Anyone ever leave Social Media behind?

[bikingjahuty]

I'm not heavily connected into social media, but I have a Facebook profile I've used fairly regularly for the past 12-years or so. I've been so sick of Facebook for years that I've given serious thought into deleting it on multiple occasions. Recently that desire has been ever stronger due to constant COVID-19 shit, politics being woven into COVID, tons of ads, and then even more politics in the form of ads and "friends" posting political shit related to the news and the upcoming election. I'm honestly sick of it all, and this isn't the first time I've reached this point.


You're probably wondering why I haven't already left Facebook if I feel this way. I belong to an amazing local gaming group that has been very active for years, and beyond video game discussions, we also have meetups and do a fair amount of buying, selling and trading through the group. This Facebook group has literally been the only reason I've kept my Facebook profile, but sadly it's starting to not even seem worth all the rest of the bullshit on Facebook that gets shoved into my face.


Beyond looking for thoughts and advice on my specific situation, has anyone here made the decision to disconnect from social media completely, or at the very least a specific site? Was it a difficult decision? Did you feel happier afterwards? Tell me your experience if you've been in this situation.

[98dgreen]

I have never had Facebook or Twitter.

[wartoy]

Me personally I've never used social media,although my girlfriend can't live without it and neither can my kids.I see all the drama it can cause and I rather be drama free.

[dakooldood]

Oh yeah, I'd honestly recommend doing so. I left Twitter a while back because that's about the most toxic mainstream platform. I found myself seeing people fighting ALL THE TIME over stupid stuff, then getting really depressed because I felt like humanity was declining beyond repair. Dramatic, I know, but leaving Twitter was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I wasn't addicted to Facebook like I was Twitter, but I was sick and tired of seeing politics all over the place. I was following some local game and comic stores that would post new items and sales on their pages, so I deactivated my old account, made a new one under a fake name so nobody would try and friend me, then followed those same pages. I don't know if the group that you are in is private, but maybe you can message the owners and ask them to let you in?

[stealthrush]

Never had Twitter, although I did use Facebook years ago like yourself mostly to keep in contact with co-workers at the time. The past five years or so I also abandoned it mostly because I felt it was vapid and filled with shallow narcissistic individuals who feel the compulsive need to report/text every minuscule detail about their mundane life to the world. The only reason why I still have an (inactive) account is to sell/buy/trade video game and keep in distant contact with extended family.

As for the COVID-19 drama I stay away from all discussion since mostly they are coming from a hive-minded people, and/or they are bots especially prevalent on Reddit. Facebook would be the last place I interact with political discussions. Although I do share and post my political beliefs on Mewe, a more smaller social media circle.

[bikingjahuty]

Oh yeah, I'd honestly recommend doing so. I left Twitter a while back because that's about the most toxic mainstream platform. I found myself seeing people fighting ALL THE TIME over stupid stuff, then getting really depressed because I felt like humanity was declining beyond repair. Dramatic, I know, but leaving Twitter was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I wasn't addicted to Facebook like I was Twitter, but I was sick and tired of seeing politics all over the place. I was following some local game and comic stores that would post new items and sales on their pages, so I deactivated my old account, made a new one under a fake name so nobody would try and friend me, then followed those same pages. I don't know if the group that you are in is private, but maybe you can message the owners and ask them to let you in?

I generally don't like people, but social media makes me lose pretty all my faith in humanity. It gives even decent people a platform to spew all their most private opinions and beliefs, which is often a recipe to ruin your otherwise good opinion of them. I've never had a Twitter account, but have gone on there for various reasons over the years and it seems 10x more toxic then Facebook.


My only issue with creating a fake account in order to belong to that group is I still get all the ads, which at this point is half the problem. Facebook is very intrusive upon your personal data, browsing history, or any other info they feel they can use to advertise to you. I'm pretty sure if I left Facebook it would be forever.

[dakooldood]

My only issue with creating a fake account in order to belong to that group is I still get all the ads, which at this point is half the problem. Facebook is very intrusive upon your personal data, browsing history, or any other info they feel they can use to advertise to you. I'm pretty sure if I left Facebook it would be forever.

Ah, I got you. Yeah, I totally get what you mean about that. It seems to me like the fake account would be better than what you have right now though. At least eliminate some of the problems.

[Cartagia]

I’ve come really close to deleting Facebook a few times now, but there’s just enough friends that I only have contact through there, along with one or two groups.  I do a fair amount of meme creation and sharing (along with cat photos) on Instagram.

Twitter is where I spend most of my time now, but it’s mostly to follow podcasts, movie news, etc.

[Warmsignal]

Add me to team no account. I've never had Facebook, Twitter, or any of those other newer ones people use. Instagram? I don't even know what that is. I'm not trying to sound old-fashioned, I just don't care about it. If people want to keep in contact with me, they can text or call me. I have little desire to make myself public online, or to get wrapped up in the drama or the wasting of time. As far as the benefits of having it, I don't really know what I'm missing, so I don't miss it.

[oldgamerz]

Facebook ads are generated if  by what you clicked like on mostly, or sometimes.

it's not a good idea to have a Facebook account and tell people all your personal business, it's good for business if you know what you're doing. However it's not good for people to click add friend to a bunch of strangers

[NickAwesome]

I'd recommend just muting your feed so it just shows gaming related posts.  I did that and it is much more tolerable.  Now 90% of what I see is gaming related.

[tripredacus]

I use facebook perhaps once a week. Just to change my picture and then I will use the site to see what other people post but maybe just a few posts. The reasons for me is that Facebook soured themselves to me when they told me to allow domain filter for XSS when I had a support case open with them. The other problem that Facebook has is the site performs terribly. Prior to "the thing" I did use it for events, mostly pinball related ones.

I did give up on Myspace and my three accounts. Does that count?
I was banned on a forum "for life" but was able to get back after 10 years. Forums are my preferred form of social media, of which I've not given up on them yet. The only other thing I use is twitter, unless Twitch counts.

[droaa]

Despite having a Facebook account and Instagram, I never really used them in the time since registering. Even going back to MySpace I had it despite never really using it although this was the only account I ever deleted. I have FB mainly cuz of messenger with 2 groups of friends and that is what we use to communicate otherwise I haven't actively been on the feed since maybe when I first started using it. I tried to be more active in both but nothing. The only one I really used with frequency is Twitter and I had fun with it. There have been times I had been off of it due to reasons but I like to use to chat with a friend or 2 through the DMs so even if im not the feed, I still use the DMs. I got off though when COVID 19 started to become serious and it got depressing the amount of information coming in so fast. Not so much people's reaction to it or how its a hoax. I can leave Insta no problem, FB has purpose with messenger and I still have a few good people I interact with on Twitter so while I have considered leaving, I never really used them like that so having them up seems harmless to me.

[tpugmire]

I deactivated my Facebook account a few years ago and haven’t looked back. I still have a Instagram account that I rarely use to post anything. It’s generally used to follow a bunch of gaming sites. I’ve never been the kind to offer my opinion on much of anything, so social media isn’t really my thing. I do miss being able to see what certain people are up to, but the sheer amount of political garbage on Facebook makes it not worthwhile to me.

[SilverBow]

I deleted my Facebook and Twitter accounts because of the lies and censorship.

To seek the truth, I use the Wall Street Journal, Brietbart News, Fox Business News, NHK World, and common sense & logic.

For levity in these trying times, I watch “The Greg Gutfeld Show” on Fox News and read “Stilton’s Place” blog at http://stiltonsplace.blogspot.com/

This is all that is required to stay informed and “connected”.