When I deactivated Facebook a few years ago it turned out to be a very smart move. Privacy breaches, content theft by the very company which still turns out billions in ad revenue, these are some of the many reasons people should leave Facebook.

Some people do not realize is that deactivation of the account does not mean deletion. So if you want to join the many people who have deleted their accounts, here is what you do. Please note that I recommend doing this from a desktop or laptop.

In Facebook settings (the down arrow top right of your screen), go to settings which will bring up general account settings. At the bottom of the screen click on the option to download a copy of your data. 

Within a relatively short period you should receive an email confirming the file is ready for download. It will come to you in the form of a Zip file. I recommend saving it to a specific easy-to-find folder on your hard drive. 

Once you have that file, click here to delete your Facebook account.

You do not need to deactivate your Facebook prior to deleting it. According to the site as of this writing, it can take up to 14 days to delete the account. Should you change your mind, you can log back in to suspend the deletion.

@WriterDann