Author Topic: Got rid of Facebook  (Read 35113 times)

slappy

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Got rid of Facebook
« on: August 02, 2017, 05:59:15 AM »
Last week I deactivated my Facebook.  I was finding myself spending so much time on it and getting very little value. I would get so annoyed at the stupid shit people would post. This is obviously more my personal issue than an inherent issue with Facebook, but I'm happy to not have to deal with it anymore. I do miss the mustachian groups and the ChooseFI group.  I barely even keep my phone near me anymore. If someone texts or calls, I get a notification on my fitbit, as long as I am in the house and my phone is in the house. It's been very freeing. Anyone else have a similar experience of getting rid of Facebook?

Luckyvik

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2017, 06:15:42 AM »
I haven't got rid of it but I'm thinking about it, I have unfollowed or unfriended a lot of people on it as One person kept posting about injustices in the world that Just got me depressed and many posted about shit their kid did ( I still follow some family that I actually care about their kids).


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Lepetitange3

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2017, 06:24:36 AM »
I haven't had Facebook in 4 years and have been happy every day.  Close friends and family text or call or email me if they want to chat or update.  Facebook is just for show a lot of times and the interaction isn't meaningful. 

MasterStache

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2017, 06:32:46 AM »
I got rid of it for 3 years. Only recently went back to catch up with old military friends and extended family. Plus I started selling some wood furniture that I make. It's another avenue of advertisement. I maintain a small group of less than 100 actual friends.

merlin7676

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #4 on: August 02, 2017, 08:12:05 AM »
Yup. Was tired of all the political posts and people taking pictures of the snow and their food another stupid sh!t.  Decided in February I was done.  I still log on about once or twice a month for literally 2 or 3 minutes. Just to check on any invites and to see if anybody died or something significant like that I should know about.
Ironically I still have people on there that try to friend request me even though I'm pretty much inactive.

After about 2 weeks I didn't even find myself missing it or the drama that comes with it.  About a month and a half after I stopped, my DH also decided it wasn't worth it so he stopped using it as well. I don't think he even bothers to get on at all now.

As far as your comment about the phone...yeah I am sick of those too. Or I should say I'm sick of the walking zombies that phones create. Can't go anywhere (bus, sidewalk, restaurant, ect) without everybody's head bent over their phone. Particularly annoying when I'm either running or walking and people just stop where ever they are staring at their phone or bumping into you b/c they aren't looking at where they are going. Finally got tired of it so I don't move out of the way anymore.

slappy

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #5 on: August 02, 2017, 08:21:13 AM »


As far as your comment about the phone...yeah I am sick of those too. Or I should say I'm sick of the walking zombies that phones create. Can't go anywhere (bus, sidewalk, restaurant, ect) without everybody's head bent over their phone. Particularly annoying when I'm either running or walking and people just stop where ever they are staring at their phone or bumping into you b/c they aren't looking at where they are going. Finally got tired of it so I don't move out of the way anymore.

Yup that was me! My husband doesn't do facebook much, but he does something worse. He plays these stupid games on his phone. It's super annoying because if I ask him to put the phone away, he has to finish the game. Where at least when I was scrolling facebook and he asked me to put it away, I could do immediately.

bunchbikes

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #6 on: August 02, 2017, 09:15:01 AM »
Last week I deactivated my Facebook.  I was finding myself spending so much time on it and getting very little value. I would get so annoyed at the stupid shit people would post. This is obviously more my personal issue than an inherent issue with Facebook, but I'm happy to not have to deal with it anymore. I do miss the mustachian groups and the ChooseFI group.  I barely even keep my phone near me anymore. If someone texts or calls, I get a notification on my fitbit, as long as I am in the house and my phone is in the house. It's been very freeing. Anyone else have a similar experience of getting rid of Facebook?

3 years ago I turned off Facebook.

I was on a career path, and wasn't advancing as fast as I wanted to.  I had friends achieving things that I hadn't yet done, and I became jealous and resentful, and it began to degrade my self-esteem.  Being on Facebook didn't make me happy.

I went through a couple weeks of withdrawl after deleting my account, but then it was like a weight had been lifted off of me. It was very freeing.

I got back on 2 months ago, as Facebook would not allow me to create a page for my business without also having a personal account. Now, I'm no longer in that career path, and am doing my own thing, and am 100% happy with where I'm at.  I can reconnect with friends, see what they're doing, and genuinely celebrate their successes with them.  I'd say it's a positive addition to my life now.  Of course... I've blocked the overly political relatives.

minimalistgamer

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #7 on: August 02, 2017, 05:25:52 PM »
I have my Facebook, but I stopped using it after the election. Ever since the election, Facebook has become nauseating.

I am not a citizen of the US and I work in IT, so most of my friends and coworkers are total leftists. The insanity has reached record levels. I don't buy into the fear mongering, and it makes people really mad that I am not outraged. "How can a person of color ever be OK with this??!!" They scream...well, just because I am brown doesn't mean I am an idiot. Haha!

Either way, not caring about other people's political opinions is a wonderful thing. It has definitely made me a more positive person because I only worry about things I am in control of.

Monocle Money Mouth

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #8 on: August 03, 2017, 04:25:31 AM »
I haven't completely deactivated my account, but I did remove the app from my phone. I also purged a lot of "friends". I never had a ludicrous number of friends, but I culled the herd to people I actually care about and have hidden anybody's posts that I don't care to see but don't want to unfriend. Sadly, that includes my mom. All she posts is garbage.

I still use it to share photos, but Facebook has mostly become a garbage dump of shitty memes, poorly reasoned political rants, and people and companies trying to promote themselves.

I haven't completely extracted myself from Facebook, but I haven't spent nearly as much time on it as I did in the past. I am much happier now.

slappy

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #9 on: August 03, 2017, 05:44:25 AM »
I haven't completely deactivated my account, but I did remove the app from my phone. I also purged a lot of "friends". I never had a ludicrous number of friends, but I culled the herd to people I actually care about and have hidden anybody's posts that I don't care to see but don't want to unfriend. Sadly, that includes my mom. All she posts is garbage.

I still use it to share photos, but Facebook has mostly become a garbage dump of shitty memes, poorly reasoned political rants, and people and companies trying to promote themselves.

I haven't completely extracted myself from Facebook, but I haven't spent nearly as much time on it as I did in the past. I am much happier now.

Haha. I actually kind of miss the memes!

Snow

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #10 on: August 03, 2017, 05:58:53 AM »
I never had the full app on my phone, but I do have the messenger app. I find that because I rarely get contacted, and it is usually a friend asking for something specific, or talking about an upcoming event I am participating in, it was much more efficient for me to have the messenger app without the extra fluff. That way I get a little red dot on the icon on my phone if someone is talking to me, but no noise or notification distracting from my work day. I don't have to check into the time-waster every day either, to see if a friend has asked a question.

Maybe if more people start spamming my messenger continuously, I will consider removing myself from that too. But for now, I get what I want with none of the extra bullshit. Yay!

Optimiser

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #11 on: August 03, 2017, 07:04:57 AM »
I stopped using Facebook in January and have been very happy with the decision.

ponyboy

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #12 on: August 03, 2017, 07:50:31 AM »
Last week you deactivated?  I deactivated mine 7 years ago, lol.  What a colossal waste of time.  I couldnt care less what my goofball friends are doing.  There actually isnt a single person I care enough about where I want to see them holding up an alcoholic drink, posting pictures of food or their kids...or complaining about something.

Car Jack

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #13 on: August 03, 2017, 08:03:01 AM »
I let facebook deactivate it for me.  They demanded I send them a govt issued ID picture proving that my username was my name.  F them.  I sent a picture of one of my guitars and they actually looked at it and again demanded an ID.  I stopped using it.  Life is better.  FB can go into the toilet and become a zero value company as far as I'm concerned.

DarkandStormy

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #14 on: August 03, 2017, 08:06:11 AM »
Facebook is just for show a lot of times and the interaction isn't meaningful.

Reminds me of the end of Bo Burnham's "Make Happy" (on Netflix or in various forms on YouTube).

Bo basically became famous because of his songs on YouTube, but he reveals in his last stand up special (which is essentially a goodbye to him performing) that he hated parts of becoming famous.  So this thing, social media, that was a gift for him being able to perform for the masses and make money was also his curse.  He also discusses the prison of social media - audience and performer are all one now and so much of social media is "fake" since we control what we put out there for our "audience."  Very thought-provoking, imo.

EllieStan

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #15 on: August 03, 2017, 09:20:22 AM »
I got rid of my personal Facebook account more than a year ago. What drove me to this decision was that I felt I knew too much about other people's lives, even though I barely saw them in real life. It felt weird and awkward in family gatherings (''Oh! I haven't seen you in over 2 years, but no need to tell me about your life, I know everything already!''). I myself rarely posted anything on Facebook, especially pictures, but even then I didn't feel others were interested in knowing about my life when we met. I started to realize Facebook was pretty much nurturing one-way relationships and I didn't want to witness this grand self-marketing process anymore. I was hoping for more meaningful relationships and discussions.

I moved to another city in 2016, and before I did, I wrote to every single person on Facebook (mostly childhood friends and family) to let them know my new address and phone number and asking for theirs. I wonder if more than 5 people cared to answer. Taught me a lesson or two about friendship and what I value in adult relationships.

pachnik

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #16 on: August 03, 2017, 09:33:22 AM »
I am pretty new to Facebook.  Got an account about a year or two ago. 

From the beginning, I've felt very on and off with it.  For one thing, I am very hesitant to post anything myself.  And then, for a while I liked seeing the pictures of extended family's kids.   Also, often as I was logging in to Facebook I could sense anxious feelings rising in me.   So about a month or so ago I stopped logging in.   

It is a strange thing for me to know about what different FB 'friends' are doing day to day, yet I know they really aren't interested in getting together with me or phoning me to talk and I feel kind of the same way about them.   

ptobest

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #17 on: August 03, 2017, 10:02:23 AM »
I have mixed feelings about Facebook. On the one hand, it can be a huge timesuck, but on the other hand, I've reconnected with people from other times in my life which has been a positive experience, and I get value out of the groups that I'm in.

One thing that's made it significantly more tolerable is the Facebook Purity Chrome extension: http://www.fbpurity.com/

Along with unfollowing people who aren't relevant to me, I use the extension to hide videos, content from various sites, Facebook widgets I don't really care about, etc., which cleans the experience up significantly.

Sailor Sam

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #18 on: August 03, 2017, 12:19:57 PM »
I had a facebook account eons ago, when it first started to over take My Space. So, around 2008?

Within a year I realized:

1. The super!quick witty banter of my friends made me feel dumb and left out

2. I do not desire any contact with people I went to elem-high-olage with. Hated you then, unwilling to forgive you now.

3. I do not give a shit about other people's children.

4. I'm a socially uninterested/ing and miserable human being.

BUT I'm a much calmer and happier miserable human being without facebook. So I deleted my account around 2009. Lately I've also realized:

1. Most socialization now happens on facebook, and I'm increasingly being left behind, or left out from, my peer group and wider social movements

2. And that I'm increasingly losing any fluency I might have developed re: how the fuck the social site, and more broadly technology integrated with the sites, actually function, and in 20 years I'll be totally reliant on all those children I refused to coo over as babies to use, or even turn on my embedded iChip.

3. Thus, I will have finally turned into my mother.

So, there's that.

powskier

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #19 on: August 03, 2017, 02:42:06 PM »
Love keeping up with friends and family from afar but hate the time suck,politics, discussions that aren't discussions, but most of all hate that my attention is the product being sold
Deleted it from my phone and have a time limit per week on computer. 1 hr.

Great book "Irresistible, the rise of addictive technology and the business of keeping us hooked" by Adam Alter was eye opening.

Monocle Money Mouth

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #20 on: August 03, 2017, 02:54:09 PM »
I haven't completely deactivated my account, but I did remove the app from my phone. I also purged a lot of "friends". I never had a ludicrous number of friends, but I culled the herd to people I actually care about and have hidden anybody's posts that I don't care to see but don't want to unfriend. Sadly, that includes my mom. All she posts is garbage.

I still use it to share photos, but Facebook has mostly become a garbage dump of shitty memes, poorly reasoned political rants, and people and companies trying to promote themselves.

I haven't completely extracted myself from Facebook, but I haven't spent nearly as much time on it as I did in the past. I am much happier now.

Haha. I actually kind of miss the memes!

I don't mind clever memes, but the ones that drive me crazy are those Minion memes. I think I've finally blocked or unfriended all the sources of minion memes in my life.

ZiziPB

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #21 on: August 03, 2017, 03:04:15 PM »
I deleted my FB account almost 2 years ago and have not been tempted to go back even once!  I realized that FB didn't add any value to my life and quite often made me feel inferior and envious for no good reason.  The people I care about in my life stay in touch through Skype, phone, e-mail, etc.   

lizzzi

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #22 on: August 03, 2017, 03:07:00 PM »
I never really got into it in the first place--my "friends" are the people I talk to at their houses, or sit and drink wine with on our screened porches--or in the back yard by a camp fire. Or who I go kayaking with, or sing in the church choir with. I don't much care about barely-know-them acquaintances' political views, or computer game scores, or pictures of their drinking on vacations. I don't care about my brother's ex-girlfriend's horses--and this girlfriend is from back in the day around 30 years ago. It's nice I suppose that people put up lovely, obviously carefully-curated photos of their perfect families and perfect homes and perfect social occasions--great PR for them--but I don't really care. Fake Book has just never interested me much...I don't get the point.

And people glued to their phones so they don't know what's going on around them is another pet peeve--but I guess that's for another thread. Do these people not have real lives?

neonlight

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #23 on: August 04, 2017, 09:07:41 PM »
I stopped using in about 5 years ago, except for the occasional needs.

It's appalling people spend so much time decorating themselves online. Do you really need the whole to know u r having fun to have fun? I am for occasional sharing but not an all out "show off" post whenever you go for vacation or your dog is celebrating his anniversary.

NeonPegasus

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #24 on: August 04, 2017, 09:16:51 PM »
I deactivated my account two weeks ago. I felt like it was wasting time, it was leading me to feel unhappy by comparing myself to others, and it was causing some of the people I really care about to use Facebook as a substitute for real contact and interaction.


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Travis

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #25 on: August 05, 2017, 12:27:17 AM »
I have mixed feelings about Facebook. On the one hand, it can be a huge timesuck, but on the other hand, I've reconnected with people from other times in my life which has been a positive experience, and I get value out of the groups that I'm in.

One thing that's made it significantly more tolerable is the Facebook Purity Chrome extension: http://www.fbpurity.com/

Along with unfollowing people who aren't relevant to me, I use the extension to hide videos, content from various sites, Facebook widgets I don't really care about, etc., which cleans the experience up significantly.

I'll have to try this out. My chief complaint about Facebook these days is that 75% of what I see is advertisements or what other people are "liking" which is really just another form of advertising. I hate having to hunt for the 3 or 4 items I want to read in a sea of other people's crap.

neonlight

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #26 on: August 05, 2017, 02:21:24 AM »
I have mixed feelings about Facebook. On the one hand, it can be a huge timesuck, but on the other hand, I've reconnected with people from other times in my life which has been a positive experience, and I get value out of the groups that I'm in.

One thing that's made it significantly more tolerable is the Facebook Purity Chrome extension: http://www.fbpurity.com/

Along with unfollowing people who aren't relevant to me, I use the extension to hide videos, content from various sites, Facebook widgets I don't really care about, etc., which cleans the experience up significantly.

I'll have to try this out. My chief complaint about Facebook these days is that 75% of what I see is advertisements or what other people are "liking" which is really just another form of advertising. I hate having to hunt for the 3 or 4 items I want to read in a sea of other people's crap.

Is it also like that when you use FB on a frequent basis? I once complained to friends and they said I got that because I only use it almost once or twice a month and hence the FB bot or AI got screwed up and dump Ads instead. Well you never know.

Beach_Stache

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #27 on: August 05, 2017, 08:10:32 AM »
I haven't gotten rid of mine but I deleted the app from my phone as in those 30 seconds of downtime I would go through.  So once/month or so I login to accept new friend requests b/c I don't want to be rude and after scrolling through for 5 minutes I've had my fix for the next few months.  I really just use facebook as my photo album and if my wife takes a good picture I have her tag me in it (she uses facebook a lot more than me) and so whenever I'm on it I end up going through my pictures of my kids and family rather than seeing what everyone else had for lunch :)  I like to call "facebook family" on many of the posts, whenever I see a fabricated photo that you know was not candid and took about 50 tries, I call it "facebook family".  Of course nobody would post a bad picture of themselves, but I see people post about their amazing spouse or kids or whatever, why not just tell them...  Especially after seeing "facebook family" photo's and then hearing about that couple getting separated a week later you can see how full of it so many people are.  It's a time suck that generally just makes you want for what those people have.  You see people going out or taking a vacation and you want that, it just makes you depressed thinking about what others have in their "facebook family" that you don't, when people are really just trying to one up each other and show how happy they are.  I won't delete it as I like it as a photo album but I'm certainly past the point of logging in more than once every month or so.  I do my 5 minutes and I'm over it, see you again in Sept Facebook!

Travis

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #28 on: August 05, 2017, 10:13:27 AM »
I have mixed feelings about Facebook. On the one hand, it can be a huge timesuck, but on the other hand, I've reconnected with people from other times in my life which has been a positive experience, and I get value out of the groups that I'm in.

One thing that's made it significantly more tolerable is the Facebook Purity Chrome extension: http://www.fbpurity.com/

Along with unfollowing people who aren't relevant to me, I use the extension to hide videos, content from various sites, Facebook widgets I don't really care about, etc., which cleans the experience up significantly.

I'll have to try this out. My chief complaint about Facebook these days is that 75% of what I see is advertisements or what other people are "liking" which is really just another form of advertising. I hate having to hunt for the 3 or 4 items I want to read in a sea of other people's crap.

Is it also like that when you use FB on a frequent basis? I once complained to friends and they said I got that because I only use it almost once or twice a month and hence the FB bot or AI got screwed up and dump Ads instead. Well you never know.

I'm on it a couple times a day for a few minutes.  It's not just literal ads, but if someone at some point in their life "liked" McDonalds, then whatever McDonalds recently put on their FB will show up on my feed. This new browser extension seems to be helping so far.

Rimu05

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #29 on: August 08, 2017, 01:52:30 PM »
Do people here know you can unfollow people without unfriending them? I have done so with friends.

To be honest though, facebook is an outlet for my weird thoughts and observations. I'm that friend that posts things like

"It's occurred to me I have no idea what Elton John looks like without sunglasses, does he even have eyes?"

"I don't think I'm Americanized enough. I need to take a DNA test and start saying things like I'm 1/8th Congolese, 1/6th Danish, Some West African and my great great great grandmother was Native American."

FireHiker

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #30 on: August 08, 2017, 02:23:10 PM »
Discovering I can unfollow people is the only reason I still have facebook. Unfollowing my mother was the absolute best thing ever wrt facebook. I think she likes and shares everything that mentions Jesus, Veterans, dogs, foster kids, "I bet no one will share this". One year on Veteran's day she shared 17 different pictures with a Veteran's Day reference on them.

I like facebook for keeping in touch with specific people, but after the election I scaled back my frequency dramatically and even stopped checking it at all for about a month. I found I was much happier and less stressed. I still have the app but it's not on my first page and I check it a lot less often. Kudos to those of you who've managed to let it go completely. I think the local Buy Nothing group will keep me from ever deleting it, but if it had a different platform I might.

Travis

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #31 on: August 08, 2017, 02:29:10 PM »
Do people here know you can unfollow people without unfriending them? I have done so with friends.



Tracking, but I have friends who I'd like to hear about their day or their kids, but not their incessant sharing of that one particular political subject.  I've unfollowed plenty of folks because they just wouldn't lay off the shares and likes (really bad last year during the elections).  What I find that helps even though it is more time consuming is to "unfollow" the page that they're sharing rather than unfollow them.  I have a friend who I love to hear from, but for every post she writes about her kids, she shares five others about "Blue lives matter" "a cop saved a puppy" "cops graduated from school" and a ton of other law enforcement sites and articles.  I have no problem with the subject matter, but that's pretty much all that comes out of her FB account.  I've had to unfriend a couple others for similar spamming with subject matter that we definitely were not going to see eye to eye on no matter what.

slappy

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #32 on: August 08, 2017, 02:29:54 PM »
Do people here know you can unfollow people without unfriending them? I have done so with friends.

To be honest though, facebook is an outlet for my weird thoughts and observations. I'm that friend that posts things like

"It's occurred to me I have no idea what Elton John looks like without sunglasses, does he even have eyes?"

"I don't think I'm Americanized enough. I need to take a DNA test and start saying things like I'm 1/8th Congolese, 1/6th Danish, Some West African and my great great great grandmother was Native American."

I have done this and I will probably end up going back to FB and just unfollowing everyone. Then I can still participate in the mustachian groups. 

slappy

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #33 on: August 08, 2017, 02:32:12 PM »
I haven't gotten rid of mine but I deleted the app from my phone as in those 30 seconds of downtime I would go through.  So once/month or so I login to accept new friend requests b/c I don't want to be rude and after scrolling through for 5 minutes I've had my fix for the next few months.  I really just use facebook as my photo album and if my wife takes a good picture I have her tag me in it (she uses facebook a lot more than me) and so whenever I'm on it I end up going through my pictures of my kids and family rather than seeing what everyone else had for lunch :)  I like to call "facebook family" on many of the posts, whenever I see a fabricated photo that you know was not candid and took about 50 tries, I call it "facebook family".  Of course nobody would post a bad picture of themselves, but I see people post about their amazing spouse or kids or whatever, why not just tell them...  Especially after seeing "facebook family" photo's and then hearing about that couple getting separated a week later you can see how full of it so many people are.  It's a time suck that generally just makes you want for what those people have.  You see people going out or taking a vacation and you want that, it just makes you depressed thinking about what others have in their "facebook family" that you don't, when people are really just trying to one up each other and show how happy they are.  I won't delete it as I like it as a photo album but I'm certainly past the point of logging in more than once every month or so.  I do my 5 minutes and I'm over it, see you again in Sept Facebook!

Yes! The happy birthday/happy anniversary to my amazing spouse who I would be nothing without...can't you just say that to their face? I know people personally who post about how amazing their SO is, when I know the reality is different. It's just an attention ploy.

FinallyAwake

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #34 on: August 08, 2017, 03:56:29 PM »
Yep!

I've been off CrackBook for a year now.  Deactivated my account and don't miss it at all.....except for when I want to research new acquaintances or Tball coaches or something. 


Double Yu

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #35 on: August 08, 2017, 04:05:59 PM »
I've logged into it once in the last year and will possibly deactivate it - I'd forgotten that was possible! I second all the "it made me feel like shit" comments.

I found I couldn't jive on its function:  To send messages to "everyone" but not really communicate with "someone."

Too much crap!

I'm much happier NOT using facebook.

geekette

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #36 on: August 08, 2017, 04:27:00 PM »
I feel like I have a different Facebook.  Lots of interesting conversations mixed in with some funny stuff, kid pics, and some ads to scroll by. 

Vertical Mode

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #37 on: August 08, 2017, 04:32:03 PM »
I still have Facebook, but I tried out the experiment that David Cain over at Raptitude did - I deleted the app from my phone, so when I want to use it I have to manually log into it from my laptop every time. I've cut way down on my usage and haven't missed it a bit.

Also, who knew there was such a thing as a "design ethicist"? I sure didn't.

Tass

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #38 on: August 08, 2017, 06:44:06 PM »
Oops... I think I am the friend that keeps posting about politics...

I have found it to be an avenue for genuinely connecting with other people and better understanding their viewpoints, including even changing my mind on some things and having changed others' minds. I'm confident that's not a common facebook politics experience, but it's what keeps me coming back at least. I'm sure it's still annoying to my friends who aren't interested in such conversations.

I'll readily admit using it does not put me in a better mood, and like some of you, I have deleted it from my phone entirely.

I'm interested in the fbpurity extension, but for an app that's supposed to clean up a user experience, their website SCREAMS scam (or at least inept graphic design). At minimum this thread has inspired me to try to unfollow everything I don't need daily updates on, though.

1later_bloomer

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #39 on: August 08, 2017, 08:26:18 PM »
When I was a kid my grandmother and her sister and cousins and friends would all write each other letters keeping each other up to date on what's up in their lives, with their kids etc. I always loved reading the letters. FB is the modern version of that for me. I have family spread out all over and it's fun watching my cousin's kids grow up. I have actually talked to relatives in RL that I hadn't been in touch with in decades because we connected on FB. And since it's free as long as I have WiFi I consider myself very Mustachian with it. It doesn't even cost a stamp.

Duke03

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #40 on: August 08, 2017, 11:36:00 PM »
Call me crazy, but I'm under 35 and have never had a Facebook account.  Everyone around me always ask how come they can't find me on Facebook.  I just laugh and say keep looking. I keep trying to get my wife to delete it, because it's all just a huge look at me barge fest.  No one ever post a bad picture of themselves or post how shitty their life really is.  It's all a bunch of fluff.  Nothing but lies.  No thanks



Luckyvik

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #41 on: August 09, 2017, 01:41:29 AM »

[/quote]

I have done this and I will probably end up going back to FB and just unfollowing everyone. Then I can still participate in the mustachian groups.
[/quote]

I might end up doing the same, almost there I think


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

meghan88

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #42 on: August 09, 2017, 08:19:32 AM »
Got off, deleted my account and then signed back on with new, minimalist personal details.  I have two friends and I like it just fine that way.  I just use it to view the occasional interesting fb link that might be included in other content from time to time.

Cwadda

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #43 on: August 09, 2017, 08:21:12 AM »
I unfollowed every person that posted anything political. I still need to clean up some useless content. I rarely post anymore. Anytime I post something I always think "who really cares about this?" And 90% of the time I just delete the post. If someone really cares they'll know about it via phone calls, texting, etc.

I really like Facebook for the marketplace, oddly enough. It's a better Craigslist. I've gotten some killer deals on there and have also gotten rid of things I didn't need. I've been really enjoying a local group called "Buy Nothing". It's a group that encourages giving and receiving things, very Mustachian oriented.

pachnik

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #44 on: August 09, 2017, 08:26:32 AM »
I unfollowed every person that posted anything political. I still need to clean up some useless content. I rarely post anymore. Anytime I post something I always think "who really cares about this?" And 90% of the time I just delete the post. If someone really cares they'll know about it via phone calls, texting, etc.

I really like Facebook for the marketplace, oddly enough. It's a better Craigslist. I've gotten some killer deals on there and have also gotten rid of things I didn't need. I've been really enjoying a local group called "Buy Nothing". It's a group that encourages giving and receiving things, very Mustachian oriented.

+1   I am thinking of going back into FB and unfollowing individuals.  Then just using it for businesses that I go to.  I am a member of the local Buy Nothing group but it doesn't seem to be very active. 

NeonPegasus

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #45 on: August 09, 2017, 08:38:12 AM »
I haven't gotten rid of mine but I deleted the app from my phone as in those 30 seconds of downtime I would go through.  So once/month or so I login to accept new friend requests b/c I don't want to be rude and after scrolling through for 5 minutes I've had my fix for the next few months.  I really just use facebook as my photo album and if my wife takes a good picture I have her tag me in it (she uses facebook a lot more than me) and so whenever I'm on it I end up going through my pictures of my kids and family rather than seeing what everyone else had for lunch :)  I like to call "facebook family" on many of the posts, whenever I see a fabricated photo that you know was not candid and took about 50 tries, I call it "facebook family".  Of course nobody would post a bad picture of themselves, but I see people post about their amazing spouse or kids or whatever, why not just tell them...  Especially after seeing "facebook family" photo's and then hearing about that couple getting separated a week later you can see how full of it so many people are.  It's a time suck that generally just makes you want for what those people have.  You see people going out or taking a vacation and you want that, it just makes you depressed thinking about what others have in their "facebook family" that you don't, when people are really just trying to one up each other and show how happy they are.  I won't delete it as I like it as a photo album but I'm certainly past the point of logging in more than once every month or so.  I do my 5 minutes and I'm over it, see you again in Sept Facebook!

Yes! The happy birthday/happy anniversary to my amazing spouse who I would be nothing without...can't you just say that to their face? I know people personally who post about how amazing their SO is, when I know the reality is different. It's just an attention ploy.

Uh, yeah. Like when my DH would post Happy Birthday to me while sitting right beside me. I was like, hey goofball, I'm RIGHT HERE.

NeonPegasus

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #46 on: August 09, 2017, 08:45:21 AM »
Do people here know you can unfollow people without unfriending them? I have done so with friends.

Of course we do.

Unfollowing people is a solution for one-off problems (various annoying people that you want to stay connected to but don't want to read their crap). That is great for moms who post 14 times on Veteran's Day.

Deactivating is a solution for the general problem of using FB as a crutch for every time you have 10 free seconds of time or for feeling alienated by seeing photos of your friends hanging out with out you or for reading too much about things you care about but you're getting overwhelmed with it all.

By deactivating, my friends can see that I am actually not on FB anymore. And when they see that, they quit seeing details about my life and can't assume that I see details of theirs and hopefully realize that the solution to filling that information gap is to talk on the phone or get together. If I just unfollow them, they can still see anything I post (and therefore think they're up to date with my life) and think I can see their stuff.

Today is my birthday and I'm so glad to not be bombarded with all of the FB birthday wishes from people who don't really care about it being my birthday. Instead, I got direct messages from the handful of people that matter to me. :)
« Last Edit: August 09, 2017, 10:18:04 AM by NeonPegasus »

slappy

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #47 on: August 09, 2017, 09:04:15 AM »
Do people here know you can unfollow people without unfriending them? I have done so with friends.

.

Deactivating is a solution for the general problem of using FB as a crutch for every time you have 10 free seconds of time or for feeling alienated by seeing photos of your friends hanging out with not you or for reading too much about things you care about but you're getting overwhelmed with it all.

By deactivating, my friends can see that I am actually not on FB anymore. And when they see that, they quit seeing details about my life and can't assume that I see details of theirs and hopefully realize that the solution to filling that information gap is to talk on the phone or get together. If I just unfollow them, they can still see anything I post (and therefore think they're up to date with my life) and think I can see their stuff.


This. It will be interesting to see who notices/cares that I'm not there anymore.

talltexan

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #48 on: August 09, 2017, 09:21:50 AM »
I've experimented with desktop-computer only facebook.

It's really useful when I want to out-source information asks, such as car recommendations or parenting questions. Being like your friends can be useful on some things.

I'm starting to suspect a few of my friends are closet-mustachians...

ThreeCarbsNoGrains

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Re: Got rid of Facebook
« Reply #49 on: August 09, 2017, 06:24:41 PM »
Love this thread and reading others' experiences.  I inactivated my FB last fall before the election because I was getting so sick of all the political posts.  I reactivated recently after we missed a couple of parties because friends invited my husband on FB and he forgot to tell me, haha.  I took this opportunity to de friend everyone who I hadn't communicated with since I deactivated.  It was so liberating!  I'm at 49 friends now, mostly family.  Of course I almost immediately received messages from people I used to know and had unfriended (not friends, just distant coworkers from years ago).  I never opened the messages.  I don't think I owe anyone an explanation for keeping my Facebook circle small.