Sick of facebook

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lapislazuli

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I’m feeling tired of facebook and media in general. I see an awful lot I don’t agree with in today’s media. After a while it becomes frustrating to try to have a media interest at all so I’m thinking about deactivating my FB page.

Has anyone done this? It’s not really for political reasons it’s more that media in general has made me way too reactive to what other people are doing. I’d like to keep using the net/message boards/etc but I find on FB I’m tempted to waste time posting pictures and etc. it’s hard to express I’m just tired of it. There’ve been threads about this but I’ve thought about it enough I want to try deactivating of the account temporarily and see - that is an option. mostly, I feel that I’ve been very distressed and FB use/media preoccupation has been a part of this, I think it’s been both cause and effect.
 
I haven’t used FB for at least six months. Used it only at the urging of H.S. classmates prior to a class reunion.

Soon I will deactivate it entirely. It has no value to me.
 
I had FB for a little over a year. I decided to start an account because I was out of basic training and was now in tech school for the Air Force. I was isolated from friends and family but was allowed internet access in my room. I started a FB page to keep in touch with everyone easily.

It became highly addictive and impersonal. I decided to deactivate it. That was about 2 years ago.

It’s actually quite liberating to not have FB. I didn’t like what people were posting when it came to politics or religion. I didn’t like how public it was…even with privacy settings in place. I didn’t like the artificial lives people were concocting about themselves.

It’s not hard to stop using FB. I just decided to deactivate my account one day and haven’t looked back since.
 
lapislazuli said:
I’m feeling tired of facebook and media in general. I see an awful lot I don’t agree with in today’s media. After a while it becomes frustrating to try to have a media interest at all so I’m thinking about deactivating my FB page.

Has anyone done this? It’s not really for political reasons it’s more that media in general has made me way too reactive to what other people are doing. I’d like to keep using the net/message boards/etc but I find on FB I’m tempted to waste time posting pictures and etc. it’s hard to express I’m just tired of it. There’ve been threads about this but I’ve thought about it enough I want to try deactivating of the account temporarily and see - that is an option. mostly, I feel that I’ve been very distressed and FB use/media preoccupation has been a part of this, I think it’s been both cause and effect.
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Unless you find yourself being a force for good and actually changing people and things for the better, you probably are wasting time. Communication of persuasion does require strategy and is an art. Simply having an on-line presence isn’t enough for most.

I grew up with the internet and I’ve learned to limit my on-line posting to a few sites where I can make a difference.

Personally, I’ve found facebook to bring out the worst in friends and family and plays a role in people acting disingenuous. They’ll rant and rave rudely all over the place and then act awkward when they see you in person or pretend like it never happened. Like you just ran into the kid who bullied you in third grade at age 31 in the grocery store. :rolleyes:

I may use a facebook profile in the same manner as linkedin, which would allow me to add some more photos, but that’s all for now.
 
I got off of FB about two years ago.Found it to be a waste of time,besides,I got really tired of people posting their every move and what they ate and were planning to eat:rolleyes:
Add to that a few family members,who were very out their with their liberal politics,that i decided better to just go away than risk a big fat argument with them;)
 
Kelfa28 said:
It became highly addictive and impersonal. I decided to deactivate it. That was about 2 years ago.

It’s actually quite liberating to not have FB. I didn’t like what people were posting when it came to politics or religion. I didn’t like how public it was…even with privacy settings in place. I didn’t like the artificial lives people were concocting about themselves.

It’s not hard to stop using FB. I just decided to deactivate my account one day and haven’t looked back since.
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this is what I was trying to say. your feedback completely resonates with me. I feel addictive and impersonal is a good description. I don’t have the problem with people I know, I actually have it with celebrities. People I’ve been fans of a long time and then I find how much of their persona is just image. I know I could stay on FB and unfriend the celebs but it made FB feel unwelcoming. It’s not about religion or politics, it’s about feeling that celebrity caring seems really fake and indirect. I’d rather not get those kind of “updates” at all.

In other areas FB groups and etc. just never made the impact I hoped they would.
 
Jeanne_S said:
I got off of FB about two years ago.Found it to be a waste of time,besides,I got really tired of people posting their every move and what they ate and were planning to eat:rolleyes:
Add to that a few family members,who were very out there with their liberal politics,that i decided better to just go away than risk a big fat argument with them;)
Click to expand...
 
SuperLuigi said:
Unless you find yourself being a force for good and actually changing people and things for the better, you probably are wasting time. Communication of persuasion does require strategy and is an art. Simply having an on-line presence isn’t enough for most.

I grew up with the internet and I’ve learned to limit my on-line posting to a few sites where I can make a difference.

Personally, I’ve found facebook to bring out the worst in friends and family and plays a role in people acting disingenuous. They’ll rant and rave rudely all over the place and then act awkward when they see you in person or pretend like it never happened. Like you just ran into the kid who bullied you in third grade at age 31 in the grocery store. :rolleyes:

I may use a facebook profile in the same manner as linkedin, which would allow me to add some more photos, but that’s all for now.
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I think even for very famous people the ability to communicate effectively is really limited. I’ve found on FB and the internet people state their opinions and it seems rare anyone really convinces anyone else to change their mind. It is also easy to get angry about politics.

as far as making a positive difference, no way is that happening, although I wanted it to. that’s part of why I want to get off. the push to do more IRL if I’m not online will be good for me.
 
lapislazuli said:
I’m feeling tired of facebook and media in general. I see an awful lot I don’t agree with in today’s media. After a while it becomes frustrating to try to have a media interest at all so I’m thinking about deactivating my FB page.

Has anyone done this? It’s not really for political reasons it’s more that media in general has made me way too reactive to what other people are doing. I’d like to keep using the net/message boards/etc but I find on FB I’m tempted to waste time posting pictures and etc. it’s hard to express I’m just tired of it. There’ve been threads about this but I’ve thought about it enough I want to try deactivating of the account temporarily and see - that is an option. mostly, I feel that I’ve been very distressed and FB use/media preoccupation has been a part of this, I think it’s been both cause and effect.
Click to expand...
Face Book, Twitter, etc. are the most idiotic toys ever invented. Why make the boobs who invent such trivia rich?

Linus2nd
 
I know exactly what you mean. I hate that I waste time on it, but at the same time, I can’t bring myself to deactivate it. I think it will be especially difficult to deactivate it when I graduate from college in 6 months - I think of it too much as a means of keeping track of people. I suppose really the only people I should worry about are the ones who are my closest friends, but I feel like with facebook, I keep track of people who I no longer talk to, but who I am interested in what they are doing.

I suppose if I really wanted to get rid of facebook, I could ask these people for their e-mails. And then I could still keep in contact with them. I don’t know. But for the time being at least, I think it will be easier to just keep track of them via facebook. I don’t know, does that sound creepy? Hahaha. In any case, although I fail pretty badly right now, it at least gives me the opportunity to discipline myself and to utilize my self control in regard to internet usage. If I can take advantage of that, then I will be perfectly fine with not deactivating my facebook!
 
Linusthe2nd said:
Face Book, Twitter, etc. are the most idiotic toys ever invented. Why make the boobs who invent such trivia rich?

Linus2nd
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I know facebook can be used excessively too, but I think Twitter especially lends itself toward excessive/pointless use. I mean, the way I see it, facebook is more a way of keeping in contact with people. However, Twitter is like updating every little detail of your life, and in that case, I think it is “idiotic” as well.
 
I dropped my Facebook account after about 6 months. I found that I was developing frequent contacts with people that I hadn’t spoken to in real life for nearly 15-20 years. And when I dropped the Facebook, those people disappeared again. It was all very superficial. I needed to spend those precious minutes elsewhere, like with my family or even neighbours who were part of my real life.

Good for you. The world needs more “real”. I guess the Catholic take on it is that we will have to account for our time one day…
 
lapislazuli said:
I feel that I’ve been very distressed and FB use/media preoccupation has been a part of this, I think it’s been both cause and effect.
Click to expand...
I was a part of the FB loop for a couple of years. A nice way to keep in touch with relatives at first, but then some not so nice things began to happen. There was someone I worked with who was a complete horror during the day, and at night would post scripture! :banghead:

I go months without looking at it now. No… I don’t want to play bejeweled with you, and NO I don’t want a supermarket chain or “Save the Barn Swallows” to have access to my personal information or to post anything on anyone elses page on my behalf! :takethat:

It has brought a nice measure of relief for me, and, so it would seem, to others in here.

FB is a tool. If it doesn’t work for you, lose it! 👍
 
Deactivation is a good way to go if you’re not sure about quitting cold turkey. It helped me detach more and more.

I was going to completely delete my page back in October, but decided against it. However, I’m using it as I’ve learned to do over a span of time that started back more than a year ago with some times of deactivation. I’m pretty sure now that I’ve gotten to the place where I know how to use the optimal privacy settings, and to not go on it just mindlessly or too often.

My issues were often political - but now I’ve learned the setting to not get the news feeds from the liberals! 😃 (Some of whom, had I known what I was letting myself in for, I just shouldn’t have included in the first place on FB - we do okay in real life, talk about other things usually.)

Another thing I’ve started doing is going back and deleting old content routinely. That helps me feel like I have more privacy and control over what’s seen. And I don’t have a lot of pictures, and none of my real self. Grumpy Cat serves fine as an avatar. I delete photos when I’m done with them too.
 
I went through and got rid of some friends I hadn’t had contact with, and I don’t have that many friends. the only thing I would want to keep it for is a beautiful astronomy page that is only available on FB, google, and twitter, and the FB display is the best. Other than that I can’t see much of a reason. if I can deactivate my page and still view theirs it would be great.
 
One thing that helped me a bit with Facebook was blocking certain content from some people, and blocking others altogether. Once there was no way for me to see them and their posts, and vice versa, it made it much less stressful. I’m at the point where I’m about to revise what I see from some people and delete a few others, but I haven’t been quite motivated enough to do it.

Something I find fascinating is, as Kelfa28 mentioned, the tendency for some people to concoct entirely new lives/personas for themselves on Facebook. I don’t get the point of that. I’ll post some things that are glaringly untrue and intended as jokes, but otherwise I don’t see the point in not being myself on there. If someone doesn’t like me as I really am, they’re free to delete me. Others, though, present this saccharine, sterilized, rose-colored view of their lives that’s hard to stomach at times. I’m not saying they should air dirty laundry, and I get that most people are going to post about their positive experiences more than the negative, but I know a lot of these folks well enough to know that they don’t jump out of bed with every hair in place, make their families a five course breakfast while sporting a perfect, glittering smile, then drive the kids to school, clean the house, do the shopping, run a marathon, type the minutes from the PTA meeting in triplicate, feed the poor, shelter the homeless and fix the Obamacare website all before it’s time to get the kids from school, every single day. I see them at the store or in the parking lot after school, so I know that a lot of days they can’t be motivated to change out of their sweats, or have to wear a cap or scarf to cover up the fact that their morning was a mess and they never found time for a shower. I don’t really need to hear about the baby screaming and the car breaking down, but I’d rather hear that than read these self-aggrandizing fairy tales.
 
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