me on once
a week or so as a treat.
• 64 respondents

11. Interpretive Themes
• Banality
• Productivity
• Privacy
• Data Use and Misuse
• Social and Institutional Pressures
• Addiction, Withdrawal, and Envy

12. Interpretive Themes
• Banality
• Productivity
• Privacy
• Data Use and Misuse
• Social and Institutional Pressures
• Addiction, Withdrawal, and Envy

13. Data Use and Misuse
Male, 40 years
Writer
Facebook started adding more
insidious methods of stealing user data
located on personal computers (rather
than uploaded to the site).
Female, 31 years
Graduate Student
I want to limit the amount of
information I disclose about myself and
'hand over' to corporations who profit
from this at the expense of my privacy.
Mashable.com

14. Social and Institutional Pressures
Female, 42 years
Web Designer
I had an ex boyfriend and his ex wife
harassing me via facebook msg.
Around the same time, I had a couple
of dates and a guy started stalking me
and asking me to friend him. It was
then I decided to deactivate my
account.
Eatreadpraydate.wordpress.com

15. Social and Institutional Pressures
Male, 32 years
Postdoctoral Fellow
I teach students. There were times
when I thought it might be better that
my personal infromation will be less
accessible to them.
Male, 30 years
PhD Student
Unfortunately deactivating my account
is not possible right now, because I
need it for my professional life, for
example when being an organizer for a
big conference or networking with
other researchers.
Fastcompany.com

16. Addiction, Withdrawal, and Envy
Male, 28 years
Post-doc
Afterward I went through facebook
withdrawal. I would be sitting at my
computer and feel the need to login to
facebook [...]
Female, 36 years
University Professor
A friend from gradschool very abruptly
sent a status update that he was leaving
and the next day deleted his account. I
wish I had the nerve to do the same.
Socialmediagroup.com

17. Kaiton Williams will miss youVictoria S. Sosik will miss youMadeline E. Smith will miss you
Eric P. S. Baumer will miss you Tony Liao will miss youVera Khovanskaya will miss youPhil Adams will miss you
Your one billion friends will no longer be able to keep in touch with you.
Are you sure you want to deactivate your account?
Deactivating your account will disable your profile and remove your name and picture from most things you've shared on Facebook. Some
information may still be visible to others, such as your name in their friends list and messages you sent.
Search for people. places and things

18. Deproblematizing the Non-User
• Non-use is
meaningful in
itself
• Instead of
lagging adoption,
we saw lagging
resistance
karliemacbradshaw.com

19. Thank you!
kow2@cornell.edu
Kaiton Williams
vls48@cornell.edu
Victoria Schwanda Sosik
madsesmith@u.northwestern.edu
Madeline E. Smith
cl566@cornell.edu
Tony Liao
vdk9@cornell.edu
Vera Khovanskaya
pja22@cornell.edu
Phil Adams
ericpsb@cornell.edu
Eric P. S. Baumer
DGE-1144153 & DGE-0824162http://hdl.handle.net/1813/30908