Anyone get rid rid of all their social media?

Pineapple1

What exactly led you to deleting the platforms regarding your mental/emotional health? For a few weeks Ive been contemplating getting rid of my Instagram and Facebook (not deleting account, just getting rid of the apps on my phone). Im sick of seeing other girls who look like they could never take a bad picture even if they tried hard to. And the relentless bloody adverts. Has social media ever had such a negative impact on your head that you just cut it loose?

Collie D

Not necessarily sure if my thoughts are what you’re looking for but I don’t use Facebook, etc for the following simple reason:

I’m not interesting enough to let the world know my every thought or action. But neither are 99% of the users on social media.

If it’s bothering you, just delete and in a couple of days you may not even notice it. Don’t be worrying about what everyone else is doing or how they look.

Trigger Happy

Yeah, if other people’s pictures are preying on your mind then you need to stop looking.

TheValeyard

Got rid of most like FB (still use WhatsApp though) and Discord has its uses.

Wanderer2010

Facebook really is only good for keeping in touch with distant family members who are scattered across the world or for putting up some pics of life events for the same reasons so your grandparents etc can see the pics.
There is no other reason to be on Facebook. Its a tool for the narcissist and the bores. For me, the worst person to be on Facebook is the person who "updates" you when they are:
1. Boarding a flight
2. Driving to the airport for said flight
3. Having dinner on holiday

Note: nobody cares.

Silentcorner

It's the domain of the narcissist...

Look how beautiful I am. (Facebook/Insta)
Look how great my life is. (facebook/Insta)
Look how virtuous I am. (twitter/facebook)
Look how intelligent I am. (twitter/facebook)

It's no wonder we are surrounded by hysteria and deranged individuals who see injustice everywhere...who believe only they have the intellect to correct all our flawed behaviour...

ArchXStanton

The more I look at it the more I think its fcuking peoples heads up

scamalert

whatsapp skype viber is usefull rest is just trash, most people are at a point that they need likes and followers to justify their miserable existence.

youandme13

Yes I deleted all my Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat etc mid August and haven’t looked back wouldn’t be bothered get them back! I’ve WhatsApp though but that’s different. I suffer depression and anxiety and tbh seeing people’s lives (fake ‘look at me’) made me 10 times worse. Getting better not have to look at people’s false lives

namenotavailablE

Deleted Facebook app and account. Never bothered with Instagram or Snapchat. Still have LinkedIn although that's genuinely work related.

Absolutely don't miss the primarily mind-candy dross I used to see on FB- really only used it for US and UK happenings with family but can get all I need via email or the old fashioned phone call.

Harry Palmr

I'm waiting for boards.ie to go "insta" with profile photos etc integrated into every post plus a shout out box.

Squall Leonhart

youandme13 wrote: »

I suffer depression and anxiety

Sorry youandme, not meaning to single you out, but this jumped out at me. I've no idea of your age, but it appears to me that today's teenagers and twenty-somethings are riddled with anxiety and depression much more than previous generations.

Obviously it has always existed, and maybe it was just better hidden in the past, but there looks to be a strong link between the vain narcissistic nature of the likes of Instagram and Snapchat. I'm not sure Facebook is as much a problem as it was maybe 5-8 years ago.

I think it's symptomatic of a deeper issue across the board with modern society and the grip our mobile phones and "always on" lives have over us. I'm aware of the irony that I'm posting this from a phone.

alchemist33

I dropped twitter and facebook 4 years ago after hassles from a couple of people and don't regret it at all. I'm still on boards and reddit to see what people think of the world, and for laughs, but thats anonymous.

Have whatsapp as well but that's not really social media.

youandme13

Squall Leonhart wrote: »

Sorry youandme, not meaning to single you out, but this jumped out at me. I've no idea of your age, but it appears to me that today's teenagers and twenty-somethings are riddled with anxiety and depression much more than previous generations.

Obviously it has always existed, and maybe it was just better hidden in the past, but there looks to be a strong link between the vain narcissistic nature of the likes of Instagram and Snapchat. I'm not sure Facebook is as much a problem as it was maybe 5-8 years ago.

I think it's symptomatic of a deeper issue across the board with modern society and the grip our mobile phones and "always on" lives have over us. I'm aware of the irony that I'm posting this from a phone.

No problem! I’m 30 so not a teenager but have been in these since I was and it’s just gotten worse I feel.

I completely also understand about phones. I can give or take mine since I’ve gotten rid of the apps, and it’s astonishing to see amount of people constantly on phones in restaurants, walking around places glued to them! Even seeing people pushing buggies eye glued to the phone..!

Church on Tuesday

I have Facebook but will soon be deleting that private page and keep messenger for friends who live broad. Barely engage with it.

Social Media is a cancer. The novelty factor wore off a long, long time ago and now people are starting to sit up and take notice of the damage it can inflict on the developing mind and indeed people who managed many years without it.

It's the domain of the troll and the sad coward and then on the other spectrum, as others have pointed out, a platform for the insecure and narcissistic personalities.

We won't know for a while yet but the mental toll Social Media has taken and is taking on younger people especially will only become more apparent as time goes on.

But fair play to Zuckerberg et al; they gave people the temporary fix they wanted and the platform to project the supposed perfect life whilst making a **** ton of money off the back of that.

source

I've deleted Snapchat a while ago, and in the last 6 months I've deleted Instagram and Facebook completely. Still have twitter, I've gotten rid of anyone I follow that isn't a sports team, band, actual friend /acquaintance or news source and I've been able to massively reduce the time spent on the app. I'm still considering deleting it but for now it stays.

WhatsApp is an actual communication tool so I'm happy to hold on to that.

At times I do miss Instagram and Facebook but because I deleted the accounts it's not possible to easily jump back in.

The changes I've made so far have done wonders for my mental health, I'm no longer seeing people's highlight reel of their life, or getting distracted or annoyed by their fake outage and virtue signaling.

ArchXStanton

Church on Tuesday wrote: »

I have Facebook but will soon be deleting that private page and keep messenger for friends who live broad. Barely engage with it.

Social Media is a cancer. The novelty factor wore off a long, long time ago and now people are starting to sit up and take notice of the damage it can inflict on the developing mind and indeed people who managed many years without it.

It's the domain of the troll and the sad coward and then on the other spectrum, as others have pointed out, a platform for the insecure and narcissist personalities.

We won't know for a while yet but the mental toll Social Media has taken and is taking on younger people especially will only become more apparent as time goes on.

But fair play to Zuckerberg et al; they gave people the temporary fix they wanted and the platform to project the supposed perfect life whilst making a **** ton of money off the back of that.

Only read the other day of a New Zealand study on the effects it had on young children from using tablets, it wasn't good. The problem is people aren't living in the now anymore, if I met you say 10 years ago walking down the street and said Church wait until you see this, and pulled out a Polaroid photo of my dinner that day... you'd think I was nuts

cj maxx

I have SC , Whats App, insta. And I never use them. Never
Fb I use for photos of faraway cousins and a few old class mates.
Twitter I have but mostly for opening links from the soccer forum. I just know how to use it.
Boards I like as it's an antisocial medium. No names, photos etc . Something I didn't quite realise till too late

Ger Roe

I am old enough to have been around at the start of 'social media'. It was just Bebo and Myspace back then and probably far more social than it is now. Even then, I didn't like the way things were going and I opted out.

I see so many young people so disconnected from reality these days, by using devices that actually could connect them to very positive experiences, but instead the vast scope of available opportunities are locked down and manipulated by big corporation apps designed to keep the focus tight and commercially exploitative. The world is far more than activity on facebook, twitter, instagram etc. Don't give yourself the stress of having to keep up - you really don't have to and will probably be much happier if you don't.

As they used to say in the 60's tune in (to reality) and drop out (of manipulation). There is a wealth of opportunity and knowledge if you use your own free will to explore the internet, instead of being fed a constant stream of social media's view of how the world should be.

That's my philosophy anyway... boards is as close as I get to social media and even then I pick and choose my contributions to only engage in topics that interest me.

One More Toy

Deleted it all 6 months ago. Like another poster I suffer badly from depression and seeing other people on the jet set around the world enjoying their lives made things worse

I don't miss it one bit.

Deleted Facebook, Instagram, snapchat, and LinkedIn

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

I love my Facebook account. It’s becoming a time capsule as I’ve had it for eleven years.

When I a lot younger, I suffered a bit of envy at people’s lives but quickly realised that things are rarely as they seem.

Ger Roe

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

I love my Facebook account. It’s becoming a time capsule as I’ve had it for eleven years.

We had time capsules before facebook, they were called diaries and photo albums:)

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Ger Roe wrote: »

We had time capsules before facebook, they were called diaries and photo albums:)

Why not add another option?

nkl12xtw5goz70

Pineapple1 wrote: »

Im sick of seeing other girls who look like they could never take a bad picture even if they tried hard to.

That's not surprising. A study carried out in the UK by the Royal Society of Public Health and the Youth Health Movement found that social media had a negative effect on young people's mental health and body image, exacerbating feelings of anxiety, depression, and loneliness. Instagram was ranked the worst platform, with Snapchat second-worst. Women are affected more than men by these platforms — and I suspect that being bombarded by constant images of "perfect" looking peers is a big part of that.

More broadly, OP, I'd recommend reading a book called Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport, which advocates the responsible use of digital devices and intentional choices regarding which social media we let into our lives.

BetsyEllen

You don't need to delete, just have a look at who you're following.

I recently had a major 'clearout' as I felt a bit like you, that social media was getting me down.
I unfollowed everyone who didn't make me feel good about myself.
And searched for new accounts whose posts I enjoy seeing.

The only celebrities I follow are ones who genuinely inspire me such as Rozanna Purcell, in fact she may be the only celeb I follow full stop.

The rest are mainly home accounts, people refurbishing old houses as it's something I genuinely have an interest in and I love seeing the makeovers.
Very rarely are there actual human faces on my feed, apart from friends and family, and Instagram is a much more enjoyable place for me to be now.

I also recently you can mute stories, this was a game changer too!

Same on FB, I deleted everyone I don't know in real life and have a very small amount of friends on there now. I only really keep it going as it's handy for special offers from businesses I follow, or menus for local restaurants etc. I never post on it though.

Dial Hard

I can't say I've ever felt a negative effect from social media. On Facebook I'm literally only friends with actual friends on it and none of them are the type who heavily curate their pages to project a certain lifestyle and I only follow food accounts on Instagram. I rarely use Twitter and don't have Snapchat.

I think social media can sometimes magnify people's existing issues but I don't think it causes them. If you're the type of person to constantly compare yourself to others then yeah, it's probably going to make you feel a bit sh*t. But if you're happy, confident and comfortable in yourself then all it is is another communications platform.

gutenberg

Hana Stocky Tack wrote: »

That's not surprising. A study carried out in the UK by the Royal Society of Public Health and the Youth Health Movement found that social media had a negative effect on young people's mental health and body image, exacerbating feelings of anxiety, depression, and loneliness. Instagram was ranked the worst platform, with Snapchat second-worst. Women are affected more than men by these platforms — and I suspect that being bombarded by constant images of "perfect" looking peers is a big part of that.

More broadly, OP, I'd recommend reading a book called Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport, which advocates the responsible use of digital devices and intentional choices regarding which social media we let into our lives.

Cannot recommend this book enough. I read it recently and it has made me more thoughtful about how I use my devices and social media. I deleted the Facebook and Twitter apps off my phone, to help with the mindless scrolling (I've never used Instagram, Snapchat etc.). I also installed a programme called 'Freedom' which blocks specific sites at times you choose, and I started using it in the mornings for example, to stop myself from checking social media when I wake up. I also use it with some news sites, and it has probably helped with my stress levels by not constantly checking for updates (Brexit!).

I don't know if I would delete my accounts wholesale: others have mentioned about using them both for keeping in touch with family overseas - even if a lot of the content is dross - as well as the 'time capsule' idea. But I do want to try and use social media more intentionally.

Incidentally, Cal Newport's next project is apparently about email and its discontents. Can't wait for that, as professionally it's the bane of my existence

The high horse brigade

I was sick and off work for 6 months from oct last year to march this year and got sucked into wasting lots of time on social media so I set a deadline for a cull and carried it out.

On the same day I deleted Facebook, Facebook messenger, WhatsApp, Twitter and Instagram. I setup any blog or feed I want to follow in Feedly, I still use Boards and Reddit and Telegram is the only instant messenger I use.

No more pointless arguments with opinionated ar$eholes on FB and Twitter. No more fake news or clickbait articles. I'm a much happier person now ♪┌|∵|┘♪

gman2k

I deleted FB app from my phone a few years back, and haven't posted anything in over three years.
Even if a friend posts up about something like a parent's death I will not engage by likes or comments - I will pick up the phone and either text them or phone them.
I have retained my FB account purely for membership of certain private groups, for buying and selling or advice on technical interests. I went back over my account and deleted.most content from it also.
I have Instagram and post occasionally, but don't allow comments, and never post anything personal. The recent change to Instagram is better, as your activity is now no longer available to your followers.
I find Twitter good however at keeping up-to-date with what's relevant to me, but I don't follow anybody I know in real life.

Outlaw Pete

I like the concept of Twitter, never used Snapgram, and hate Facebook so never used it beyond having it just so distant family could message me but rarely log-in.

Facebook to me seems a bit like sellotapping your diary and family photo album to the front window of your gaff and if any strangers stop to have a gander, you bang on the window and tell them to clear off and mind their own business.

Westernyelp

Anyone replying to this thread has not gotten rid of all social media

extra gravy

I used to post a bit on Instagram but stopped a while ago. A former friend on it portrays herself as a warm, kind, empathetic person but when I needed her help during a difficult spell in my life she treated me like trash. As others have said, it's the domain of the narcissist.

brevity

Don’t use Facebook and deleted my Instagram app. Only use twitter from the browser and only allowed to use it for an hour a day.

I used to be a lot worse. Had to pack it in as it was making me miserable and bitter

ArchXStanton

extra gravy wrote: »

I used to post a bit on Instagram but stopped a while ago. A former friend on it portrays herself as a warm, kind, empathetic person but when I needed her help during a difficult spell in my life she treated me like trash. As others have said, it's the domain of the narcissist.

I said this on another thread that insta is like flypaper to narcissists, it's a bit sad really

Your Face

I use FB and have really tightened up my profile and friends list. Ill probably keep it.
The only other thing I use is What-app, its very handy.

Irishphotodesk

I have FB on iPad only, and only access it when at home.

Twitter is on iPad and MacBook, tend not to engage on twitter, pointless arguing with people who only want to argue, they never listen to your opinion and are unlikely to be open minded enough to consider they might be incorrect in their thinking/logic.

Dont have insta or the other social media.

Have boards on my phone only.

antimatterx

I deleted Facebook and Snapchat.

I still have the rest - Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, Reddit, Linkedin.

extra gravy

Your Face wrote: »

I use FB and have really tightened up my profile and friends list. Ill probably keep it.
The only other thing I use is What-app, its very handy.

Whatsapp is great once you don't get sucked in to too many group chats, they can be a pain in the hole. I'm in a work one that was initially suppose to be about rotas but has descended into people whinging about everything and asking questions at all hours. Much happier now I've muted it and don't look at it outside work hours.

BDI

What do people get out of these social media things?
I have WhatsApp that’s all I need.

Dial Hard

I have no idea why people consider WhatsApp social media?

Your Face

Dial Hard wrote: »

I have no idea why people consider WhatsApp social media?

No idea at all?

rob316

Honestly I'd love to but it's central to my job social media is. Facebook is essentially for businesses to market on now, it's still the biggest platform but the younger generation are abandoning it for Instagram. Instagram is ten times worse than the poser posts that were on Facebook. Influencer's are the biggest cancer to the online world, I say that as someone who uses them for business gain. You have people living a lifestyle on it that isn't reality and it's effecting the people looking at it.

All I have ever enjoyed on it is seen pictures of my family members living away or I don't see much.

Dial Hard

Your Face wrote: »

No idea at all?

No. It's a messaging app. It's no more a social media platform than SMS was.

Squall Leonhart

Your Face wrote: »

No idea at all?

It's not social media.

It's the ability to send or receive messages directly sent to you by contacts in your phone. There are no walls, you're not scrolling through mindless inane drivel others have posted, or through product promos, or advertisements.

It's a beefed up SMS/MMS service.

The high horse brigade

Dial Hard wrote: »

I have no idea why people consider WhatsApp social media?

It becomes a type of social media when others can add you to groups without your consent an then you can't leave without informing all others in the group you've left

is_that_so

Got rid of FB for personal stuff and manage Twitter feed for non-personal stuff. Never saw any need to get into others, especially the vacuous narcissism of Instagram.

Ursus Horribilis

is_that_so wrote: »

Got rid of FB for personal stuff and manage Twitter feed for non-personal stuff. Never saw any need to get into others, especially the vacuous narcissism of Instagram.

It depends who you're following though. I've no time for people like that so I wouldn't be following them in the first place. I love Instagram but I follow real life friends and interesting feeds, not young ones pulling duck faces. I can't stand Twitter and would nuke it in the morning if I could. I think it, of all the social media platforms, has done the most damage.

I find Facebook a really good way of staying in touch with family and friends who live away. I'm in a few groups which I like but again, they're not contentious sorts of ones.

Wanderer78

Boards is the only social media platform I've ever used, life's too short for the rest

Outlaw Pete

The social aspect of Boards is optional tbf.

Wanderer2010

A dangerous side effect of this mental health exposure of late is the use of social media as a platform for, albeit well-meaning, downright false slogans. Such as "Its ok not to be ok", which would be better changed as "Its ok not to be ok, but its not ok to do nothing about it".
Or the classic "Talk to someone, problem solved". This one is very dangerous. Only a few people are qualified to understand your issues, most people don't know what to say or don't care. A better slogan is "Talk to someone qualified about your mental health issues. If you don't click, keep looking over and over again until you find someone you gel with". Reducing mental health issues to snappy and lazy slogans does more harm than good.

AllForIt

The straw that broke the camels back was, and I was only ever on FB, was my brother got into the habit of posting 'missing persons' news reports to his feed.