Who here has quit social media?

[RyanLPainter]

I've considered it once or twice, but I've found despite its annoyances, is still extremely helpful.

 

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[Beerbread]

I have IG and Twitter for business, but even then I still get fixated on them. YouTube is my latest addiction and I'm trying to switch my mindset to produce work rather than consume content. It's easier said than done. I quit one addiction only to find another.

In terms of posting things, especially with my personal stuff, those accounts are gone or abandoned. I realized as I was going through pictures and footage that I wasn't remembering a lot of what I was shooting. I only take one or two pictures these days just to say I've been there, but I'd rather be in the moment. It drives my family and friends crazy, but I appreciate my adventures more.

 

[shahabshahabian]

One reason I haven't already is I love to travel, take pics, and meet new people.

It has been great to connect with a lot of people all over the place but when I really dig into that belief only about 10% of the time I spend on social media is talking to people and the other 90% is total nonsense.

 

[shahabshahabian]

I was looking for a guy named Warren Buffett on Instagram and Facebook but he is not there. Probably he is quite poor and sad, because business and happiness in 21st Century are great if you are on Socials

Good one

 

[Madame Peccato]

I uninstalled Instagram at the start of the year. I have never been a big Facebook user either, and I only check one group I'm in, not even every day.

I have never used Twitter.

I do have a LinkedIn profile, and I check it every day, but only once, and only for a couple of minutes. I scroll down, read the first five or so titles/intros to the post, and then either read one of them or just ctrl+w out.

 

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[Mattie]

I've been thinking about getting off just because it seems like the content is just over saturated with the same information and nothing new appearing. Seems like it makes you brain dead and lowers your vibes.

 

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[francevalue]

Just deleted Instagram and blocked YouTube. How do you guys stop watching videos?

 

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[mikemiller]

One reason I haven't already is I love to travel, take pics, and meet new people.

It has been great to connect with a lot of people all over the place but when I really dig into that belief only about 10% of the time I spend on social media is talking to people and the other 90% is total nonsense.

Yeah, I agree with your point. People only talk nonsense for 90% in social media. There are more abusive words and immoral talks happening there!

 

[flavius]

I deleted all my social media accounts couple years ago. Haven't regretted a day. My life is more calm and it has had zero negative effect on my social life.

Taking the first step feels like a huge change, but after you've done it you can see barely nothing changes. Just more spare time and less time spent looking at peoples fake life.

 

[datagod]

As a facebook marketer I need to use it, but I do have 2 accounts where I don't have friends on. All this is made for security reasons... if one ad acc. gets blocked I have backup plan etc.

+ I use Chrome plugin to block newsfeed.
+ No messenger on cellphone. (waste of time)

So I basically use it only for backend - advertising.

Do I feel better now? For sure I do, also my productivity and "freedom" increased.

 

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[Ernman]

I've been thinking about getting off just because it seems like the content is just over saturated with the same information and nothing new appearing. Seems like it makes you brain dead and lowers your vibes.

That's the algo's at work force feeding you what will keep you on the page. I've been experimenting with watching completely 180 degree programing just to see if I can detect how the algo's react.

 

[Profinity]

I have been tracking myself a lot this year I can spot a clear trend... the more time I spend during the day on social media = the worse I feel.

I get lazy, distracted, and sometimes slightly depressed. And I am very much a positive, focused person.

I shouldn't be surprised cause I know a lot of you have been talking about the dangers of social media for years.

At this stage, I am thinking about quitting Instagram and Facebook forever.
I can make a new Fb account just to run my students group and shut down everything else.

Do those people with some long term experience (quit social media for over one year etc) want to chime in?

What has been your experience?

I feel so bad whenever I go on social media, and I don't even get much messages at all, I have my notifications of which probably is not helping. You feel a compulsive urge to be constantly checking just to see if you get a message or not. I guess it just plays on the dopamine receptors in your brain - that feel good moment when someone messages you back ect. These social media companies construct their websites so perfectly to make you feel addicted to them, it's similar to slot machines at casinos, you never know what the outcome is once you open your social media app. I've even tried deleting the apps, but I end up re-installing them! yeah it's probably one of my worst addictions right now and I know it is bad which makes it even worse..

 

[Deleted77793]

Personally, quitting porn, fap, social media, alcohol and sugar have allowed me to be more focus and to have MUCH more energy

Very inspiring !
Did you stop suddenly stop all this thing or did you made every change one by one ?

 

[Benedict]

Never really used FB or Insta. Only go there for research purposes. I never felt like I missed out. (Especially on IG... breaking down profiles into PICs seems so superficial that I could puke on it...)

BUT what I really struggle with is: WhatsApp.

I know it is not really social media. But I have so many groups in it and contacts that I have a big urge to look up my phone very often. Depends on the day, of course.

Looking for a solution on that. I don't think quitting is a good idea. So I need a solution...

Advice or experience appreciated.

 

[LuckyPup]

I have been tracking myself a lot this year I can spot a clear trend... the more time I spend during the day on social media = the worse I feel.

I get lazy, distracted, and sometimes slightly depressed. And I am very much a positive, focused person.

I shouldn't be surprised cause I know a lot of you have been talking about the dangers of social media for years.

At this stage, I am thinking about quitting Instagram and Facebook forever.
I can make a new Fb account just to run my students group and shut down everything else.

Do those people with some long term experience (quit social media for over one year etc) want to chime in?

What has been your experience?

Although I haven't completely quit social media, my footprint is minimal and getting smaller. Social media is amoral, although the technocrats who have created the platforms are, imo, immoral. These creators have known very well how destructive their tech is to kids and the culture at large.

I've never been on Twitter and I only joined FB because it was necessary for a class. I have Instagram only to follow my daughter. I've been on LinkedIn for years, but rarely check it or participate.

I've found that social media is not only a time suck (as it is designed to be), but it makes me feel like sh*t. Moreover, the people who seem to use it most appear to fall into some non-exclusive categories:

1) The manipulators who seek to pollute our minds with their crap.
2) The marketers who sell crap or "teach" others how to use social media to sell crap.
3) The buyers of said crap (mea culpa).
4) The subjects who have unwittingly been conditioned to salivate every time the manipulators ring the Pavlovian bell in Twitter, FB, IG, SnapChat or whatever.

In short, social media can be a tool for good, but overall I think it's been very destructive to individuals, families and our culture. I'm trying to opt out as much as I can, and the less I participate, the better I feel.

 

[MattR82]

As I'm not really working in social media anymore, I'm going to try and see how it goes cutting way back. Toyed with the idea of deactivating facebook for a while but I think that's a bit drastic. A bit worried what it would do to stuff I had linked up in creator studio as well.

Just removed all apps from my phone and only kept messenger as a bookmark on my laptop to check once or twice per day. Maybe log in to facebook via desktop only once a week.

I've already been logged out of IG for over a week now and just had one clients account logged in, but it was a boring account so no issue. Have had FB on desktop only for a few days which helped a tonne, but still checking it too much. It works though. But taking it off bookmarks bar and try keep it to once a week.

I was learning a lot the last few years from how I had my social accounts set up, but it feels like diminishing returns these last few months. The distraction isn't worth it.

 

[Deleted76716]

I have been tracking myself a lot this year I can spot a clear trend... the more time I spend during the day on social media = the worse I feel.

I get lazy, distracted, and sometimes slightly depressed. And I am very much a positive, focused person.

I shouldn't be surprised cause I know a lot of you have been talking about the dangers of social media for years.

At this stage, I am thinking about quitting Instagram and Facebook forever.
I can make a new Fb account just to run my students group and shut down everything else.

Do those people with some long term experience (quit social media for over one year etc) want to chime in?

What has been your experience?

I have not completely quit because I need it to keep in touch with friends. But I have intentionally set limits to when and where I can use it. I've turned off all my notifications, so I rarely get distracted nowadays. I've been a lot more productive and feel I have a lot more self-control.

 

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[hellorockythecat]

Hows it feel?

Pros/cons?

I've not been using IG for months. It was hard in the first couple of days because I did miss watching those funny memes & animal videos. But I think i think quitting it makes me happier because I don't compare myself with those people who appear to have a "perfect life" on IG

 

[luniac]

Im only on facebook to keep in touch with a few people over messenger.
I have a business page on twitter,facebook,instagram but i've pretty much abandoned them.

I'm only on youtube actively, its basically the new TV, and im cool with that.

 

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[Nicoknowsbest]

That's funny, I just came across his videos last night and found the dopamine one's pretty good.

I've changed my tune a lot about social media in the last month. Trying to get further and further away for some period, maybe 6 months.

Turned my phone into more of a dumbphone, no social media or messenger apps. No apps unless they are beneficial actually.

Actually did deactivate my facebook, but kept messenger. After one day though, I'm also going to get rid of messenger. I created a new fb account so I can be in about 3 groups that I'm interested in currently, and about 5 people overseas for messaging.

How do you feel so far?

I am using an Emporia Flip Phone meanwhile and am pretty satisfied.

 

[mve0991]

I tried to take the first step by limiting my news feed to posts from Facebook Pages and groups only but not succeeded to do this without removing all my 'friends' or by manually excluding each person. Does anyone know if this is possible?

 

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[Anon79341]

I have quitted FB more than a year ago, I only used a "nameless" account to visit local news, but I got bored since I realized that news aren't so helpful as well. I completely left IG since is a highly time consuming activity that doesn't provide any real value (not if you don't run a business there) and it mostly make us compare to others's probably fictitious lives.

Leaving some of the more common social media platforms brought me a lot more focus and time to spend in things more valuable. I'd suggest everyone give it a try, you got to do it at least for 2-3 weeks in order to get rid of the initial anxiety.

 

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[mcm1986]

I have been tracking myself a lot this year I can spot a clear trend... the more time I spend during the day on social media = the worse I feel.

I get lazy, distracted, and sometimes slightly depressed. And I am very much a positive, focused person.

I shouldn't be surprised cause I know a lot of you have been talking about the dangers of social media for years.

At this stage, I am thinking about quitting Instagram and Facebook forever.
I can make a new Fb account just to run my students group and shut down everything else.

Do those people with some long term experience (quit social media for over one year etc) want to chime in?

What has been your experience?

Beyond using social for business, I have stopped using social all together. It really has little value anymore. I pushed all of my friends and family to simply call, text, or email me if they need to reach me.

 

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[Xeon]

FB - for news and latest happenings so that I've something to talk about with people offline, to stay current, and also to feel and know the general direction the world is heading

IG - for my hustle to eventually drive traffic over to website + network + build social proof

Pinterest - for inspiration and ideas

TikTok - this one is a must if you want to stay up to date with the latest trends among Gen Z and Gen Alpha. You don't want to be that out of touch dinosaur whom the next generation laughs at. If you've kids and want to relate with them better instead of being some lost-touch-with-all-reality mom or dad, TiKTok is great. The next and upcoming generations are going to be smarter and more capable than us, so it's best to know what's coming to stay competitive as long as possible.

Twitter - same as FB except the threaded UI sucks hard

LinkedIn - dead to me

 

[Sanj Modha]

Here's how I've dealt with keeping a Facebook account that will only ever be used for business:
News Feed Eradicator Chrome Extension - This basically stops you from seeing your news feed, and replaces it with a motivational quote instead.

Removed Facebook app from the home screen on my phone - I have a LOT of apps installed on my phone, and just the minor inconvenience of having to manually go to the menu to open it really made me not bother anywhere near as much. It's amazing how much effort swipe, swipe, scroll, click is, compared to simply 'click'.

It's a great app for increased productivity.

 

[Vigilante]

All things considered Facebook has less drama lately than some other places I frequent.

I had so many business login apps connected to my Facebook account that I reactivated it because it was screwing up a lot of validated access as I had tother sites. I will have to go in and redo all of those but in the meantime it was just easier for me to reactivate my Facebook account but I’m still not using it much. Just using it for several business Facebook pages I have.

i’ve done a much better job lately though of fine-tuning my targeted Facebook advertising. In about 20 minutes @AllenCrawley Was able to correct a major error I was making with my Facebook advertising that changed it from non-profitable to profitable almost overnight.

I am going to set up an account at the new social media site Parler Which apparently is growing pretty quickly. I should have a profile set up on there this week.

 

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[ZF Lee]

I hardly use Facebook or Instagram these days.
Once in a while, I swoop in on competitors' FB Ads Library to read ad copy, but other than that...nothing much.

These days I stick to email and Telegram groups. I still have WhatsApp, but I only use it for personal stuffs.

Telegram is exceptionally useful, as you can use it to store photos and videos more easily than WhatsApp (I have to keep clearing WhatsApp from eating more phone memory space). And some channels (eg stock investing news or ideas) can disable commenting and only provide a regular flow of news/articles...which cuts out much of the noise.

I also keep a presence on some subreddits, but only for some hobbies, games and skills.
But I don't participate in comment-wars or haunt every new thread to farm karma lol.
Most of the general public won't be in such niche subreddits to spread toxicity, and their admins are usually active.

 

[StrikingViper69]

I use FB to keep in touch with a few friends and for an excellent hobby group I'm a part of.

If it weren't for that hobby group I would probably quit it.

 

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[Antifragile]

I didn’t read this thread.
does this forum count as media? Is it social? Is so; I didn’t quit.
As for the rest of you, don’t be a quitter.