Quitting social media

[BeefCake 15]

I baned social media from my phone so I spend few minutes catching up on Facebook at night or every other night.

 

[sigmadog]

The only social media I use is Instagram- and that only because there's a level of creativity that can't be avoided. (At basic level) One HAS to at least think a little bit and photograph something in a way others will find interesting.

I like forums think this of course, cause there's a focus and usually a common interest.

FaceBook and the like creeped me out from day one. *NEVER* wanted to be on it or anywhere near it. There's something I find kind of horrific about it. First off, I think it KILLED the whole idea of having to actually be unique and creative on the web. Back when people had things like blogs, they had to think and use whatever talent/creativity they had to have anyone pay any attention. Things had to be interesting, or no one paid attention. Truly interesting people shone, those that weren't had to work on it.

Now it's just repost someone ELSE'S image/idea/whatever and get 'likes'. Be creative or interesting? Why bother?

Anecdotal: I noticed when my wife was on it, Facebook could often make her edgy. There was always some measure of actually finding out how petty and shallow a lot of her 'friends' on there actually were.

I see people upset about something at work, and it's almost a safe bet: "Oh what did you see on FaceBook this time..."

People love to either appear the most successful/happy/enriched people on the planet- or LOATHING that someone else appears that way more than them. I'm sure it's unfair to pin this all on FB as it's just human nature, but somehow I find FB embodies it.

The second someone makes national headlines now, I notice they are judged harder by anything found on them via social media, than anything else.

Lastly, there's just that stereotypical image I have that makes me chuckle and shake my head- bars full of people sitting and staring at their phones, checking social media instead of checking out EACH OTHER, live and in person! Having encountered exactly that stereotypical situation many times myself, I guess I get that 'old guy' thank god it wasn't like this back in my day attitude. You met a girl in a bar back in the day and you only had to compete with the other dudes there in reality with you- have a little bit going on and that wasn't a big deal. Now it must be you have only to compete with the other dudes in the bar... AND the whole world of other dudes she has in her pocket screen she can whip out and check instead of face 'stranger' you!

I guess I'm just thankful I had lots of fun before that (what seems to me HORRIFYING!) age, and met my wife back in a time when some of that existed, but not quite like it is now.

Irony to me of 'social media' is I guess my old-school self finds a lot of it to actually be anti-social media in a lot of ways. Happy to live my life without 90% of it.

Nice post. I would have liked it more, were it not for all the puppy sacrifices.

 

[maflynn]

Well what a turn around. After reading a few posts on this thread, I just went dark on social media (that doesn't include Forums; I actually like replying to threads and posts)! I may even perform a twiticide...

I don't expect my hiatus to be from social media to be permanent, but I did close down my twitter account. I'm staying away from FB, and I don't use instagram. I'm not missing FB too much, but then I was seeing way too much political stuff, quizzes and stuff that was just plain stupid. I do think social media can be a very useful and helpful tool, or at least I thought at one point it could be. Now, not so much, as its been taken over by just useless crap.

 

[circatee]

I totally agree. It is almost stressful, to a degree. As if my job isn't stressful enough

I don't expect my hiatus to be from social media to be permanent, but I did close down my twitter account. I'm staying away from FB, and I don't use instagram. I'm not missing FB too much, but then I was seeing way too much political stuff, quizzes and stuff that was just plain stupid. I do think social media can be a very useful and helpful tool, or at least I thought at one point it could be. Now, not so much, as its been taken over by just useless crap.

 

[maflynn]

I totally agree. It is almost stressful, to a degree. As if my job isn't stressful enough

That was my aha moment, why am I even going to FB when I'm hating a lot of what I see. I do miss some stuff, so that's why I'll return. For instance, my cousins went to Alaska on a cruise earlier, if I wasn't on FB, I'd miss their trip. They live in a location that's difficult for me to see them, so interacting on FB helps us stay connected

 

[Thomas Veil]

For a while my family kept soliciting me to join Facebook. I resisted. I spend a fair amount of time here, and the last thing I need is another way to waste my day.

That said, my wife has an account and it's occasionally useful for seeing pictures of the grandkids. But those are surrounded by my wife's family's religious and political views, things that I was better off not knowing. Spare me.

I'm still not tempted to join.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

For a while my family kept soliciting me to join Facebook. I resisted. I spend a fair amount of time here, and the last thing I need is another way to waste my day.

That said, my wife has an account and it's occasionally useful for seeing pictures of the grandkids. But those are surrounded by my wife's family's religious and political views, things that I was better off not knowing. Spare me.

I'm still not tempted to join.

I am laughing reading your post.

While I can see the reason for Twitter (very useful for keeping abreast of politics - and not just US politics - and other interests), I have never understood the purpose of FaceBook, especially if you value privacy and your personal space.

Fortunately, nobody in my immediate family is a member, and I have absolutely no difficulty shrugging off the pleading and disbelieving requests of friends to join. To be honest, I just don't 'get it'.

 

[pollaxe]

I recently joined Instagram to support a friend's project on there; it's okay but I notice quite a few people will follow you and then drop you once you've followed them back.

I have a Twitter account but I haven't used it in years; it seemed to be a pointless festival of trolls. I also have a Facebook account; I don't like it and I try not to use it very often but for some people, it seems to have replaced email and all other forms of contact. There are old friends I know I'd probably never hear from again if I were to close my account (which has nearly happened, on several occasions.)

Our telephone suffered a fault which left the household without connectivity for almost two months (thanks BT and Openreach) but I found that I quickly got used to not having access to things like Facebook and after a short while, I found I really didn't miss it and, indeed, the lack of it was quite liberating. Now I go on there as and when I feel like it and each time I realise that I haven't missed much but it's nice to see what friends and family have been up to (but not get involved in any of the various dramas that seem to plague modern life.)

 

[lowendlinux]

I have facebook though I haven't logged in in a years because I didn't want to read the political hackery from my family. When I stopped logging into FB i created a G+ account but this time instead of friends and family I only follow the public accounts of the FOSS movers and shakers and FOSS groups so it's kind of like my personalized Phoronix. Twitter is for music, I don't tweet but I only follow the bands and record labels I like the exception is Alternative Press. Basically I've turned off the politics and turned on the entertainment and information Eric Raymond excluded.

 

[maflynn]

Life's been peaceful without needing to see all sorts of political/election year stuff come through on my facebook feed.

What's odd is, I thought twitter was the more expendable of the two sites that I used but I found it fit a need that I found missing once I closed the account. Many businesses, and organizations that interest me, post information on twitter that I found useful. I had deactivated the account, but somehow on my phone I must have mistakenly deactivated the deactivation (they give you 30 days and if sign back in, you re-activated it) when tapping on a link.

 

[sigmadog]

I have enjoyed being off social media. Every so often I get a twinge of curiosity wondering if I'm missing anything, but like an alcoholic or smoker, I remind myself of all the crap associated with slaking that thirst. Or I just think of Pokemon Go.

My wife is tied in to all the family on FB, so I get that news from her.

I have no desire to follow tech news or other things on Twitter, but I can see how that would be useful.

 

[CrickettGrrrl]

Yes, I think Twitter is very useful. I set it up initially following software sites and other similar stuff for update alerts. Also, if one has a complaint about something, tweeting a company seems to get more results than email. Then I began following artists whose work I admire and so now I can get all the background art chatter I've really missed. I have artist friends irl, mostly conceptual or film makers and they don't get drooly over brushes that have "snap", or paint & ink sales, rants about stylus nibs, or helpful info about digital graphics apps......so I've found all that good stuff on Twitter & forums. And I try to keep any icky stuff out, which is much easier so far (knock wood) than on FaceBook.

I loathe FaceBook and frankly, I've really enjoyed reading all the negative thread comments about it.
I remember it from 2008 & 2009 when it had a clean interface, things were shown chronologically & it was a quick way to set up events with friends or, later, with family.

I accidentally clicked into FB recently and it looks like a horror-filled crapfest these days. I quit it several years ago & have felt a ton less stress. I used to get animal abuse stuff in my newsfeed, and even after blocking, muting & requesting not to see similar stuff, FB was perversely helpful in trying to put non-similar photos of burnt puppies & kittens in my feed.

 

[LizKat]

I have a Twitter account but I haven't used it in years; it seemed to be a pointless festival of trolls.

The only way I can deal with it is stick to news outlets and the occasional reporter / columnist from same. For the most part that keeps the troll factor down to a dull roar, since even though the profile option allows for putting something like "views are my own, RTs not endorsement" there remains the option for one's employer to read an employee's post and tweet a pink slip.

 

[kazmac]

My Twitter account is putting my film journalism out there and permitting me to be silly fan girl; so it stays put. The goal is to have fun, but also land paid writing gigs.

I have no intentions of joining other social media, despite other film journalists whom I respect asking me if I am on Facebook.

 

[maxsix]

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.

You've summed it up quite nicely

 

[SkyBell]

I don't really do social media. I have a Facebook account, but I never bothered to add anybody, or even put up a profile picture. I check twitter every so often, but other than that, my life is busy enough.

 

[smallcoffee]

I don't really do social media. I have a Facebook account, but I never bothered to add anybody, or even put up a profile picture. I check twitter every so often, but other than that, my life is busy enough.

You should delete the Facebook account then so they can't track you

 

[Centaurr]

i use social media but not for freinds or family, i use it as a news feed of stuff that l like

 

[SkyBell]

You should delete the Facebook account then so they can't track you

Meh, I'm not really worried about any of that. If they want my location, buying habits, etc., they can have it.

 

[maflynn]

I don't expect my hiatus to be from social media to be permanent

Just an update since this post which is from last August.

I returned to FB, though I wondered why but it was nice in some ways to keep in touch with friends, but in reality that was not the case. When I started my hiatus, I just signed off, I didn't deactivate the account. In subsequent months, I saw more and more stuff that just made me re-think my decision to return.
First as I think I said before, the policital stuff (whether you're for or against this administration).
Secondly, the paid content overtook my wall, yeah I like looking at some things that it presented but it was 90% click-bait crap that you get presented with a small article and you need to keep next to see the next portion, all the while your screen is filled up with ads.
third most my friends don't post on FB, and of those that do, I talk too any ways

FB had turned into doing something during those quiet times at work, but represented a waste of time, where as I could do other more productive things. I've since deactivated my account and so far I've not looked back. The app has been deleted from my phone and its history has been cleared from my computer. I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything and its been close to 3 weeks since its removal.

 

[belvdr]

I had FB and Twitter accounts previously. I deleted both of them several years ago and haven't missed them; it was just a waste of time, especially when I received a ton of request for nails or pigs for Farmville (ugh).

I have a YouTube account mainly for following a few VLOGs. I only published 3 videos (1st was lame) and the last two were of me flying a paramotor during training.

 

[BarracksSi]

I stepped away from FB when Rogue One came out because I didn't want to run across any plot spoilers before I got a chance to see the movie myself.

What a peaceful three weeks that was!

I'm still on, but I think the only reason is because friends and family will wonder if I'm okay if I leave it. That, and most of the people on my list aren't insufferable douchebags.

 

[maflynn]

I'm still on, but I think the only reason is because friends and family will wonder if I'm okay if I leave it. That, and most of the people on my list aren't insufferable douchebags.

That's where I was last year and when I returned from my small hiatus, I hadn't posted much, and so my thought process was, why stick with something I'm not even active in contributing too.

 

[lowendlinux]

I stepped away from FB when Rogue One came out because I didn't want to run across any plot spoilers before I got a chance to see the movie myself.

What a peaceful three weeks that was!

I'm still on, but I think the only reason is because friends and family will wonder if I'm okay if I leave it. That, and most of the people on my list aren't insufferable douchebags.

You just have to tell them you're not going to be on anymore, it worked for me.

 

[BarracksSi]

That's where I was last year and when I returned from my small hiatus, I hadn't posted much, and so my thought process was, why stick with something I'm not even active in contributing too.

You just have to tell them you're not going to be on anymore, it worked for me.

Oh, I'm close to switching it off, believe me.

OTOH, it was only because of FB that I learned about a brass band concert this past Saturday. I took my nephew to see it as a "field trip" in place of giving him his trombone lesson that afternoon. Fantastic concert by a fantastic group, and there's no way I would've heard about it otherwise.