Why deleting your account is utterly pointless...

And now for one of my rare non-Tumblr Advice posts.

There is no point in deleting your account unless you are absolutely required to remove your online presence completely, and even then, there is an online paper trail leading back to your archived stuff.

I don't get why people get so emotional that they think deleting their access to their friends, community, and hobbies will "solve everything." Deleting your account solves nothing in the long term.

Here are some of the many excuses I hear regards why people delete their accounts, and why deleting your account just doesn't work in the long run. It won't make you feel any better, it won't solve anything, and really, it just makes things worse.

Excuse #1: The random people on DA made me delete it! I was criticized/bullied/banned from some place, therefore it's their fault that I consciously opened the options menu, hit the "Deactivate Account" button, and confirmed deleting my account!
My Response: Nobody can make you do anything but yourself.

If somebody criticizes you, you can use their criticism to avoid future mistakes. My proverb is "Thank God for bad reviews." Love every bad review: you can use them to remove your flaws, even if the criticisms aren't true. If you delete your account to escape criticism, I got bad news: there are critics everywhere in life, so why not get comfortable around them? Use them! Let critics become allies in your quest for whatever it is you desire, from personal growth to becoming a better artist.

If somebody bullies you, you don't have to respond: you have the block feature to ensure they stop posting comments, and you can join a community strong enough to protect you against threats (assuming it's actual bullying and not merely criticism: otherwise, wanting protection against criticism has the opposite effect, and you'll seem to think bullies follow you everywhere when it's really your own bad behavior). If you delete your account because somebody bullies you, I've got bad news: they'll continue doing it to others, and some may even blame you for the deletion of other people's accounts. The best revenge is to simply keep being around and keep doing what you're doing long enough so people see that they're lying about you. Who knows: you may even be seen as a hero for standing up when nobody else would.

If you're banned from one community, you can simply move onto another: the only reason you'd want to stay in that former community is what's known as "love addiction": you view love and acceptance as a scarce resource, often because you have behaviors that drive you away from others (like shyness or social anxiety) or behaviors that drive others away from you (clinginess, rudeness, inappropriateness). When you own up to the behaviors that drive others away and what scares you from others, you become socially free, and then you can join and make friends anywhere. If you delete your account because you were banned, I've got yet more bad news: whatever you did to get banned will follow you around until you realize what you did wrong. A ban is like a bad review, only for behavior: if you're too clingy and get banned for being too clingy, let this be a lesson. Most of our most painful moments in life come when we hold onto a particular view, only for reality to slap us in the face and say, "Nope! This is not how reality works. This is how." And the longer you hold onto that view, the worse the pain becomes, and eventually, you have two options: to die with that belief, or to let it go and truly live. Only the crazies out their belief, "Only I am right and everyone else is WRONG!" Make the jump into sanity: accept you can be wrong.


Excuse #2: My friend got banned, so I'm deleting my account out of protest! Who cares if they blatantly violated the rules, hurt people, and/or caused massive damage and tons of drama. If they're going, I'm going, too!
My Response: Never join a group simply because somebody you like is in that group.  Why cut off ties to your other friends because one friend made a mistake? And if the whole point of being around was for that one friend, why even join in the first place?

It makes no sense to me that somebody can commit a crime, and then their friends will stand up for them simply because they were their friend. Psychologists refer to this as emotional investment, and in this case, it's known as the Sunken Cost Fallacy: when somebody commits so much, that to back out of a situation where backing out would seem to be the best option is impossible. This is not a healthy way to live: that you invest so much into somebody else that if they commit a heinous crime, that you decide, "Well, although it was horrible, they're still my best friend, and I'll stand by them no matter what!" This gives you no free will, no ability to back up and say, "Wait: am I going to get hurt by this?," and no choice but to become a martyr for somebody who doesn't deserve such treatment.

If you think deleting your account will spark a protest or a riot or draw attention to a cause you believe in, I got some bad news: life goes on. Unless somebody is banned unfairly, people who regularly break rules, who hurt others, who cause people undue stress and anguish, are kicked with glorious fanfare. When you delete you account because a jerk or drama queen was removed, you just look immature, and people ask, "How could they look up to a jerk/drama queen like that?" Not only that, but it removes you from good influences: people who encourage you to do better, to love more, to hold yourself to a higher standard and to make the world a better place. Being a martyr for somebody who doesn't deserve it doesn't make the world a better place: being there for those who do want to make the world a better place does.


Excuse #3: I got bored. I'm short on ideas, I haven't made anything in a long time, I'm in a rut, I can't think of what to do, I don't have any time. What's the point of having an account anymore?
My Response: Burnout happens, and so does recovery. In the meantime, don't deprive others of what you've made simply because you "feel like quitting."

I'm notorious for my cycles for burnout and crazy production. If I deleted my account every time I had a rut, you'd set a schedule for when I would delete and reactivate my accounts. Unfortunately, there's some people out there that really think this is a solution. It's not. Inspiration sometimes strikes you when you least expect it, and even a good brainstorming session will spark it by itself. Better to have an account ready when you're ready to come back than to get inspired, only to have to reactivate your account or make a new one.

Plus, deleting your account ensures nobody else can see your stuff, and if you made awesome stuff, it really drags everyone down. Think of all the awesome stuff lost because people deleted their accounts. Don't become one of these people: you owe it to others to not delete your account. Leave your stuff up for archival purposes. Even if you have some really embarrassing stuff, you can simply delete it from your galleries.


And I'm sure there are more excuses out there, but I don't believe there are any good excuses to delete your account. Even if DA is a distraction, just remove your bookmarks and block the site from yourself.

Nobody can force you to delete your account.
Deleting your account for somebody else just makes you look weak.
Deleting you account out of boredom is a waste of talent.

I believe account deletion is like suicide: a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Please, help prevent account suicide.