Quitting social media

[maflynn]

Hell, I do this with emails and texts too.

I can't and won't do that for my phone, as both emails and texts are something I have to respond too for work. I may get emailed about a system down, and I need to be able to get notified and respond.

Or more importantly my daughter is upset and texts me.

 

[LizKat]

I like to use Twitter for certain events (like elections and conventions!) to see what the chatter on assorted hashtags is. When done with one or another of those I often completely reconfigure my Following set, limiting it once again to certain news sites, plus specific reporters or columnists whose stuff I like to look at now and then. Usually follow fewer than 60 accounts and a lot of them don't tweet often. I've likely sent fewer than 200 tweets in like five years; maybe half of them just retweets of stuff found elsewhere to some then currently favored hashtag.

During the time when those two escaped killers in for life were out and about in the north country of NYS, I followed some related hashtags because one of the men was known to have had relatives living down in my county. They never got down here, which was considerate of them.

I had a FB account for about ten days and when the first privacy policy update came out I killed the setup. No looking back on that one.

Looked into Pinterest for about ten seconds once. CONSUME ME is the drift. Not at my age. I used it a few times to collect info the way I might get out of a hashtag in twitter, but it's more work. so... it's on my to-delete list. I might give it one more shot with some fabric collections but I already have other ways of acquiring that info and relating it to my stash and projects.

That's about it! And MacRumors where I hang out too often for months and then drop off the planet to select and cut up fabrics or finish parts of projects that require concentrated attention, unlike lately when I'm working on little things that are easy to resume and walk away from.

Bottom line the most constant social media thing for me is Twitter and it's really just to avoid having a lot of email briefings as reminders to read papers I subscribe to. I suppose I am one of Twitter's disappointments. I've been known to click on my Following list, scroll down to a paper, click into its Twitter home and then to its website off the top tweet's link and that's the end of Twitter for the day because after that I tend to skip from paper to paper with bookmarks off the browser. Works for me, not for Twitter's bottom line, so I may lose it in the end if they fail. Their last earnings report was not very encouraging.

 

[Easttime]

I deleted my FB account and the silence was bliss. Found myself communicating directly with real friends.

 

[mobilehaathi]

I can't and won't do that for my phone, as both emails and texts are something I have to respond too for work. I may get emailed about a system down, and I need to be able to get notified and respond.

Or more importantly my daughter is upset and texts me.

Yeah, that makes quiet a lot of sense. If there was a way to selectively allow notifications from certain senders I'd make a handful of exceptions.

 

[maflynn]

Yeah, that makes quiet a lot of sense. If there was a way to selectively allow notifications from certain senders I'd make a handful of exceptions.

I was waiting last night of another team to do their work and then hand off the tasks to me. It was much easier waiting for my phone to notify me that I got an email in my living room then get to my home office and sit there and wait

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Sometimes when you talk to people and you tell them your not on FB, it's a bit like you just said your from Mars or you don't have electricity.

Yes, very true. Very well phrased, and I am laughing reading it.

The expression on the face of youngsters (including youngsters on my staff) when I tell them that I am not on FB, and nor do I intend to have an account, is priceless.

Social media is terrible. Spend time with your friends and family in real life and only interact with them in meaningful ways. If you don't see a "friend" for 2-3 years they aren't your friend.

It depends, as the world of work has changed so dramatically over the past 30 years.

These days, many of the people with whom I am friendly, are people I have met through my international work. The nature of our lives means that - very often - we don't meet for years on end.

We communicate through LinkedIn and email sometimes, and then, resume the friendship if our paths cross when we are serving abroad together on subsequent missions.

how do you feel twitter is for you? i had a twitter but i got rid of it 2 years ago and i haven't missed it a bit. I have facebook just to keep tabs on my high school friends who i didn't talk to on a daily basis

I find Twitter excellent for keeping up with breaking stuff on politics, and with less formal political thoughts - political writers and journalists are less guarded and more open on Twitter, - where they invariably invoke the 'personal views' clause, - than they are in the more formal fora (parliaments, newspapers, TV) where they usually ply their trade or profession.

6. Turn off notifications on your devices, so i use social media on my terms, not because its continually vying for my attention.

Very good list, and an excellent idea to set boundaries on social media interaction.

I especially like No 6, but the others have a considerable appeal, too.

Hell, I do this with emails and texts too.

As do I, sometimes.

Most usually, these days, I contrive to forget to bring my phone with me when I am going out. This means that I cannot be contacted at all. Bliss.

I like to use Twitter for certain events (like elections and conventions!) to see what the chatter on assorted hashtags is.
Bottom line the most constant social media thing for me is Twitter and it's really just to avoid having a lot of email briefings as reminders to read papers I subscribe to.

I use Twitter for very similar reasons; keeping up with political stuff, and abreast of political developments.

 

[Crazy Badger]

Today, I'm initiating a self imposed exile to social media. Some of this may be temporary, other portions will not.

I think the meanness of some of the stuff I see (without getting overly PRSI) has just turned me off. I also think most of the stuff I see is useless, like those quizzes to see what type of villian, superhero, cartoon character you are.

I waste enough of my time here at MR I don't need to have my nose in my phone on facebook.

With that said, have others been tempted to leave social media and/or quit?

I'm sure there can be some good coming out of social media but as it stand I'm not seeing too much

How is 'social media' any different to MR? Maybe you should take a self imposed exile from here too?

 

[maflynn]

How is 'social media' any different to MR? Maybe you should take a self imposed exile from here too?

Valid question (though I know you're kidding), I don't consider internet forums social media, perhaps because they predate that term.

To put it another way, facebook and twitter offer a user experience that I am finding questionable for a number of reasons, but MR offers something completely different. The type of discussions and the subject of those discussions are engaging. To be sure, there's some chaff that floats around MR that doesn't interest me, but its easier to ignore since I'll just not click on the link to a given forum that doesn't grab me.

 

[Strider64]

I use facebook for my main social media, it nice to see what family is doing (I have a sister who lives 600 miles away), friends (mostly in Michigan) that I normally don't see on a daily basis and people who I used to work with.
I do try to watch what I post, like not posting obnoxious pictures, no profanity and I do my best to be respectful of others especially during the current Presidential election.

 

[C DM]

Yeah, that makes quiet a lot of sense. If there was a way to selectively allow notifications from certain senders I'd make a handful of exceptions.

Can't you do that for the most part?

 

[mobilehaathi]

Can't you do that for the most part?

Perhaps? I can mute certain existing iMessage threads, but I didn't think I was able to blanket mute all texts and then only allow through select ones. Is there a way to do that?

As for emails, I just turn off notifications. For me, there's no need to get fine grained with them.

 

[C DM]

Perhaps? I can mute certain existing iMessage threads, but I didn't think I was able to blanket mute all texts and then only allow through select ones. Is there a way to do that?

As for emails, I just turn off notifications. For me, there's no need to get fine grained with them.

I believe you can change the default text alert to nothing essentially and then set custom ones for a few people. As far as email there's a VIP group that senders could be added to and alerts can be separately set up for that group.

 

[mobilehaathi]

I believe you can change the default text alert to nothing essentially and then set custom ones for a few people. As far as email there's VIP group that senders could.be added to and alerts can be separately set up for that group.

Ooh, good tip, I'll have to look into that. Thanks!

 

[ucfgrad93]

how do you feel twitter is for you? i had a twitter but i got rid of it 2 years ago and i haven't missed it a bit. I have facebook just to keep tabs on my high school friends who i didn't talk to on a daily basis

I started using twitter in order to keep up with fantasy football stuff. That is really all I use it for. Can't remember the last time I sent out a tweet, and have probably only sent out a couple of dozen tweets in the entire time I've had an account. I have no followers.

 

[maflynn]

I have no followers.

At one point, I was looking to grow the number of followers, and at some point I had to ask myself why. Its not like I know these people. True, I have friends following me, but beyond my close circle of friends.

I do find twitter useful in getting news on various companies and industries though at this point. I've not really feel I'm losing out on that information with my hiatus.

 

[sigmadog]

I'm with you, maflynn.

I deleted my Twitter account earlier this year. Then I deactivated my FB account a couple months ago. Almost immediately an amazing thing happened: the world continued spinning and life went on, just like it did before social media.

Last month I took the final step and completely deleted my FB account. I'm now divested, done, and finished with social media.

I've found I get more done now, and I'm more focused on what I'm doing because I'm not thinking about how I should be working social media. I've climbed off the hamster wheel and life is great.

Long live Anti-Social Media!

Edit to Add: About ignoring FB and just "going dark": Your account (and any info you gave them) is still in the possession of a large corporation that doesn't care about your best interests. Even if you no longer post, the account is still there, and if FB down the road changes their privacy policies(or gets hacked), your information can fall into the clutches of bad guys with nefarious intentions.

Sounds a bit paranoid, I know – but is it paranoid enough? That is the question.

 

[Huntn]

Today, I'm initiating a self imposed exile to social media. Some of this may be temporary, other portions will not.

I think the meanness of some of the stuff I see (without getting overly PRSI) has just turned me off. I also think most of the stuff I see is useless, like those quizzes to see what type of villian, superhero, cartoon character you are.

I waste enough of my time here at MR I don't need to have my nose in my phone on facebook.

With that said, have others been tempted to leave social media and/or quit?

I'm sure there can be some good coming out of social media but as it stand I'm not seeing too much

I am very minimally involved in Facebook, less so than when I first started, check in now and then to see what's going on with family and friends. I'm much more devoted to MacRumor discussions as I don't see Facebook as the place to debate. Don't want that with people I really know, if you see what I mean (physical vs online), lol.

 

[C DM]

I'm with you, maflynn.

I deleted my Twitter account earlier this year. Then I deactivated my FB account a couple months ago. Almost immediately an amazing thing happened: the world continued spinning and life went on, just like it did before social media.

Last month I took the final step and completely deleted my FB account. I'm now divested, done, and finished with social media.

I've found I get more done now, and I'm more focused on what I'm doing because I'm not thinking about how I should be working social media. I've climbed off the hamster wheel and life is great.

Long live Anti-Social Media!

Edit to Add: About ignoring FB and just "going dark": Your account (and any info you gave them) is still in the possession of a large corporation that doesn't care about your best interests. Even if you no longer post, the account is still there, and if FB down the road changes their privacy policies(or gets hacked), your information can fall into the clutches of bad guys with nefarious intentions.

Sounds a bit paranoid, I know – but is it paranoid enough? That is the question.

People can do all that and still use social media.

 

[smallcoffee]

...mentioned on an online forum full of anonymous strangers.

Where we have extended discussions about a variety of topics including help with computer problems, political and social commentary, and many, many more. Forums are very different than made-to-consume social media that relies on tracking you and helping other people sell you stuff. It's dumb and worthless.
[doublepost=1469821495][/doublepost]Really social media makes human connection and social interaction easy and cheap. Instead of taking time to send a thoughtful communication to somebody, or call them on the phone, or meet for coffee and catch up, we're reduced to "oh hey this person who is barely my friend has a birthday today I better like that". When you make such things easy, they lose their meaning. When you can be tricked into thinking that you're socializing with 500 people from the comfort of a computer screen you lose the value in getting outside of your home and socializing.

Facebook in particular is the worst offender, but social media in general is the epitome of consumerism and anti-intellectualism.

And when we're speaking about social media, we're not talking about web forums like MacRumors. It's totally different.

 

[C DM]

Where we have extended discussions about a variety of topics including help with computer problems, political and social commentary, and many, many more. Forums are very different than made-to-consume social media that relies on tracking you and helping other people sell you stuff. It's dumb and worthless.

It's not like there are discussions that happen on social networks "about a variety of topics including help with computer problems, political and social commentary, and many, many more" or people use them to keep in touch with others that aren't close by or they don't meet up with on an often enough basis. Clearly, "dumb and worthless".

 

[smallcoffee]

I am very minimally involved in Facebook, less so than when I first started, check in now and then to see what's going on with family and friends. I'm much more devoted to MacRumor discussions as I don't see Facebook as the place to debate. Don't want that with people I really know, if you see what I mean (physical vs online), lol.

Why don't you call them or go visit?
[doublepost=1469821667][/doublepost]

It's not like there are discussions that happen on social networks "about a variety of topics including help with computer problems, political and social commentary, and many, many more" or people use them to keep in touch with others that aren't close by or they don't meet up with on an often enough basis. Clearly, "dumb and worthless".

There aren't any conversations even remotely resembling an online forum. At all. You'd find better quality conversation on 4chan.

And you should stop trying to keep up with people who live far away if you can't be bothered to have dedicated communication with them. All you're doing is lying to yourself.

 

[RoyWoods]

Go camping and unplug. It's a great way to escape it all.

 

[C DM]

Why don't you call them or go visit?
[doublepost=1469821667][/doublepost]
There aren't any conversations even remotely resembling an online forum. At all. You'd find better quality conversation on 4chan.

And you should stop trying to keep up with people who live far away if you can't be bothered to have dedicated communication with them. All you're doing is lying to yourself.

Your experience doesn't mean anything as far as the experience of others. You do realize you can visit and call people and also in addition to it use social media to interact with them too, right? Kind of like in the early days of the telephone you could visit and write letters and also use the telephone too, even if there were people saying that if you couldn't actually visit or write a letter then "you can't be bothered to have dedicated communication with them". There's certainly some good lying going on in all, just not where you think it might be.

 

[smallcoffee]

Your experience doesn't mean anything as far as the experience of others. You do realize you can visit and call people and also in addition to it use social media to interact with them too, right? Kind of like in the early days of the telephone you could visit and write letters and also use the telephone too, even if there were people saying that if you couldn't actually visit or write a letter then "you can't be bothered to have dedicated communication with them". There's certainly some good lying going on in all, just not where you think it might be.

No you're wrong. The telephone required direct, attentive, and intentional communication. Facebook doesn't do that. In fact, what Facebook does is diminish the frequency of using actual communication tools because it fosters laziness and the illusion that "liking" somebody's birthday or something is a substitute for meaningful communication. It's not.

I'm not sure what experience you're referring to, but in either case that's also incorrect.

 

[C DM]

No you're wrong. The telephone required direct, attentive, and intentional communication. Facebook doesn't do that. In fact, what Facebook does is diminish the frequency of using actual communication tools because it fosters laziness and the illusion that "liking" somebody's birthday or something is a substitute for meaningful communication. It's not.

I'm not sure what experience you're referring to, but in either case that's also incorrect.

Same things have been said about calling someone compared to putting in the time and effort into actually writing a letter or visiting.

In any case, as I mentioned, everyone has a different experience and does things differently. There is no right or wrong there or good or bad, just what works or doesn't work for you. One's interaction with the world somehow doesn't invalidate someone else's. That's really the simple reality.