Ditched Facebook - Wish I did this years ago.

[oilpsi2high]

I deleted (not deactivated) my Facebook account the other day after giving it a lot of thought. In the end, I just saw it as a colossal waste of time.

I tracked my time and was sickened at the amount of time spent "liking" people's posts, uploading pictures, etc. I wasn't getting any benefit out of it at all.

Everything is one sided on there - it's always people on vacation, people doing this and that to show everyone how they are bettering themselves, etc. You never see the posts "I got fired from work today" or really anything negative, ever.

The nail in the coffin for me, the thing I could not stand at all, was people uploading these absolutely ridiculous political posts, and then arguing about them all day long. I found it funny at first, but it just became rather ridiculous and in the end a huge time waster.

I guess one could argue that forums are a waste of time, but to be honest I gain a ton of knowledge and information on old school forums that I'd never get from Facebook or any other social media platform (aside from maybe YouTube's informative videos.)

I used Facebook back when I started college, to meet people on campus initially. Then people I didn't go to school with started using it (don't forget you needed a .edu e-mail to have a Facebook account back then) and then recently parents started using it to keep track of what their kids were doing instead of being actual parents in real life.

So I gave it a ton of thought, and came to the conclusion that I was no longer gaining anything at all from using the platform, and I was losing a ton of time because of it. Goodbye and good riddance.

 

[maxdustington]

Social media is for girls.

 

[oilpsi2high]

I just realized I posted this in the vehicles section. Sorry about that. Hopefully a mod can move this.

 

[Lolvoguy]

Congrats.
I ditched it about 5 or 6 years ago. Best thing you can do with your time and sanity.
Originally Posted by oilpsi2high
Everything is one sided on there - it's always people on vacation, people doing this and that to show everyone how they are bettering themselves, etc. You never see the posts "I got fired from work today" or really anything negative, ever.

I've had some very "colorful" people in my contacts. Some of the personal slander and insults were downright amusing!
It was like watching an episode of Jerry Springer, but with ppl I personally know.

 

[SZR48207]

Congrats. Just be prepared for all the people who want to lure you back into the cave with cries of 'HOW WILL WE KEEP IN TOUCH' or 'WHY ARE YOU BEING ANTI-SOCIAL'.

 

[oilpsi2high]

Originally Posted by Reddy45
Congrats. Just be prepared for all the people who want to lure you back into the cave with cries of 'HOW WILL WE KEEP IN TOUCH' or 'WHY ARE YOU BEING ANTI-SOCIAL'.



I had 3 people already asking me if I deleted Facebook because they thought I blocked them. It's all about them!

Also ditched Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram (did that one a LONG time ago). Really only use YouTube to share drum videos.

 

[MoreCowbellAz]

I did the same thing 5 or 6 years ago, and haven't missed it for a second. Once you figure out that basically 99% of all social media boils down to people's personal temple to themselves it's easy to give it up. I found I get a strange satisfaction from being out of the fray so to speak. The social media powers that be want to program you to believe your life would be better the more interconnected you are, I don't find that to be true at all. People just aren't supposed to be THAT connected 24/7. Good riddance, and don't look back.

 

[paulri]

I deactivated my account when I saw it as a time sink. I was spending 30 mins at a time, reading other people's walls. What got me to stop was when I started clicking on folks' walls--folks that I didn't even know, but they knew someone I knew....

I only reactivated it b/c my daughter is part of a theater group that uses that as its communication platform. So I have a link to that group's home page to click on, and after picking up news and communicating with the director, I close the tab.

 

[DIANgEMinONV]

I'm relatively young (in mid 30's), and have degree in Computer Science, however, I never even registered for FB, and do not plan to. Friends and relatives have my e-mail & phone, and therefore, can keep in touch.

 

[daves87rs]

Like anything else, it is a tool. You either use it thr right way, or you don't have to use it at all. Pretty simple I think....

I only use it for family and a few far away friends. I don't stay for the drama or mindless games......

 

[PimTac]

I have never used Fascbook.

 

[Omahaug]

You make a good point. Forums like this are focused and the material is usually useful, educational even. If you want to increase your learning you can even choose specific subforums to narrow the focus. You can also ask questions to narrow the focus even more, and people are likely to answer them with answers that build your knowledge.

Social media however, is like you described, somewhat of a cancer. As you said it's overly broad and mostly consists of people showing off, going to great lengths to portray unrealistic lives in some cases. Then that causes other people to either envy them or outdo them. It's not a pretty picture for society.

I feel bad because prior generations never had to deal with things like this. I feel worse for the kids, social media is like peer pressure on steroids. We had peer pressure discussions all the time in school when I was coming up, it was usually centered around drugs, alcohol and smoking. Just think of the stuff kids have to deal with now that aren't even in those categories.

There was a study I saw on the news the other day that parents with young kids who used Facebook ended up spending more money than those who didn't, because they saw other parents with young kids buying stuff for their children.

The politics talk is just poison too. It's not going to help anyone when people air their political beliefs. If it's not the politics, it's the religion. I know someone who tells me his Facebook feed is filled with threads of people arguing about politics, people he knew as extremely promiscuous now arguing as born again Christians, blah blah blah. Then there's Facebook Live and the fact that it encourages a culture of outrageous behavior as long as you can stream it.

 

[BrianF]

I do like the tracking of birthdays and such but overall it is a huge PIA. It is filled with social justice warriors and fake people. Tired of #mylifeisperfect and #perfectparent and all that. I do enjoy going on it though and making fun of all these people.

 

[bubbatime]

They definitely censor views that they don't agree with politically, which is absolutely infuriating. I deleted my main account last year, and now have a very basic account just for browsing. No pictures, no friends, only about 7 family members that I keep track of.

 

[Andrew1972]

Some people have more self control then others. It sounds like you made the healthy choice for yourself.

I used to do similar but still keep the account as I follow it more for activity and interests. You can mute people's accounts which I have done if they fill my feed with dead baby pictures, American flags with words all over or too many kid pics.

 

[Zee09]

As Nancy used to say...... Just say no!!!

 

[Silk]

It sounds like the people you liked to be your friends weren't your friends at all. The only people I am in contact with on FB are people I want to be in contact with. I don't have arguments with people on FB because they all share my views, I have arguments with people on forums because they often don't share my views. Use the internet, don't let it use you.

 

[joekingcorvette]

I don't feel I have to put like on everyones posts. I scan FB at work but don't spend lots of time on it. If it would have to go I wouldn't miss facebook at all. I especially get tired of the political and religious posts. I get tired of wishing everybody Happy Birthday all the time but I do like it when it's my birthday so I keep wishing everyone HB. Other than that I can live without it very easily and I agree is a bragging session.

 

[Danno]

Ditch google as well.
"Duckduckgo" for me.

 

[chainblu]

I joined FB several years ago as it was a convenient way to reconnect with some old friends. I have joined a few car groups and that's mainly why I even bother to check it. I have less than 2 dozen 'friends', and they post plenty enough to keep my feed full. I don't know how people with several hundred friends do it. I'm in my 50's and I don't think I've known 700 people my whole life. I'm kidding, but it seems to me that people with that many 'friends' are more concerned with their image than with the people on their list: "Look at what I did/where I went... see... I DO have a life!"

Just because I don't put it all over FB doesn't mean I'm not doing anything. I don't need my 15 seconds of fame.