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No. 347877

Have you quit social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, tumblr, etc.? Have you detoxed for a few months at a time? What has your experience been? How has this impacted your friendships?
If you haven’t quit social media, what would be a reason for you to quit? For example, people who only post themselves smoking weed on Snapchat or any other pet peeve.

No. 347887

I stopped posting on fb in late 2016 and in early 2017 I deleted my Facebook and haven't looked back. I had my profile since 2005 when I had to use my college email just to be able to register. I would say I was a very active user, sometimes hours a day. I nuked my insta shortly after fb and I stopped using snapchat when they did that UI overhaul I just really didn't jive with it. So, anyways.

I will say things are different now for me socially, but in a good way. I know this is not everyone's experience, but for me it really stripped away this vain/superficial later from my life. I no longer care about sharing whatever latest shit I bought, made, found, or new place I visited. I just have those experiences without the attached urge to "share." When I finally decided to quit, I remember looking through the feed and just feeling so.. I don't know another word besides pathetic, when I thought about how fake everything looked. I would think about how the person posting maybe framed everything in their picture "just so" and spent time writing a few drafts of their post. Or checking back to see their "likes" and just how sad that seemed to me. Again, it may have been just my perception based on the fact that sometimes I did those kinds of things, but the attached shame to it was just too much lol.

Also I can't remember exactly when it happened for me, probably around 2016, but suddenly all selfies became incredibly cringe to me and still do to this day, for the most part. Just kinda started seeing them as wholly representative of unchecked narcissism and it made me sick, especially anyone who posted more than one a month or so.

Privacy and data protection also became a huge concern for me over time, so that's obviously incompatible with fb.

This was just a few of many reasons, I won't get into them all here, but suffice to say I feel like I live a much more authentic life now without social media. I do miss updates/pics from the people I truly care about, but I see them irl and still sms text so it's okay.

No. 347888

I quit social media (mostly facebook) like 6-7 years ago, a few years after leaving school. I definitely don't regret it, I waste a lot less time and it has been great for my self esteem since I neither compare myself to others nor rely on likes or compliments on the internet to feel good about myself. I also really, really like the privacy, I hate the idea that anyone could look me up or that info about my life is easy accessible.

It has been terrible for my social life, it's very easy to lose contact with people. But I'm really socially lazy and put zero effort into maintaining friendships, and it might have been inevitable either way. I do miss people hitting me up, sometimes I wonder if there are friends who've wanted to reconnect with me or were interested in me and had no way to get in contact. I've run into old friends who've said as much on occasion.

I do have an insta but I only follow my immediate family and a couple of close friends, I don't use it except when I'm on holiday so my family know what I'm up to.

No. 347896

I gradually stopped using Instagram when I started going to a therapist. My issues weren't related to instagram/ social media but as my therapy sessions progressed my way of seeing and living life started to change and I found it more and more pointless to use it. Nowadays the thought of me using it again feels weird, even kind of juvenile.

I still have my facebook profile but it hasn't been updated in more than a year. I use facebook mainly for messenger and networking and I hardly ever open the news feed.

Other than that, never had twitter (it was never popular in my country) and my friend circle doesn't use snapchat (snapchat is more popular with middle and high schoolers)

No. 347900

I still use my Facebook and I have thought multiple times about deleting it due to privacy concerns. Now I don't use my full real name but I have been having this Facebook account for a really long time and I have classmates from high-school in my friend list and some friends/other people from my hometown. I don't want to delete it because it's the only way I actually contact people as I only use the messenger app from my phone.
I check my timeline once every few days for memes and I actually find it quite refreshing as I find a lot of them really funny.
I have an Instagram account where I do not post pictures of myself nor do I follow people I know. I only follow painting tags as I'm interested in art.
I agree that social media is swallow but I guess it has it's positive aspects.

No. 347904

I've deleted them off-and-on again over the years. I stopped using social media to communicate with people I knew in real life years ago. The only reason I keep making new accounts is because I want to view things, and most sites force you to sign up for them.

No. 347906

I quit using facebook when I realized that no one really gives a fuck about me or anything I post. I rarely check it now and don't really post anymore.

It didn't affect my friendships at all, because I have no friends and literally everyone on my friends list were people I haven't seen in years, if ever. Most were people from my high school whom I haven't seen for a decade or more, whom I weren't really friends with in the first place, anyway.

Couple years ago or so I had a meltdown and posted about how I wanted to kill myself and the only comment was from a girl I used to hang out with in high school making a dumb joke. That kind of made me realize nobody really cares, and I didn't really care either so I abandoned it after that. Comparing my useless NEET life to my old high school classmates who were graduating uni, hanging out with friends, travelling, starting great careers, getting married, having children, etc. was also depressing. Well, it's still depressing but at least it's less in my face now. 90% of what all my facebook friends posted were dumb memes so there's that also.

I also have a Twitter for posting art but it's been over a year and a half and I've been stuck at 10 followers(most of them bots) and I'm not much active so I'm thinking of just deleting it.

Maybe I'm just getting old, but I'm kind of sick of social media. I had a lot of fun on deviantart when I was a teen posting shitty art and making efriends but it all seems tiring and pointless now. I don't know why I was ever into broadcasting my boring shitty life and retarded opinions on the internet in the first place as if they mattered. It might be fun if you have some close IRL friends to do it with but I don't have that. And thinking back on some of the dumb shit I posted is just embarassing.

So I just mostly lurk on lolcow now. I feel like I have merely replaced one bad habit with another but at least it's anonymous and a bit less lonely here.

No. 347907

This is all super insightful! When I was a teen, I used to have every social media.
I had a tumblr blog that was so tacky looking.
My Twitter was pretty active, but I was letting the “fame” get to my head so I deleted without looking back.
I had a Snapchat, and I loved it at first, but I found myself over-broadcasting and not really enjoying myself when doing activities because of it. I also realize a lot of people on Snapchat have a tendency of repeating spontaneous moments irl when something funny happens so that they can record the moment and post it. This leads to fabricating moments that were genuinely great without a camera filming. Someone irl does this, they literally yell “Do it again so I can record you!!”
Facebook has always been my downfall. I used to have a full friend list! It was impossible to use the site like that because my newsfeed refreshed every few seconds. Also, my inbox was perpetually full and it was physically impossible to respond to so many messages. I loved the validation though, a little too much. I deleted that account and opened a new one with not even 1/5 of the friend list from the old account. From there, everything felt better.. until I realized that social media is just so overwhelming in general for me.
Even with my new Facebook, I found myself taking every interaction (or lack of) a little too personal. I’d become hyper-fixated on a person’s every interaction. I felt like I was micro-managing all of my “friends.”
I made an Instagram later on, which also ended up getting deleted because it just felt inauthentic to me and a bit overwhelming as well. People from my past were suddenly springing up, and I noticed everyone seemed to always be online. A fresh post garnered a lot of likes in just a few minutes.

Overall, I’ve just stuck with Facebook, but I need to come off it for a long time. I think social media can be cool, but I also do think that if you become codependent on it, it’s time for a break.

No. 347908

What does everyone consider a reasonable size for social media connections? Like how many people is “too many” people for you personally? What does a “good size” Facebook friend list look like to you?

I saw this video about how we are only meant for 150 people in our “circle”—which encompasses close friends, a romantic partner, family, acquaintances, coworkers, people from extracurricular activies.

No. 347912

>>347877
I still have fb but never post, only use messenger and the marketplace function, which is pretty great to be honest. Also events in my area. Once a year I post something about where I am (I tend to travel and move because of my job) so it keeps everyone in the loop so to speak.
I'm highly considering deleting fb but I still have old friends who only use it, and I'm managing a few work pages with that account so eh.

>Instagram

I made a point to never post my face because who cares ? I only post places or food. I actually like looking back on my little diary of pretty pictures, that's it. I'm thinking of creating a pro one to share my drawings though as I'll probably get back to doing work for magazines.

>Snapchat

My dirty pleasure. I love seeing my international friends do random stuff. I like the fact that people will send me pics of their cats and it won't bother me because there's no obligation to answer on snap, or save pictures.

>LinkedIn

Tried to connect with people there when I was job hunting. It was moderately useful. It's nice to have a pro feed that I can browse at work without feeling like I'm not doing anything.

No. 347915

I deleted the ig app and deactivated my main account for two weeks now. I use an app to anonymously watch/download stories tho.
I rarely post on fb because nobody cares, but I still use it on a fake account because I like lurking groups. And with a clean personal account I get summer jobs.

No. 347929

I deleted my tumblr account not long ago because of the TOS update. I used it for fandoms and art before, made a few friends on there but I'm not friends with them anymore because they became annoying SJW.

I use twitter for that instead but I barely have followers and I barely post anything myself. I have a few rl friends who are mutuals but they tend to send me links on our group chat to funny tweets instead of rting tweets so I'm wondering what's the point of using it. Once I replied to a post and a friend decided to give her opinion on our group chat which was annoying because of notifications.

I've been shadowbanned several times for swearing and I'm wondering if that's still the case but there's no way for me to check anymore. There's no point in using it anyway because I get likes on my tweets but nobody replies, and I don't like having monologues.

I use fb and instagram to keep in touch with people from college but I want to delete my accounts. They're full of ads and my friends' posts aren't even showing up on my tl as they should. I wish forums and imageboards were as popular as they used to be, at least people used to directly communicate in a non-awkward way instead of liking each others'posts.

No. 347930

I deleted my tumblr account not long ago because of the TOS update. I used it for fandoms and art before, made a few friends on there but I'm not friends with them anymore because they became annoying SJW.

I use twitter for that instead but I barely have followers and I barely post anything myself. I have a few rl friends who are mutuals but they tend to send me links on our group chat to funny tweets instead of rting tweets so I'm wondering what's the point of using it. Once I replied to a post and a friend decided to give her opinion on our group chat which was annoying because of notifications.

I've been shadowbanned several times for swearing and I'm wondering if that's still the case but there's no way for me to check anymore. There's no point in using it anyway because I get likes on my tweets but nobody replies, and I don't like having monologues.

I use fb and instagram to keep in touch with people from college but I want to delete my accounts. They're full of ads and my friends' posts aren't even showing up on my tl as they should. I wish forums and imageboards were as popular as they used to be, at least people used to directly communicate in a non-awkward way instead of liking each others'posts.

No. 347944

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I’ve been wanting to unplug for a couple of years, but I’m torn because I live in another country and social media is the easiest way to stay connected with friends/family (because only my parents or people who also live abroad have WhatsApp, and only a handful of my friends use chat apps like Line.) I mostly use FB to keep utd with events in my city these days. Maybe when I finally feel secure with everything here, I’ll delete everything. All it ever does is make me sad, anyway.

No. 347947

I use to be on everything, but have been without fb for over a year and haven't missed it. Haven't had insta for about 6 months and feel better. I keep twitter I like on that platform that there's less of having a profile and just more interacting about thoughts and issues. I'm jaded posting to social media and then people wanting more information and the gossiping and the weird comments people leave under photos and on your wall etc. I like twitter is limited. Also now if people want to gossip they have to text me directly for my take or info and it has just reduced the amount of bitchiness I constantly felt like I was dealing with on insta and fb. Idk. Not sharing photos online but still taking them to share with friends and family just feels more fulfilling than trying to show off online.

No. 347953

I haven’t had any social media accounts for a while, but I have to make a Facebook account for a college class. The professor said that Messenger has been the best system to use for communication and we have a fb group. I’m kind of skeptic about how that will go, like getting friend requests from old acquaintances and family unless I go crazy on the privacy settings.

I deactivated and deleted my original Facebook a few years ago because I never had anything to post on it. I’m 26 now and barely ever talked to any of my friends post-highschool. I guess it’s kind of sad but most of them moved out of town anyway.

Even though I don’t have any social media accounts I would still consider myself an internet and phone addict, I read ebooks and browse other sites for hours.

No. 347958

I use my facebook rarely. Never add family to any of my social media, as well as coworkers/employees. I only use IG for mainly public random shit. FB only had older friends who have families now and it's best to keep in touch like that. i have under 30 friends and i like to keep it that way. i can't do social media too much. I come here and watch random shit on youtube and that's it.


I would love to unplug for a month with my spouse and just go on vacation.

No. 347966

Mid last year I realized how negative my use of sm really was. I had people I wasn't very fond of added on fb, or people I didn't care for who interacted regularly with people I didn't like that I would see, and I think I reached a point where my own pettiness and negativity started becoming a burden.

On top of that, I was dumb and posted my art IG to a public FB group and some people on my friends list noticed, and up until that point I had kept my art and rl separate. It probably sounds dumb, but I just wasn't ready for it, and as my mental health plummeted, I stopped feeling confident enough to post art knowing people I saw every day would see it. So instead of just not posting what I drew, I stopped drawing for months.

I started with unfollowing people on fb which helped a lot, but abandoning it altogether was honestly one of the best things I did for myself last year.


I made a new IG and Twitter for my art that I kept separate from rl save a few close friends. I barely use IG, I never liked it very much anyway, but I actually really like twitter. It feels a lot more genuine than IG ever did.

No. 347984

I want to quit social media but I literally have no friends that live close to me anymore. All I have is my boyfriend. Everyone else is high school classmates, which I never want to see again lol. My closest friend lives a half hour away but she's a bit of a shut in like me.

No. 347986

I don't have social media anymore.

My experience has been I've found out alot about myself without others influencing my likes and dislikes or even my time. I put more time into hobbies like music and reading into my other interests. I'm able to be more ambitious whether it be with hobbies or life in general. There's no drama in my life anymore too so that's fantastic. I'm really at peace without it. Although whenever I talk to people in person they are glued to their phones or looking on Facebook. Which is annoying. Can't really have a conversation. That'd be a con I guess but I don't let it bother me too much, I carry on.

This was only easy for me because I simply have no more friends holding me down to it. Being a recluse in my teen years I think helped the ease out of it.

No. 347987

I've deleted FB and my personal IG/Twitter. I still run an activist IG/Twitter and a Tumblr page that I basically use for saving useful links. I still have a Pinterest but never use it so might delete that also.

Honestly feel like social media, for most people, is an overwhelmingly negative thing. There's a reason you don't keep in contact with 99% of people you meet; if you wouldn't give someone your email/phone number to contact you on, then you have nothing to say to each other and therefore seeing each others lives everyday is purely an exercise in voyeurism. I don't miss personal social media at all, and if I didn't need it for activism I wouldn't have it at all.

No. 347990

I want to delete my facebook but I'm afraid it will fuck up my spotify account because it's attached to it.

No. 347991

I have never partecipated in social medias. I just have a twitter account to follow profiles that post cute animals.

No. 347995

>>347990
Email the spotify team and tell them you want to delete your facebook. they can make your Spotify accessible from the original email account you use to log in. That's what I did when I deleted my fake acc.

No. 348002

i remember deleting facebook when i was in high school. I have a twitter account, but mainly use it for following artists and i have two friends on there that live out of country so i'm able to actually communicate with them. other than that i have snapchat, but i don't look at stories/news feeds and only open it when i get a message on there.

No. 348004

Does anyone that uses LinkedIn find the site useful regarding job hiring?

No. 348006

>>348004
Yeah. Helped me get a good job in sales a couple of years back. I just use it for networking now, and as a nice complement to my CV.

No. 348008

I have a love/hate relationship with social media. I think it's a huge time sink and the main contributor to shrinking attention spans and thirst for instant gratification, but it's a necessity for my job and I wouldn't have most of my clients with out it.

I have an old blackberry that I'm not going to replace until it literally dies (I love it so much) but as it's been off contract for a couple years, the OS isn't up to date and facebook instantly crashes it so I got rid of that and it was weird at first because I realized how I would automatically go to FB when I was bored and suddenly it was gone. I've been much more conscious of how much time I spend on any socials and have instead started scheduling time where I have to actually turn on my computer and sit down to post/engage. It's not personal anymore, I use it exclusively for work now and my head feels less foggy and I can focus on my tasks for longer periods of time because I have set limits on myself and use it as a tool now instead of entertainment.

No. 348009

File: 1546445062751.png (32.26 KB, 555x242, Skärmavbild 2019-01-01 kl. 16.…)

>What would be a reason for you to quit?
Pic related. I want to draw more which I did before the social media era.

Haven't used Facebook for years. I'm on instagram 30 min a day which isn't much anyways. Deleted twitter a year ago.
My Tumblr is kinda popular though and honestly I think it's super boring but I feel obligated to be active for my followers.

What really is time consuming and truly addictive to me is Lolcow and Youtube. I'm on lolcow several hours a day. It's such a nice escapism but I know it's an unhealthy addiction. Honestly help me anons how do I stop?

Also, I have a youtube videos playing 24/7 as background noise and I'm incapable of sleeping without listening to a certain youtuber. It's fucking crazy and I've been doing this for 6 years now. I wish there was some hardcore therapy for this shit

No. 348012

I felt "forced" to abandon social media because ex-friends and people I didn't wanna associate with any more kept finding my new accounts and harrassing me. Got rid of Insta entirely and blocked a ton of people on FB and I only have its Messenger app to talk to my bf.

A lot of the other people have my actual phone number still but the harrassing ones seem to forget real texting exists, so that's good.

Insta was honestly for the better because I was huge into posting the most mundane crap in Instastories and it was a drain on everything I did and made me look stupid and pathetic. Nobody cares about the new thing I bought and I shouldn't care about treating life as a show-and-tell.

I spend most of my online time on YouTube now because it actually makes me happy/laugh while being able to get other stuff done too, and I don't have to worry about upholding some pretty account or talking to anyone.

No. 348038

I stopped going on tumblr about 3 years ago and felt so much better for it. I wasted hours on that stupid site. A few weeks ago I logged back on and it was kind of sad to see the same people that I remembered posting the same junk over and over again.

I'm on FB a lot though since I have a boring office job and a lot of time to kill. I spend a lot of time here and on reddit too.

I have an insta but I only check it every few days and it's about a 50/50 chance that I'll just get jealous scrolling through my feed. I post maybe a couple times a month and part of me is like "be more active so that you can get more likes" but why bother? I spent countless hours on tumblr seeking validation and what did it get me?
I'll start to get jealous over how many likes/compliments my friends get on social media and it doesn't feel good. it's nice to look back on my own photos on insta as like a digital scrapbook but I hate how I get wrapped up in envy. It feels so petty and I'm getting too old for that. I've entertained the idea of quitting social media altogether but I don't know. Maybe I'll start with just a week and see how it goes.

No. 348041

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I only have lurk accounts on Tumblr, Twitter and FB.

I would delete FB as it the only one under my real name, but i use it for Ads Manager and messenger.

I use Discord A LOT though.

No. 348084

Has anyone deleted someone off of social media, and have them ask you why you deleted them?
Or even worse, have a mutual friend ask you why you deleted that person? It’s fucking annoying

No. 348098

I quit social media because I felt I was putting myself on display for everyone to see, I never really enjoyed social media to begin with, so it was pretty easy.
First, it was Facebook, which my family actually forced me into (weird, IK, but I’m from a region with ~family values~, and I was young so I had to listen to them.) to keep in contact with extended family abroad, so it would be this constant circle jerk of saying “Merry Christmas”, “Happy New Year” “ILY, I miss u”, etc., etc. My feed was also just full of lame memes and straight up propaganda from my country, very low brow content all in all.
After that I looked into newer social media like insta and snap, and got pretty sick of it too, and now I only have a private snap which only close friends know about, and some people I met online. It’s more refreshing that way.

No. 348117

ive been trying to quit social media for years, it took until 2018 for me to delete facebook, twitter, etc. even though i was using them less often than before, id just replaced them with game apps and my time was just consumed with those instead. i deleted all game apps and even my instant messengers, replaced all of those with mmorpgs and old habits of staying up late into the night, isolating, and barely sleeping. removing social media from my life confirmed to me that i have a bad gaming addiction and was only replacing it with social media to convince myself i was "healthy" and "social" and "had a life." now i actually know what i need to work on in therapy.

No. 348118

Please don't take this the wrong way anons, but holy hell I need to quit lolcow. I spend too much time lurking on here for infrequent updates and rage.

No. 348123

I've grown tired of social media simply because the people I follow are boring as shit, I'm not interested in mundane details of their day, selfies or stupid, immature SJW-slanted clap backs for RTs. Everyone is too busy with trying to be popular and racing for the likes, so they rarely pay attention to what other people post so there's zero interaction too. They burn themselves out and either overshare or simply fabricate things to be more sensational. I definitely did it myself as well, and part of why I detoxed from social media was the thought of people reading what I'm doing in detail starting to scare me. Lolcow definitely did a number on me in that sense, the anons here can be massively nitpicky and catty about the cows' posts on social media. Third reason was the introduction of algorithm feeds. Posting hollow content continuously and jumping through endless SEO hoops is ridiculously retarded.

I prefer to talk to my friends via private discord servers and chats, and only follow accounts actually posting interesting content such as art, photography or sharing news for my favourite franchises. I miss the time people actually had websites and blogs.

>>348004
>>348006
Happened to me too. Linkedin can be actually useful, especially if you work in the business/sales/media/tech field.

No. 348196

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The amount of time I funneled into tumblr is downright embarrassing. I would go to work, come home, and go on tumblr for hours and that was my life. I ended up deleting my tumblr a few times, but after I remade it the last time, I have barely used it and am far better for it.

Recognizing I have an obsessive personality has made it much easier to avoid things which I can immerse myself in. I have a FB but I pretty much don't use it other than a means to organize get togethers and browse sale groups for collectibles I'm after. No snapchat because I barely have any friends to use it with, and I would rather fling myself off a bridge than go on twitter. The only one I actually use is instagram, but it's very casual and something I don't do more than 15 minutes at a time.

My interest in lolcow comes and goes. I can go months without going on it only to come back and browse 1+ hours a day. But as >>348117 realized, these sorts of habits are symptoms of bigger problems, and I've gotten good at reining things in before I get in too deep.

I do miss connecting with others, especially via fandoms. It was always kind of hit or miss, but once you clicked with the right person, it was always so fun. Even so, I'm so much happier out of the spotlight and keeping to myself and close friends. I'm hoping to eventually delve back into hobbies more after years of obsessive internet use.

No. 348207

Based on these posts, there seems to be a correlation between drama + not having hobbies in regards to social media. Many of you have said there is zero drama in your life now, or that you’ve picked up hobbies again.
I can definitely see the drama aspect. I’ve heard of people feeling left out after seeing their friends with other friends on Snapchat. I know someone who constantly overshares every single weeb/nerdy purchase they make. They constantly post about the game they’re playing, or anime they’re watching. That gives me second-hand anxiety, is nothing for our own consumption anymore? It’s amazing how much social media forces us to be a performance.

No. 348209

>>348118
I hardly use lolcow anymore personally, this place has gotten way too aggressive and pointless in recent months.

No. 348216

I deleted FB in 2009 and twitter in 2014. I have a tumblr, but I don't really consider it social media because all I do is scroll through video game gifs and art while I'm on the train or something. I never post and have no friends.

Dropping social media was pretty easy for me, I moved a lot the last few years for work and was never in one place long enough to put down roots, and I don't care about any of my high school peers. My family is pretty unplugged as well and I just call/text/email if I want an update.

I now live overseas and due to that I kind of wish I had an easier way to keep up with people, but I honestly don't have many friends back home to keep tabs on, so I just message them.

No. 348290

Haven't had a Facebook in years, i got threatened by a douchebag ex in a really bad way and with all the privacy controversy and getting tired of being forced in a weird way to acknowledge my family i didn't look back. Its nice. I have to use a lurking account for if i ever want to look anyone up though.

I have tumblr but I'm just not using it as much anymore. Went from sort of sjw to kind of radfem and i can't be bothered with the opinion policing anymore. I just use it for my dumb ass hippy shit.

I don't get all these new social medias. Tumblr i got into a little late but it was familiar enough to me. Now i feel like an old person just like what is this instagram and snap chat shit. Never really liked twitter.

And then lolcow i just come and go. I can't spend hours on it like i used to though.

I used to be a pretty active kiwi. Faded away because i never could get down with the edgy bullshit. Now i just browse. I don't necessarily hate them but i have mixed feelings about the way they do things sometimes. If it takes down some child abusers and shit though I'm down.

I browse reddit but i can't be fucking bothered a lot of days. Tried to interact on some communities of interest lately and tbh for every decent conversation you have the occasional pedantic as shit nitpick or try hard asshole and they are way stressful and lame.

I feel like I'm growing out of the internet in general lately and i guess that's a good thing since i need to stop being a NEET piece of shit.

No. 348291

Now that I'm on the subject, I think I need to go to my accounts and delete. I haven't used them in a very long time and they add no value to my life anymore. I know it's popular to hate the internet/social media because you "waste" time, but I enjoyed it up into a certain point and learned a lot from the conversations and reading. I'm autistic, the internet helped me improve my social skills and find resources to deal with my mental illnesses. If not for that, I may have already attempted suicide. When I couldn't leave the house or find a therapist, the internet connected me to the next best thing. That being said, I'm moving on with my life now and finding better ways to manage. There's only so much that reading can do for me, and now I need to actually apply what I've learned. I'm thankful I was born in a time with a resource of all the world's libraries at my fingertips.

No. 348296

>>348084
It's dumb as shit when they're so wrapped up in it to where they even notice and get bitter about it.

Even worse when you delete your own account and people fucking come at you as if you blocked them or something and immediately assume there's a feud between you two now. They're exactly the people you should be blocking in the end…

No. 348312

I stayed off of social media for a couple months in 2017 due to being lazy about posting and keeping up with people. It was only ever for my shitty drawings anyway, but I was in a bad place emotionally and took a break, only reconnecting with old mutuals recently.

Never got the Facebook trend since I didn't make one until I was 18 to contact my coworkers when I needed them to cover shifts. Even then I've never used it, although my mom posts vids on my page and I love her so keep it up for that as well as to search for men before hitting on them lol.

I currently use twitter, tumblr as an archive, and instagram to share with normfags I befriend at uni (that I also only post art on…which may be a bad choice but I see it as a test to find out whether they'll put up with my nonsense). Oddly not really addicted to any of these, the biggest time sink for me is imageboards. One of my resolutions is to stop visiting this shit so often (I say while wasting time on lolcow).

Anyone else also a selfie virgin? Never posted a picture of myself anywhere.

No. 348414

People should seriously delete all of social media and only use burner accounts.
Not to sound full unibomber here, but it's really depressing there isn't much concern here for personal data security and safety.
The number one reason for quitting social media shouldn't be to rid yourself of drama, it should be for protecting your personal data and to limit the amount of information you give to corporations/government.
It's so unbelievable that people will willingly give up where they're going and and what they're doing 24/7, what interests they have, what they buy, read, cook, talk about, fucking anything, but have "concerns" about privacy in public places.

No. 348567

>>348414
Honestly as soon as I graduate I'm deleting my facebook account. I'm using instagram to stay in touch with friends though, and since it's owned by facebook now, I guess there's no point in doing that anymore.

No. 348577

>>348414
tbqh I don't really care. I'm not doing anything illegal and am a mostly honest person.
Couldn't really care less if zuckerfuck or my government knows I like watching femdom reverse gangbangs and spend too much time on imageboards whining about having no boyfriend while rarely leaving my house.
(Although I don't really want my family to know that kek, but hopefully that risk is low)

No. 348580

>>348414
agreed. it's wild that a decade ago we were encouraged to NEVER share private, personal information online. now peopl just literally dox themselves on a daily basis and think nothing of it.

No. 348615

besides an instagram where i follow family i got rid of all my social media accounts.

i hate how freeing it felt tbh. i didn't realize how much i felt i "needed" to be caught up on everyone's lives. it did put a dent in my social life. it's like i was forgotten about once i wasn't engaging on social media lol. but my closer friendships ended up stronger for it since we check in with each other more.

it's nice.

No. 348617

>>348580
Parents are the worst for this. I remember the first time I used a chatroom. My mom was so sure my identity was going to get stolen. A decade later and she's posting full names, many many pictures, and saving ecommerce information on public computers. They're the ones that skipped the whole username time of life and just went straight from not using the internet at all to posting their full name online.

No. 348756

I want to quit social media now that callout culture and stuff has blown up so much. Around 2016, embarrassingly, I would retweet from Shoe0nHead, Blaire White, Milo Yiannopoulous, and other things like edgy jokes. I've apologized for it multiple times, even though I haven't been called out for it, and have changed so much from those beliefs. I was so young and stupid. Now I panic that one day it's gonna catch up to me and I'll get “cancelled” or whatever from it. I'm not even famous, obviously, so I have no reason to worry but I still panic way too much about it. The funniest thing is now I come to lolcow to shit on June and Blaire. Feeling like this sucks though.

No. 348773

>>348756
It’s okay anon, I used to be the same way in the past. I was 13-15 though, and my ~problematique~ past is all in deactivated accounts. I think what you should do is publicly announce you no longer think this way. If people are still mad at you for it, then that’s on them, even though they probably fuck up from time to time too themselves.

No. 348789

>>348615
This is what I'm scared of. Since I've moved back home, I had to ditch all my old friends here for various (upsetting) reasons. I have absolutely no friends here anymore. I only see people when they visit or when I visit somewhere else. I use it to keep in touch with friends who are far away. I feel like if I deleted it now, I would be completely forgotten about and that it would actually make my depression even worse. I mean I don't know what would actually happen until I did it, but the fear is very real.
In the future I would love to delete it, I fucking hate what social media did to society.

No. 348790

I really want to delete all of my social media but studying abroad and previously having a job that moved around a lot has forced me to use it to keep in touch. I've slowly used it less and less, in 2017 I was constantly posting memes and silly stuff to facebook and tumblr which was really gratifying because I would get so many likes and comments on my posts compared to before. Then I realized social media is really the first place employers look to gather information on you, so I changed a lot of privacy settings and started to tone it down. I realized I had more time to focus elsewhere and may have turned to this site for a bit but I'm also starting to visit here less and less as well. This thread has prompted me to purge a lot of people from my accounts that I don't talk to and I know don't actually care about me, so thats good I guess.

No. 348824

I used to be very active on Tumblr from around 2011 to 2016 but have deleted it. I don't have any other social media accounts except for Facebook, which I haven't updated in several years and has no personal information other than my name and face. I've thought about deleting it but I am still friends with a couple of dead friend's accounts and want to keep access.
Keeping up an image on Tumblr could be exhausting at times, especially during the rise of callout culture so it's a relief to not have it and not have any posts to curate on Facebook. I used to have a snapchat but lost interest and deleted it. >>348414
This, I don't understand when people put full legal names on everything. They dox themselves then post stupid shit that reveals when they leave their houses for extended periods of time, leaving them open to burglars/stalkers. I also see a disturbing number of photos posted with full exif data included. When people do use usernames they often don't even change them across accounts too, leaving a trail.
It just makes me sad that little kids are posting online with personal information and that will still be there when they are adults. If I had internet access as a kid I would have royally embarrassed myself but the evidence never left my cheap point and shoot camera.

No. 348827

How do you delete an Internet presence? Is it really impossible? When I look up my online username for stuff, I find so many embarrassing posts. Only my first name seems to be attached to it, but I still communicate to my friends via this specific username. If I were to ditch the username would it just end there? I've been having unnecessary anxiety attacks over this lmao. I wish I never joined social media.

No. 348829

>>348827
I think it's mostly hard for people to delete their past online presence because there might have been positive memories in there somewhere they don't want to accidentally get rid of

No. 348845

I feel like I may be one of the very small percentage of farmers here who admits I don't want to delete my social media because I'm a nosy fuck lmao.
I don't have anything but facebook, yet still I would feel very left out of the loop and like I would miss certain things if I got rid of it.
I don't post much anymore besides major life updates and photos from occasions like hanging with friends on nye. It's come a long way from when I used to treat Facebook like an everyday blog. Cringe.

No. 348858

>>348827
if you don't want to be looked up you should stop using that username; over time its relevance will show up further and further down on google search results. i did this with my old username and thankfully only like one or two connects to my past are still up… like delete whatever you can and over time it'll (hopefully) go away

No. 348861

If you have used your Facebook account to log in to other sites, remember to change those log ins before you deactivate and delete your Facebook account!

Has anyone else had their account suspended for not using their real name?

No. 348900

>>348827
There are websites that can show you every account associated with the email you enter (like justdelete.me) if you remember your old login passwords it should be easy. I did it a few years ago and it felt good.

No. 352085

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/instagram-addiction_us_5c34c539e4b0116c11f092dd

I hate how this comes across as such a fake fucking ploy of an advertisement for this air head's IG account/blog rather than what it could've been- a message about the dangers of getting too involved with "social" media. She could've downloaded her pictures on to an external hard drive and deactivated her account instead if it really caused her a mental breakdown.

No. 352120

I have a program that lets me control what sites/apps I can visit on my phone and laptop but Apple banned pretty much every iPhone blocker app, including this one. I have to make sure not to upgrade my phone’s os so I can keep using it but it’s really helpful.

No. 352135

>>348756

Anon don't panic! I think most of the people cancelling are only focused on public figures nowadays for the attention. As long as you’re not rich and famous, you should be okay.

But I get where you’re coming from. My last true social media account was my Twitter from 2017. I put it on private after a while because I couldn’t delete it for some reason, I finally deleted it last month. I hated my time on Twitter. It’s all political, petty, racist, and attention whorish. All people care about are getting as many retweets/likes as possible, being tagged by media outlets, and taking down anyone who is even slightly successful at their job for something they said 20+ years ago.

No. 506352

I decided to deactivate my Twitter account because I would waste so much time on it. I had a huge urge to reactivate my account after a week and was scrolling through countless tweets again like I used to, and was realizing why I got rid of it in the first place.

People are so fucking miserable on that site, and everyone just repeats what everyone else is saying. It’s like no one has their own thoughts or opinions and if they do there’s a shitstorm in the comments. And most of the conversations are so pathetic. I realized a good majority of people on there have no personality outside of Twitter, it’s so obvious. And no one fucking facts check anything, they see one viral tweet from a stranger and automatically think it’s true. Pretty sure Facebook is like this as well.

When I would regularly use Twitter I was always so down and now that I compare how I feel after deactivating I actually feel more alive since I don’t make myself read other people’s crap anymore. I deactivated again and will never go back.

No. 506362

Does anyone have any tips on how to fully stop using social media?

I have an Instagram account, but it's private with no followers. I keep it because if I ever need to free up space on my gallery, I just post photos I want to keep there. That way I can access them again whenever I want to. But I've noticed that whenever I'm bored my mind goes straight to Instagram, if that makes sense. I've deleted the app, but sometimes I feel the random urge to scroll through my explore feed even though it just makes me feel bad. FOMO, I guess.

No. 506363

>>352085
>Most people wake up and order room service with sleep still in their eyes, bed head and a makeup-free face. That is the whole point (and luxury) of getting breakfast in bed ― you don’t actually have to get out of bed or make yourself presentable to the world. Not for me. I had to shower, put on a full face of makeup, curl my hair and then mess it up a bit so it looked more “natural,” fluff the blankets and the pillows and set up my tripod. After ordering way more food than I could possibly eat, I painfully posed hundreds of different unnatural ways to achieve the ultimate “breakfast goals” shot. One hour and 400 photos later, the food was stale, the coffee was cold and I was feeling anything but relaxed.
I can't take her seriously. (also I know the post is 1 year old but the thread was bumped and it caught my eye)

No. 506367

I used to use tumblr religiously and it was fun because of the funny memes and interesting stuff. I tried to use it to make friends with people and found myself being constantly ignored and i got depressed about it and quit. Also the Sjw stuff caused me to quit too. It's the only social media site that I got truly addicted to and wasted so much time on. I have made a new account, but I haven't used it in months, it just doesn't hit the same. It's easy for me not to get addicted to social media because I can't figure how to use twitter and I am a shut in with no friends, so I have no one to check up on. The only social media site i use now it instagram, but i literally only use it for 20 minutes a day, so I am not concerned.

No. 506397

>>506363
Is it bad that I laughed at her when I read that

No. 506434

American politics and normies. As someone who lives in a shitty third world country seeing first wordlers complain about "muh pronouns" or "muh pc censorship" like it's as important as world hunger annoys me to death.
>>347944
Same, anon. Youtube is the death of me and i cannot do anything without my comfy playlist playing in the background.

No. 506526

File: 1579821823681.png (271.86 KB, 707x701, o8urwsww.PNG)

Like other farmers, I also spend way too much time on here. I hate it but sometimes I just have nothing better to do. I've thought about deleting my facebook a million times but I just can't bring myself to do so for some reason. I literally only use it for messenger and haven't posted anything in a year. A lot of people I know have actually deleted their FB accounts or have also stopped posting. My goal this year is to finally delete that damn thing.

I did however manage to delete my old tumblr and it felt great honestly. Lots of artists and cosplayers that I had previously followed on there had either stopped posting completely or just deleted their entire blog, so I figured I'd do the same. Made me sad as hell seeing all the abandoned blogs that I used to love checking in on. I do miss when tumblr was the main hub for fandoms and junk. It's way better than twitter in terms of tags and getting your art out there.
I did end up making a new tumblr to start fresh and purely to save jfashion and kawaii pics, but now I kind of regret coming back there. It's kind of a ghost town and is crawling with a lot of garbage. Since when was there so many little spaces and age regressors on tumblr?? They're fucking everywhere and a lot of them melt into the kawaii blogs. Same with those girls that push their ~kawaii lewd sets. I hate it so much. I should just save all the pretty pictures on my hard drive and bail.

The social media I mostly stick with is twitter and Instagram. I find twitter to be nicer than tumblr in terms of how a lot of people interact on there but with that there is also a lot of petty fighting and tagging is shit.
Instagram is ok but is getting on my nerves with all the fucking ads in my feed. I don't even bother to scroll through it anymore and just watch stories from my close family and friends. OH and I hate how there's even ads in the goddamn stories section lmao Is clogging up my feed not enough for you insta? Fucking Christ. I should probably delete it too.

It's frustrating when you're an artist and if you want a following you HAVE to post your art somewhere but a lot of these websites make it difficult or intimidating. I also hate the idea of having to spread out and have multiple accounts on different websites just to be noticed.
Tbh I just want another website like tumblr but with a decent tagging system, algorithm, and not filled to the brim with advertisements or porn bots.

No. 506543

Quitting tumblr was one of the best things I've done.
I've stopped using my first personal facebook account and just kept a burner account to run my art page.
It's so hard to quit social media because I need it for my art stuff.

>>506526
> I also hate the idea of having to spread out and have multiple accounts on different websites just to be noticed.

ugh I hate doing this especially with formatting my stuff to look nicely on those other platforms. Twitter's algo is shit, it fucks up the thumbnail so much. Insta works best with square pics and I hate cropping my pieces just to make it work. The biggest reason I post my stuff almost everywhere is to get some bases covered against "it's-not-here-yet-so-i'll-repost-it" reposting. Sure it won't stop jerks but at least I'll have some grounds for a DMCA report that I posted the OG. Sorry for the sperg, I just did this a while ago and it's so exhausting.

No. 511863

I think I'll delete my twitter account very soon. I'm abroad for a few months at the very east and I'll just use messenger to talk to my friends and whatsapp for my family. Almost all my mutuals either are my friends irl anyway so I have other ways to communicate with them, or I can't stand them anymore because they won't stop spamming about American politics (we're not Americans) and SJW shit they know nothing about. And among that second category many of them already unfollowed me or blocked me for have supposedly problematic opinions anyway. I do have an instagram account as well and I'm only using it to post pictures of food or places I'm visiting like it's a normal photo book, I'm barely looking at what people post.

It's dumb but I got so used to turning on the computer when getting home after school and then work that I feel like even if I deleted everything I'd just waste it on the internet in a different way, like reading useless and weirdly specific wikipedia articles non stop until I fall asleep.

It's amazing the number of hours I wasted these past few months on twitter and hating it all because I was unemployed and nobody wanted to hire me. I could have done so many things instead. Now that I'm busy I'm not even using it as much as I used to anymore. Same thing for lolcow and 4chan actually, I'm barely online in general nowadays. Having other things to do in general feels way better.

>>506363
>>506397
Yeah tbh the entire article made it seem more like it was a personal problem on her part than instagram being evil and brainwashing everyone.

No. 511865

I deleted almost everything in 2014 after graduating. I only have a tumblr account that I don't really use. Since I have no friends or family I see no point in having social media accounts.

I just hate that people see it as a "red flag" and as if I'm hiding something. I understand why they think so, but still.

No. 511893

>>511865
Same, anon. I only have Snapchat and my old tumblr that I barely use. Deleting instagram was one of the smartest thing I've ever done.
I would constantly feel like shit because all I saw was friends having fun, going on vacation etc. or photoshopped bodies. I read articles about how insta basically ruins people's mental health so I just quit.
I have very few friends and I never post selfies or whatever so social media is pointless for me either way.

No. 511898

>>511865
I'll never understand how people can see it as a red flag when many of us young adults were raised to be wary of the internet and hide our real identities online in case you'll get stalked or doxed.

No. 511900

I honestly took a break from social media by deleting the apps on my phone. It's not good to stay up late and browse through Facebook or Twitter everyday. I only have Instagram on my phone because I love cats. However, I am pretty guilty of stalking my old friends through my mobile browser to check what they're doing and I end up feeling depressed. It's pretty unhealthy and I don't know how to stop myself.

No. 511901

>>511898
One of the reasons for being a red flag is often stuff like hiding that one is taken/married, a single parent etc.

I think the younger generations don't really have that fear considering they often use their real name for youtube, instagram etc in hopes of being discovered

No. 511933

>>511901
I've never had fb but my ex did. We lived together for years and I had met his family. He met another woman through fb and they made their relationship status public on there six months before our breakup.. I only found out when I did some post breakup stalking lol

No. 512444

>>348577
Super late reply since I've actually been avoiding coming here too often, but I think it's important to say.

I don't think it's really about you doing something illegal or being a dishonest person. It's about people having a window into your life to utilize for discrimination, manipulation, social engineering, influencing, etc.

You can be a saint, but that doesn't mean everyone with access to your information is. It's easier for people to have an advantage over you without you ever realizing just from knowing certain aspects of your life. And while it may not be that huge of a concern right now, we know that all that information you're putting online is being sold to groups with nefarious intents. Not all of them are very transperent on what they're using that data for, and I'd imagine there's a pretty big market demand for a database of searchable "traits" any individual is likely to have.

The world isn't as nice as you are. Protect yourself.

No. 512452

I haven't had social media in almost a year and honestly I didn't notice a difference in my mood or self-esteem, but found myself talking about algorithms less and less. I wish there was a social media that didn't steal my info, I'd probably still be available online.
Has anyone else not noticed a difference at all?

No. 513194

>>511893
I think some of us were lucky enough to grow up in the short-lived era where it wasn't normal to put your real identity online. Powerlevel but I was born in the late 90's, got internet access when I was 10 and my 'attitude' towards the internet is that, while it was home to me, it was only home to my gamer/hobby identities, not wtf I did at school or the hauls I bought or the state of my friends and family.

Then again there's tons of people 25+ who spread their shit online now, usually because it gets them profit. I can't imagine being any younger and not realizing you DO have a choice not to basically conscript yourself to a like machine. Then again I do love my (you)s, lol.

No. 513212

I only use facebook for university stuff and to chat with the couple of friends in my study group. I didn't update my profile pic in 6 years and generally don't post anything at all, I use it just for messaging. I use tumblr for memes. I made a twitter briefly in 2009 when I was a 5th or 6th grader I don't even remember, and then I deleted it out of shame a few months later. I do use discord and have online friends on there, I don't have my real name on there though.
My vice are mainly imageboards, I was never big on social media a la instagram.

No. 513214

>>513212
Sorry to doublepost but forgot to mention, every couple of years I have a person I'm lightly stalking because they have everything on public. Currently I check up on one of my uni friends because he has a distinct online personality on twitter and generally I don't meet many people that are so familiar with the online world as he is so I find myself reading his tweets sometimes.
Did the same in high school to some random dude that made edgy 4chan references on facebook and he really liked jojo. That guy was kind of a personal lolcow though

No. 513439

My uncle went on a facebook binge posting easily debunked political articles this weekend and I just had enough. I didn't entirely delete it, but I did deactivate because baby steps.

No. 513951

I don't use any kind of social media besides FB Messenger (actual FB account is empty and deactivated) and an IG account that I don't actually post or comment with (I just use it to browse IG since they force you to have one to look at shit). Cutting out social media has done unspeakable wonders for my mental and social health. 10/10 highly recommended.

No. 514499

>>513951
>I don't use any kind of social media besides FB Messenger (actual FB account is empty and deactivated)
I didn't know that was possible. I might actually do it once I won't need fb anymore.

No. 514555

i only really use instagram now because i use it to stay in touch with certain local artist groups i'm apart of. i still have snapchat but use that solely for the purpose of messaging friends that are abroad/dont use data and never post or check stories. even though i use instagram for a halfway decent reason i still put the app blocker on so i dont scroll through the discover feed for hours.

No. 515742

I’m hesitating on deleting my YouTube account because that’s how I keep up to date with new music and new movies coming out, but I always get sucked in and spend hours watching pointless videos.

No. 515750

>>515742
I personally don’t really see YouTube as social media, if you aren’t putting up your own videos or anything. I get what you mean though about being falling down a rabbit hole of video watching, though I would rather do that than mindlessly scrolling through instagram/tumblr/twitter/fb.

I would say try to find hobbies and stuff to distract yourself from watching videos all the time. At least some youtube videos have the ability to be useful and interesting compared to the usual shit on other apps.

No. 515752

I need ig for work purposes but it really fucks with me mentally, it def has made me see myself as much uglier then I used to growing up. I don’t want to delete fb because it has so much content from my youth I don’t want to lose forever but at the same time I hate that people still try to message/add me on there, like gtfo no one uses Facebook anymore. Anyone else have this problem? Never had twitter or tumblr but I used YouTube fairly often, mostly to listen to content while cleaning/cooking/downtime.

No. 515936

>>515752
> I don’t want to delete fb because it has so much content from my youth I don’t want to lose forever

It might not be exactly what you're referring too but you can download every data you produced on Facebook as a zip file through the preferences menu. you'll get your images, conversations, timeline, everything. I did that before deleting mine, but (sadly?) lost the archive since then.

>>347888
This post pretty much summed up how I feel and act about social media. Removed my inactive Facebook more than a year ago. I'm fine without everything bad about it, but somehow I think it was a mistake, I lost and will lose good friends even quicker without it and will actually end up alone hikki-style in a few years if I move in another area

No. 515949

I quit Twitter because I genuinely can't stand it. No matter who I follow all I see is self pitying political bullshit. I can't go one fucking tweet without seeing something about bullshit politics that I don't give a single fuck about. They're usually full of strawmen and shit that doesn't matter. It doesn't help either when certain people I follow only reblogs porn.
Call me bitter, but Twitter nowadays is for self pitying crybabies who have nothing better to do with their day than whine about bullshit and nothing else. There's absolutely nothing redeemable about Twitter.

No. 515989

>>513194
I have the same thoughts. It's even really weird when the name I use in either is said in the other. They're completely separate.

I only have a linkedin for work reasons.
I've considered dropping twitter, but I keep going back to it for news, so all I've done is make sure it can't be traced to me.

No. 516774

>>515949
Ikr? I made an account to follow some artists I like and they never posted images of their work. it's nonstop ranting about politics and reblogging other artists who talk about the same thing. Twitter is the worst social media platform ever invented, it brings out the darkest and most annoying parts of people.

No. 516795

>>515949
if it's not politics it's pure fetish crap. i don't want to know who or what you want to fuck, it doesn't give you a personality, it's creepy. twitter is a sign that the end is near.

No. 516805

I quit Twitter when I realised that nearly every bio I read would announce the three sections of ones personality.. gender, sexuality and of course health conditions.

I mean maybe autism is worth mentioning in a bio but I started to see so many listing things like ibs as if it's rare or life defining disability. I don't want your full medical history thanks

No. 516849

>>516774
IG is a better social media for that than Twitter.

No. 516899

>>516774
im an artist with all socials and i follow not one person on twitter for this exact reason. it’s so irritating seeing ppls rants and social justice on the tl like did i ask?

No. 516968

>>516805
I have seen people with IBS in their bios like how necessary is that unless you're hanging out with this person. No one on the internet needs to know you shit often lmao

No. 517002

>>516774
This is why id only follow good artists who dont speak english if I had one since no one can claim I have any idea tf they saying outside art
Also damn I miss artists not being on twitter

No. 517029

>>516805
To be honest I appreciate such a red flag, I can just avoid all the crazies that will cause me trouble in the long run when they have the "21/NB/trans/disabled with self diagnosed autism and HSP (xe/xim)" warning on their bios.

No. 517270

>>516968

Lmao this is why I have never had twitter.

I finally took the plunge and deactivated it but I’m def feeling like real withdrawal symptoms wondering what all the useless cows I follow and people I don’t even talk to anymore are doing

No. 518977

I used to have Facebook, Twitter, instagram, WhatsApp and be on quite a few online music board obsessively discussing a certain music band.
A few years back I deleted everything except LinkedIn (because in my field of work it is still essential). I did purge my 3000 linkedin connections down to 350.

- I deleted facebook because I realised all I had there were superficial connections to people that were not really friends.
- WhatsApp was a fucking hellhole. My workplace uses it for group related messaging..work inviting itself in my personal place, where I used to have only family and friends. I couldn't say no to be added to work group so deleted.
- twitter is an other hellhole where people seem to be at each other throats constantly and endlessly bickering over what is kosher and PC or just sperging xenophobia all over the place, deleted.
- instagram, the platform of the histrionic clusterfucks. My colleague and friends pressured me to get on it. Soon enough all I saw were people documenting every fart they had, every shit they took, snapping their over inflated ego through carefully filtered content. I could not have cared less if I had been paid to actively not care : deleted.
- reddit : was about the same as twitter without the advantage of brevity kek. If twitter idiots have some insights, reddit morons are oblivious to their conditions and persuaded they are smart. Some r/ are worth a read for some above average content and fun comments but that's about it. Deleted.
- Also deleted youtube. Fuck that platform and their latest craze of bombarding people with ads right, left and centre. Wasted way too much time watching and commenting.

How is life without it ?
Facebook of all the above is still a big deal. I've been told more than once by newly met friends or colleagues that they could not find me on facebook, genuinely puzzled. People still organise a lot of their social stuff through it even if it's less prevalent than 10 years ago.
Life without it is awesome. I'm a bit of an introvert so originally, facebook was mainly a way to fit in for me. I wanted to belong, to be "normal". I thought I was weird to enjoy being on my own. I learned in good time it was as acceptable as being a more sociable person. So no facebook is a relief :
> I never wonder what people are up to and no longer obsessively stalk through their feeds
> When I meet someone I meet them. I don't go from what I've seen on facebook or insta first.
> When I catch up with friends, I actually catch up. I no longer say "I've seen you've done this and that on Instagram"
> I have a lot more free time on my hands than your average social media obsessed fanatic.
> My free time is spent practicing drums, playing with some bands in town, reading a lot more than I used to, get out in the morning first thing for a good run etc. I used to get on facebook first thing. Now first thing I put on some nice music, sip my coffee watching the sun rise, listen to birds chirping in the distance.
> a lot less people are connected to me now. I've lost sight of dozens of "friends". The one that matter have my phone number and can call me to chat (yes, CALL. I dont answer texts anymore).
> my family is the only one that has a direct, instant access to me. All other people don't.

All in all I'd say I'm a heck of a lot happier without all those added layers of disturbance in my life. I'm no longer anxious about comparing myself to others, metrics (likes & comments), pictures, how my life looks to outsiders. I'm more busy actually living my life and less busy constructing a tuned reflection of it for the sake of an audience of remote friends and acquaintances. I no longer spend hours fighting over twitter and reddit arguing with sperging brick walls.
I love the anonymity of lolcow, I find it the only acceptable form of online board now : rules mean you leave your ego at the door and actual convo are at the center of the action.

Tl;dr : deleted all the social media I ever had and never looked back.

No. 519057

>>518977

Thanks for sharing your experience of deleting all social media anon! I'm getting sick of social media too. It gives me anxiety due to FOMO. Also the constant barrage of unimportant information and negativity that's prevalent in most social media is affecting my mood. My work and hobbies are also affected because I often lose focus due to the constant need to check new posts/tweets etc. I'm beginning to realize that I've become a social media addict which sucks.

I'm gonna do a one month social media detox next month. I'm gonna delete all the social media apps on my phone (except for whatsapp cuz I need it for work. Wish I can delete this too!). Your post definitely helped in giving me the push. Wish me luck anons! I hope I can last a month though. Haha.

No. 519067

ive quit/had low presence on social media for a long time since i became a shut in, it made me miserable to see people be normal. but now that im trying to get out and make friends ive realised no social media kind of makes you even more of a freak, in my experience no one exchanges numbers anymore they just add eachother on facebook. i made a new one a few months ago but its completely blank and empty because i dont have any friends, tbh if someone asked me for my fb at this point i think it would be freaky to be the only friend on someones list so im stuck between a rock and a hard place. im just so fucking lonely

No. 519073

>>519067
Weirdly comforting to see how many on here have the experience of being a shut in. I'm not really one anymore but when I was a young adult I was housebound with agoraphobia and my parents made me feel like nobody else on earth has ever shut themselves off like that.

Similarly I haven't returned to social media because of that hurdle of starting with an empty friends list, hard to explain it to people.

No. 519076

>>519067
>>519073
Just a suggestion but you can hide your friend list at least on facebook. Explains how the people who have 1k friends only get five likes on a post and don't get embarrassed about it anymore.

No. 519192

>>519057
You can do this anon ! I never looked back after deleting it all, removing apps from your phone might help you take a breather too. Heck even just removing all notifications, you can do that in your phone settings, and watch how much quieter your life become. Everytime you have an urge to social media, try to think of what else you could be doing. Like at work, focus on your work instead. Think of small tasks you need to get done to take a breather from heavier ones instead of checking your phone, or take a break and have a walk. At home grab this book you never finished, put on a movie and actually focus on it and watch (not be like those people half there half on their phone for the whole movie…), around the dinner table make it a no phone rule. I can't tell you how many times I'm out eating with friends and there is always this awkward moment where they all go quiet, compulsively checking their feeds and texting. Meanwhile I'm here enjoying my food (not taking pictures of it), and purposefully getting the convo started again while they're all buried face in screens, kek.

I swear people got to train to learn to be people again.

I'm with you anon, you'll last the month. Be fearless !

No. 519194

>>519067
Don't worry at all anon. As another anon said just hide your friend list and no one will have a clue. Perhaps add your family and close friends again - people definitely won't mind you've started facebook again. Own it, be like "I'm back b*tches" kek, don't feel bad about yourself or don't show it. And add lots of people soon enough you'll just be your cookie cutter facebook user and no one will care or notice ! Good luck

No. 519499

>>519192

Thanks anon! I did it! I finally deleted all my social media apps on my phone. I just hope I can last for at least a week or two without feeling the need to check up on my social media. I still feel the need to check up on my social media even though I know I've deleted them. Feels weird not being glued to the phone.

Will definitely catch up on my readings and brush up on my art skills. Will also try out new hobbies like sewing and gardening which I've been putting off since forever. Cheers to a one month free of social media nonsense!

I will post my progress once in awhile here if you anons don't mind since I basically don't have any irl friends, just online ones I've made trough social media. Oh god… what have I done? Haha.

No. 519685

>>519499
Definitely do anon ! I want to hear your progress and what difference this make to your life, hopefully positive! Enjoy the new activities, your eyes will thank you !

No. 519838

>>519685

Hi anon! Quick update. I survived Day 1 without social media! At first it felt super weird though not having to check up on new updates/posts when I woke up this morning. It has become an automatic habit of mine to open my social media apps the moment I wake up to see new posts/msgs. Felt kinda lonely as well being disconnected from my online friends. Also, throughout the day, I found myself frequently picking up my phone to check on my socmed to later realize that I've deleted them all. I did this at least 15 times today. I feel like an idiot everytime I do this. lol

On the positive side, managed to finish a lot more paperwork at the office than usual since I'm no longer constantly distracted by my phone. And the most amazing thing is my phone battery actually lasted until late in the afternoon! I usually have to recharge my phone around 1030 am.

Now I'm trying to cut down on surfing random websites during work though. I'm a huge procrastinator which is worrisome.

No. 519869

I've moved a lot in my life and use Facebook and (mostly) Instagram and Whatsapp to communicate with friends in other countries. What troubles me the most about deleting both Facebook and Instagram is that I wouldn't be able to see the updates that friends post but wouldn't necessarily tell me directly. Also, the people in one of the countries I've lived in don't use WhatsApp because it's seen as uncool or whatever.

I'm probably still gonna do it at some point but this is pretty much the only reason why I haven't deleted all my accounts yet.

No. 519873

>>519869
I totally see your point anon, I was like you as I moved country a lot (and companies) and lived in about 5 countries in 10 years… and hesitated quite a bit before offing my online presence. thing is, I realised all those people I stayed connected to in my case are just not friends. When I nuked my entire social media, apart from LinkedIn (how i wish i could get rid of it too) i did lose touch with a lot of them but most of them did not notice or care. Maybe it's just me but in the end, I truly didn't see the point or keeping those superficial connections up. It's not like I was skyping with them or texting on any regular or even remotely regular basis with them. So why would I care about their news ? They mostly did not care about mine.
Some people did get back in touch on linkedin and keep in touch calling every so often.
Otherwise I just value the small, close circle of people I can call friends.

No. 519874

I feel really guilty for thinking what I'm about to type out. It highlights just how entrenched social media can be and how self-centered it makes us. I'd been cutting back posting on fb at all. Maybe a post or two max and a share per week. I haven't posted selfies in months, although I was still tagged in group pics during that time. I've been tempted whenever I hang out with friends because I immediately want to make a post about what we're doing and add pictures. Like my brain is legitimately concerned that other people might not know that I actually do shit, and it matters if they think I don't. I still feel a little sad when friends don't take selfies with me. Jealousy when I see them post pictures with everyone else except for me, and not bc I'm wanting them not to but maybe they just don't want to with me anymore bc of how I changed and don't seem to care outwardly as much. I have a duplicate attitude of both not wanting people who don't really interact or care about me to know too much about my life, but also wanting them to know when my life is going pretty good and wanting to be witnessed.

No. 520019

>>519874
Anon I think you hit the nail on the head and you're not alone in that experience.
I felt exactly like what you describe prior deletion. It's so weird to constantly judge yourself harshly because some friends seem to get more together, take more pictures together etc…personally it just did not help my self confidence.
And if you dont "play the game", well you are deemed a weirdo and kept at arm's length.
I guess it's easier to ignore social media later in your life. I imagine younger teenagers/early 20 something would have a hellish time keeping outside of the bubble - although I think it would all be for the better if they all did.

>>519838
Well done anon ! Yeah you'll feel like urges to compulsively check your phone. Just gotta train your brain to learn how to keep focus again. You'll need to "practice" that a lot.
Let us know how the next days go ! I hope you'll see more positive things out of the experience.
Let your friends know where they can contact you while you detox, you might be surprised how people will go the extra mile to keep in touch.

No. 520066

I go on the internet/social media in general way too much and been trying to cut down the usage with my phone and computer. I do good for a week or two of staying off than go back to my bad habits after that with repeat of trying to cut the habit again.

No. 523641

I miss having social media accounts, it's like I created a fun character which would not be the same irl.

No. 523845

Left twitter ages ago but was on it yesterday after watching a youtuber covering an alleged rape that had been filmed by a tik tok star. Two guys apparently fucking an entirely limp and lifeless looking girl. At least one of the three people involved is under 18 so the two clips circulating are classed as child porn and the guy freely admitted he filmed it without the girl knowing.

I checked twitter for updates on the two arrests but found lots of people using the hashtag to pass around the clips. Lots of very underage looking profiles asking to be hooked up with the clips.. 13 year old girls dying to see it! and everyone insisting that they only want to watch the clips to 'judge it for themselves' as if we all have some right to further violate this woman cos we're curious. I hate twitter

No. 523882

Quit facebook 3 years ago after nobody was interacting with me on it. Haven't looked back since.
I recently deactivated my instagram about 2 months ago after seeing posts of my friends going out and making plans behind my back. I didn't need to be reminded about how much fun everybody else was having without me. I'm essentially in a permanent state of FOMO, and removing social media from my life has helped me a bit with that.
As for my social life, it's literally non-existent. I never leave the house unless I have errands to run. And with this pandemic, classes have been cancelled for 2 weeks now. So I guess even if I still had social media, I'd have nothing to post on it since nothing interesting ever happens in my life

No. 523893

God I hate Twitter. Such a cesspool of random people shouting at nothing and being assholes.

No. 523905

I hate how Twitter is full of these repulsive worthless degenerates such as weebs and furfags ugh
I miss old Twitter now it's a hot spot for these nasty shitheads

No. 523907

>>523905
twitter is the new tumblr, basically.

No. 523926

>>523905
Don’t you also mean kpop weebs and sex workers. Kek
Fuck twitter, honestly.

No. 523937

>>523926
there's a lot of gamers and ethots/cosplay thots on twitter too. It's the worst place now. i dont even touch mine

No. 523973

I havent had social media for a long time. It's really difficult to maintain friendships for me even when I did have it, but I'm much less anxious and more productive without it. The only social media I think I'd ever have again is snapchat as it doesn't have a visible friends/followers and likes, so Id have less stress about appearing liked.

Facebook is definitely the one I get shit on the most for not having. Its also the one I genuinely hate and have no interest returning to. When people ask why I don't have one I used to be embarrassed and make up an excuse about taking a hiatus but now I just say "because I'm a weird cunt with no friends and nothing to show off"

No. 524000

My fb account has been in limbo for "real name verification" for a few years now. I haven't used my legal name online since 1999, and I'm not about to start now.

I'm a DJ and recently became active in the local community again. But my entire scene, which is international, works solely on fb (I had maxed out on the 5K friends limit).

I always knew fb was deleterious to the Internet, but I didn't realize to what degree until I began trying to network without it. Zuck has built a wall around information; nothing gets in or out. Info posted solely to fb may as well not exist, and people's reliance on the ease of fb discourages them from posting elsewhere or maintaining their own sites. He is truly anti-Internet, and fb is a betrayal of the original intent of the Internet.

I mean, I couldn't even find out info about my own recent DJ gig because the promoter posted it only on fb, and without logging in all you can see of event pages is the main image and basic deets.

Archive.today is a work around not having an account, but the site keeps losing its log-in.

What to do? I can produce the documents needed to verify the name I used on fb and everywhere else, but I'll feel like a traitor.

Google doesn't even recognize for-fun vanity websites any longer. I moved my domain name email management to Google prior to 2012 so it's grandfathered, but now their only option for domain management is a fucking business account. I only switched to Google from my friend's linux server because I lost reliable computer access (he didn't have a web-based UI) and I felt like I had sold my soul to the evil side.

I've been online since 1993, and this is not the Internet we envisioned!

No. 524092

>>524000
I don't have the answer, but everything you wrote resonated so strongly with me. The internet isn't the internet anymore at all!
You could try to make a Facebook page very similar to your actual name, keep it locked down, but use it to make a 'page' for your DJ name? It's still not exactly what you want, but you would be able to have more access to event pages at least.

>Google doesn't even recognize for-fun vanity websites any longer.

What did you mean by this?

No. 524309

>>524000
I just wanna say anon I agree so much with you. Seeing this anti-internet philosophy people and corporations now have drives me insane.
>>524092
She means that you cant just make a website for shits and giggles now, no profit, like the good old days. She means its all regulated to business or personal accounts now. The internet is streamlined and boring.

No. 524319

>>524309
that's not what that means, it just means you can't get targeted ads for shit like that.

No. 524391

I deleted my facebook years ago and I don't miss it. I still use instagram, twitter and tumblr, but I don’t post anything personal in these accounts, they are completely anonymous and I only use them to follow content that can inspire me (photography, art, cooking, decoration, fashion). I never used other social media besides these.
I believe that social media are good to be inspired and even entertained, but I don't feel good sharing my life in them, I feel superficial and pathetic…
I'm an artist so I just started posting art on social networks, but over time I realized that the pressure to get likes was directly influencing what I wanted to do. I made a personal website with a portfolio and I put my art on it and it has been very good for me!
My social life hasn’t changed much, I’ve always been very reclusive and distant so I’m losing contact with people naturally. I like to get to know people online so I recently made a discord account and joined a friend's server. It's been fun, but I don't like to join other servers because it's full of teenagers and I feel uncomfortable.
I don't give my accounts for people I know in real life unless if we're really close, and some people think I'm weird but I honestly don't mind it.
Generally I feel better not sharing my personal life and maintaining anonymity, so I am satisfied with my current life and I don't feel like deleting my current accounts, but I also wouldn't miss them if anything.
I really recommend for everyone to give it a try, it's refreshing!

No. 525100

>>524319
I mean, but isn't that why they don't recognize for shits and giggles blogs anymore? because it's not for profit therefore it's not needed?

No. 525568

>>524309
Stupid question perhaps but how do you know this is a woman and not a man posting ?

No. 525569

>>523845
That was very very disturbing to read anon. I hate twitter. Theres a special place in hell for twitter users and its founders.

No. 535400

File: 1585833421222.jpg (53.11 KB, 600x507, happycat.jpg)

>>520019

Hi anon! I did it! I actually survived my one month social media detox challenge! I'm actually quite happy with the experience. On the last day of my challenge, I didn't even have the urge to download all my social media apps back on my phone immediately. I officially went without social media for 33 days. I'm actually proud of myself. I only caved on Day 34 since I really miss my online friends and I wanted to see how they're doing during the pandemic outbreak. I feel like I want to try doing another social media detox challenge again soon. Maybe after the whole Covid 19 is over. But this time I want to block/ban all social media apps and also browsing image boards.

Only downside to the challenge is that I slacked off on doing any art since I don't have the need to post it on social media. But I did try out a new hobbies like baking bread and cooking new recipes. So it's all good.

I really recommend doing a one month social media detox challenge, especially to those who are too addicted to chasing internet popularity/followers/likes. It's good for your soul and mind.

No. 536310

>>348009
Oh goodness this pic really hurts. I’m in my 20s and I see all these people who have multiple talents, but I don’t have any. I spent all of my teen years being online 24/7. I was a clout-chaser who thrived off attention whoring. Now I’m slightly jealous of people who actually got to spend these development years on fulfilling hobbies.
I also feel like a lot of people who are good at a hobby might ruin the fun of it by over sharing it online.

No. 536320

I just turned 23 less than a week ago. I’ve never had any social media but I often feel like I’m missing out on a lot. My peers seem like they should be 17 the way they post on SM tho honestly (I did get a snap(total of 9 ppl only coworkers/spouse/&tinder(never showed face) almost 2 yr ago)). It seems so immature and pointless I couldn’t bring myself, no matter how hot I am or entertaining the shit I get into.

No. 536604

>>511900
>I am pretty guilty of stalking my old friends through my mobile browser to check what they're doing and I end up feeling depressed. It's pretty unhealthy and I don't know how to stop myself.

I know this is an old post but I'm in the same boat right now. I can will myself into not checking but then maybe after a week I go "why not check in on them" and then I feel gross again. I don't talk to these people anymore because our interests changed and they have definitely become "twitter-y" for lack of a better word- extremely reactionary and desperate for likes on their hOt TaKeS and willing to argue over things that just don't matter. I guess I'm shocked by how they have changed from people I used to respect to whatever this is. I need to stop looking, but I understand your problem.

We just have to cut it cold turkey. No excuses.

No. 536611

>>536310
I used to share my hobby online but deleted all my accounts after finishing hs. Now I feel bad for not keeping the accounts and improving.

No. 536628

How should I detox? Any tips or tricks. All I use is 2 apps. How long? I'm also taking a break off of weed.

No. 536661

>>511900
>>536604

Ffs I do the same thing. I’ll memorize someone’s username and stalk them out of boredom. It could be anyone from my past or someone who I’m on good terms with, but don’t speak to regularly. I’ll go on anonymous Instagram story viewer websites and just watch. It feels creepy to say, but it’s like vicariously living through these people I guess? I don’t even know if I’m hate watching, or if I’m rooting for them. I just look them up.

No. 536680

>>536661
I think my particular problem stems from being disappointed and missing them, and the friendship we used to have. The group have just become too annoying to talk to anymore for me. All of them sort of moved over to Twitter when Tumblr went down and I didn't so I'm the only one "moving on" from that group.

I don't think what you're doing is bad if you're rooting for them. If you feel contempt for them, though, that isn't healthy. And I speak from my own experience as I try to quit doing it. I don't "hate" my ex-friend group, though I know I'm only looking at them to keep rolling my eyes and be disappointed, which does nothing at all for me.

No. 536685

>>536628
you can't half-ass it. you have to go all in because social media is so addictive. letting yourself "just take a peek" will feed into that addiction again. delete the apps and erase your history to stop the urge to type in familiar sites. immediately do something else. get up and away from the screen if you have to.

No. 536725

I used to be full-blown addicted to sites like Twitter and Discord years ago since they move so fast and I was able to get fast responses (quick hits of dopamine). One thing to helps me is to make the websites I'm addicted to boring to visit. For example on Youtube cut your subscriptions down to the bare minimum so you only need to check your subscriptions once a day.

>>536310
Me too. I wish I didn't waste so much time online doing god knows what as a teenager. I'm so behind in life compared to my peers now because they were out doing productive things and I just wasted my entire life online.

No. 536756

>>536725
I resent my parents so much for allowing me to spend copious amounts of time on the internet every single day. The shit I got into digitally because I was given so much unmonitored time is unreal looking back. It was like that starting from honestly age 8 or so. They never checked to see what I was doing, if I did my homework, or took the time to realize that I barely socialized with people. A kid doesn't realize that what they're doing is damaging in the long run, that's literally what parents are for.

No. 536757

>>536725
Yes! On the one hand, I’m grateful I wasted my youth online because it kept me out of dumb irl shit. I got to meet cool people with similar interests. On the other hand.. I wasted my youth online. It also sucks. People who draw, paint, play guitar, are great photographers etc. intimidate me because most of them have been at it since their teen years. I know it’s never too late to learn, but it’s demoralizing when you feel so behind.
I think about how I’m at least grateful to have had a childhood. Playing outside with friends. Collecting dolls. Those are some experiences that kids growing up with tablets are missing out on. Not to sound like a granny, but today’s kids are missing out on life since their elementary school years.

No. 536816

>>536725
Drop youtube subs completely, or dont log in, only watch videos when you feel like it.
>>536757
The generations growing up just now, are TOTALLY fucked. Theres no doubt about it, those kids growing up on 100% screentime and having iPhones since they were 12 or younger… horrible way to raise a mind. And potentially a contributor to our offense culture where everyone is angry all the time.

No. 536870

Twitter is where angry and sad people go to see who can yell the loudest. They pick fights with others and actively seek out conflict because they're miserable. No one I've met diverges from this, unless they do one single thing like posting art or photos or memes, or if they login just a few times a month or something.

No. 536874

>>536870
No one who has a fulfilling life uses Twitter regularly, or any social media for that matter. The only exception is posting maybe once a week or less.

No. 536882

holy fuck i'm regretting deleting all my social media accounts and cleaning up my internet habits; i'm so bored in quarantine - all i do is read, sleep, work out, check the two sites i still visit, and start over. i feel like i'm in jail.

No. 536891

>>536882
I mean would scrolling through twitter really improve your quality of life during quarantine?

No. 536942

>>536891
Honestly, yeah, it would be a distraction at least. I'm an ana-chan and on top of that got diagnosed with cancer a couple days ago too and I can't do anything about it while COVID is happening so I'm pretty much spiralling right now.

No. 536959

>>536942
There are much healthier ways to spend time online like watching informative YouTube videos or something. Not scrolling a toxic echo chamber site.

No. 536964


No. 536985

I dumped Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and twitter about 2 years ago. One of the best descicions I’ve ever made.
Now when I want my fill of Internet degeneracy, I come to lolcow and see what’s been going on in snow or pt

No. 536994

>>536942
> got diagnosed with cancer a couple days ago too and I can't do anything about it while COVID is happening

I have cervical and my treatment continues as normal. Are you claiming you got diagnosed and left without a treatment plan? Really girl?

No. 536999

>>536964
Yeah, Hate when people make such obvious bs up like that. First post is whinging about regular old quarantine boredom..one post later they're dealing with a VERY recent cancer diagnosis with no treatment in sight, Ha! Strange how that didn't even get a mention in the first post. kek

No. 537079

>>536985
I actually feel like lolcow can be better for you mentally than social media depending on what you’re doing. Laughing at trainwreck people is basically just reality TV, but some of the threads in other boards are actually pretty fun and informative!

No. 537138

>>523905
>weebs and furfags ugh
there really are a ton now and i hate seeing them somehow show up in my feed just because i follow some artists like wtf i didn't sign up for shitty fanart or furry garbage

No. 537181

>>536942
Same here, the stress of everything has made things worse. At least I don't have cancer.
Thanks for the other tips anons! I logged out of instagram and I don't really have a reason to log back in. I'm going to allow myself to indulge in reading informative sites and other cozy communities that aren't so commercialized.

No. 537705

I deleted twitter because all the people I met through it were insufferable autists that believed I was having a mental breakdown every time I tried to be playfully dramatic. I don't regret it because I hated how it made me feel to get three dms from dudes wanting Nice Guy points for consoling me during a "tantrum"

No. 537723

>>537705
being playfully dramatic sounds pretty cringe, no wonder you attracted that kind of attention.

No. 537726

>>537723
NTA but I guess anon meant being playfully dramatic as in writing something overblown like "AAHHHH FUCK FUCK MY LIFE wTFFFff" over something minor as a joke and people took it seriously. Twitter is fucking filled to the brim with autistic men who have no social skills and constantly reply inappropriately to women's tweets.

No. 537761

>>347877
For anyone struggling with YouTube addiction - there are browser extensions you can download that only show you the video you want and disable video suggestions, comments etc, so you're more likely to be able to watch something essential and then just stop. I just don't use YouTube on my phone anymore since this isn't an option.
I also recommend tracking mobile screen time to give you an idea of something physical to cut down on.
Think about using your phone 'purposefully', eg. meditate for a second before unlocking it to make sure you have a logical reason for doing so. It's impossible to fully cut the online sphere out of your life, but you can create a healthier relationship with it, so replacing compulsive browsing with just using the internet to fulfill certain tasks is a great way to go.

No. 537765

>>537761
Cont -(sorry I'm just remembering all this stuff that helped me cut down, I'm sure it'll help others on this site) - replace compulsive validation on social media with validation from skill-based achievements, which can still be online. Use language learning sites, flashcard software for school, etc, to feed into your serotonin addiction instead.
People mock 'quarantine schedules' but if you do suffer from internet addiction and depression they'll help. Make a list of some things you want to try or practice that don't involve the internet, then pick one for every hour or 2-hour slot of the day.
There's an r/nosurf subreddit with tips and advice, as well as lists of ways to fill up your new free time.

No. 538896

I managed to not stalk anyone for almost a year, but I did it again today.
I clicked on something posted here, then on several other links until I found a page that shared content from one of the people I used to stalk. Their "community" is such a dumpster fire, they have other stalkers as well.
Luckily, they don't know who I am as I've never interacted with them.

No. 558934

Does Pinterest count as social media? I made all my boards secret and don't follow anybody/have no followers.

No. 558936

>>558934

Nah I don’t think so, that’s where I’m at. I ditched out of Facebook about 5 years ago and have been off and on with Insta but nuked it back in February. I do not miss it at all; lolcow keeps me topped up on the schadenfreude.

No. 558976

>>558934
nah, personally i'm on weheartit and it's so much fun, it's just about the pictures and collecting them, personality doesn't come into it.

I think i've mostly quit social media at this point, i just don't like being perceived online anymore. I keep instagram to follow people i'd lose track of otherwise and text friends but i've finally rid myself of the "i need to post pictures of myself and amass followers and keep everyone updated" mentality which is good.

No. 560720

Im really tempted to delete all of my social media and start anew, dunno why but most of my accounts tend to be 10yrs+ ,and i still use them until today. The one piece of social media i want to delete the most is my facebook account, so many good/bad and bittersweet memories came from that place. But where im from pp mainly use fb, so i guess i just start anew one and delete the old one then!?
Its been a long ass semester for me u guys, because of the pandemic i have to be active online all the freaking time and im having a social media ''burn out'' if i put it correctly. Cant wait to be offline and have some time for myself, i still use messenger apps though in case of an emergency.

No. 560738

>>347877

I would like to hear different anons' reasons for quitting social media! It'd be interesting to get some perspective on all of this. I've been debating quitting social media for a while but Facebook is the only way I can communicate with a lot of family members/friends, and Instagram is fun (but also genuinely stressful) to post pics on.

No. 560740

>>560738
I just don't like the concept of people I knew being able to check up on me without my permission. If I'm out of someone's life, I'm gone, and I absolutely hate the concept of anyone being able to see what I've been up to. I just keep instagram with 5 followers, all friends, as IG is much easier to keep "in touch" with people as opposed to manually texting them to let them know news and I stay anonymous and just post the occasional song lyric. Being perceived is very stressful.

No. 560754

My mental health (adhd anxiety) took a nosedive when my mom died, social media was one of my many unproductive
distractions/addictions and being bombarded with all that info and opinions (especially Facebook) was making my anxiety way worse. Too many things.

I'm really enjoying the simplification.
I'm dreading having to eventually make professional social media accounts for my career tho, I even think about hiring someone to manage it, I hate that shit so much.

No. 560987

File: 1590789462573.png (121.2 KB, 1152x430, 237924.png)

all this #blm stuff makes me want to take a 3 month social media break. i care about the current happenings, i genuinely do. police brutality and racism are issues i believe need to be combatted… however, all this emphasis on social media activism is insane! i remember back in 2014/2015 ppl on tumblr would be like "why are you not reblogging every resource about the ferguson situation??" or "seeing you not use your platform to speak out about this issue tells me a lot about what you are like as a person…". these posts have now returned, but in 2020 they are on all platforms.

yes, speaking up is important… but guilt tripping others into speaking up about something they necessarily aren't invested in, and keeping tabs on how much online activism they participate in or how they react to the situation is really weird. it's also manipulative.

while i get that it spreads the word, why do others want random influencers or celebs to speak up about something they necessarily don't care about? is performative social media activism better than actual activism? i also see stuff like "how can you be posting selfies/talking about your interests/being excited in a time like this?". bro… america is not the centre of the world. terrible stuff happens every day. by that logic no one should be able to enjoy themselves ever.

it's incredibly shallow and annoying. according to some people, you can never do enough. because even if you spread the word by sharing articles and links someone will call you out for not donating. it's just.. so performative and i feel like some ppl are competing with each other when it comes to showing their followers how much they care about the situation.

No. 561015

>>560987
completely agree

No. 561138

>>560987
I agree with this very much. I am especially annoyed with the people saying "silence is violence" and acting like if you aren't reposting everything you see you're a racist. I just try to keep all political stuff off of my pages because my mental health can't handle all the backlash you get for posting anything. My family is conservative and I can't handle getting into arguments right now. But by these people's logic, I'm just as bad as outright racists.

No. 561145

>>560987
I'm considering deleting my twitter and maybe my fb account too because of this shit. First thing I saw on the case was the video of the black man getting murdered with no warning whatsoever and the video started playing automatically, it fucked me up the entire day. I don't want to see that shit, especially because there's nothing I can do about it since I'm not even American and we already have similar problems in my country, and I think that while it's necessary to get as much evidence as possible in cases like this one it's super disrespectful to just randomly repost the video instead of linking a news article with accurate info and either pictures or the video of the crime.

>i remember back in 2014/2015 ppl on tumblr would be like "why are you not reblogging every resource about the ferguson situation??" or "seeing you not use your platform to speak out about this issue tells me a lot about what you are like as a person…"

And I feel like it's just like the mid-2010s too. People are guilt tripping each other over talking or not talking about the case, but I'm 100% sure many of the celebrities who are talking about it aren't even being genuine.

No. 561177

>>560987
This
What happened to George Floyd was disgusting and I hope his family receives justice but Jesus, people become totally insufferable because of it. I had to delete Twitter because of it.

No. 561212

>>561177
sorry but I'm pretty sure shit is going to hit the fan even more. This is different. I've always been someone who actively supports the movement but isn't an extremist and calls out extremist behavior and comments, but I really don't blame anyone for how they're reacting now. Minorities have tried being civil, and we literally get killed for it time and time again. Civil disobedience is the only other reaction and if the first reaction didn't work, and hasn't worked for decades,well… stupidity is doing something over and over again and expecting different results.

No. 561255

>>561212
It really isn't different. Nothing changed back then and nothing will change this time unless we don't lose sight of what's important, not just this but corona and the upcoming elections. Out of all people how are we ever going to succeed with trump in office? I've been fearing for my friends for years and I even knew someone who was abused in police custody. The system is rigged, we can't have either Biden or Trump if there's going to be change. But let's be real, do you think we stand a single chance against this borderline police state? Everything is calculated, that arrest yesterday is 3rd degree murder or voluntary manslaughter. Rioting in the streets isn't enough for change, it'll only hurt communities and worsen the corona pandemic. And which groups have been disproportionately dying from corona hm

No. 561263

>>561212
I understand people’s frustration but rioting and looting isn’t going to solve anything in the long run. At most, it’s just gonna blow off some steam. Unfortunately, I don’t have any ideas to solve this but then again, no one does really. Shit sucks.

No. 561268

>>561263
It's just soul draining. Floyd and his family deserve justice. I don't know what needs to happen for some much needed change. Nothing changed after the Rodney king riots, nothing changed after trayvon martin and Mike Brown's deaths. Considering banning myself from social media because it is just soul killing to scroll through the feed lately (it usually is to begin with but now more so)

No. 561269

>>560987

this. what's worse is I'm not even fucking american and shit like this happens too often in my country. americans are always silent because "it happens all the time!!" in other countries but when they have a political outburst you better reblog pointless walls of texts to your 20 followers anime account or you've literally murdered all of the black population.

it's so performative it's disgusting, these people don't do anything other than sit on their asses and retweet shit texts written by 15 year olds. my country has a bomb attack every month, yet no american curr. Floyd derserves justice but autistic reeing on social media isn't going to revive him. Respect to the actual protesters seeking justice but social media activism is worth jack shit 90% of the time, but hey, they signalled that virtue, they're good people.

I'm going to delete twitter and tumblr until this passes tbh. Going to follow the news on actual news outlets.

No. 561277

>>561212
> Minorities have tried being civil, and we literally get killed for it time and time again.
Civil? By igniting riots going on for multiple days/weeks and ruining local businesses, a lot of them being run by minorities? Gathering as big groups during a pandemic risking the virus spreading even further?

>>561269
This. They don't give a shit about "raising awareness" for other countries having much bigger issues but when something happens in the US everyone is supposed to stop on their tracks and focus all their strength on social activism with guilt tripping "If you don't RT this you're part of the problem!!!!!" bullshit.

No. 561279

>>561277
I see people in my country reposting shit and it makes me laugh so hard. We are nowhere near America and it does not impact us whatsoever and yet people are like "SHARE!!!!!!!" share why?

No. 561283

>>561279
B-because everyone is American a-and even if y-you're not y-y-you still need to spread a-awareness!!! have a heart you stupid foreigner!!!! I know your country is ridden with severe poverty/violence/terrorism/homophobia/misogyny/whatever but ANYONE who sees this better stop what they're doing and RT no excuses allowed!!!!!!!

Americans couldn't even pronounce my last name correctly, I don't need to give them my time of the day to "spread awareness" about which phone numbers I can call to donate money to whichever American communities they want. Fuck your country, deal with your own problems you have caused yourselves. No matter if you're white, black, asian, hispanic or whatever racial minority, you're still an American first to everyone else outside of the borders. Learn to cope with it.

Sorry for the spergout but this has really caused me severe rustles for years.

No. 561286

>>561283
>I know your country is ridden with severe poverty/violence/terrorism/homophobia/misogyny/whatever but ANYONE who sees this better stop what they're doing and RT no excuses allowed!!!!!!!
Sometimes the EXACT same problems as what's happening right now with George Floyd in my country but the USA doesn't give a fuck. I don't expect Americans to care but they shouldn't expect foreigners to know exactly what's going on in the USA and how and why it's happening.

Actually I bet the French news and white French people are still sperging hardcore about Camelia Jordana saying on TV that she's scared on cops and doesn't trust them as a Franco-Algerian woman and that many Black and North Africans in France feel the exact same way because "muh reverse racism, I was called a fromage in the banlieue once, cops are just doing their job!!!1!", while also shitting on the USA for being a racist country where cops are trash. So not only are social media focusing on American issues but you can't even escape that irl on on TV or the radio. I'm tired so sorry if I'm not being coherent

No. 561292

>>561286

French anon here, didn't even know about this issue with Camila Cabello.

C'est dingue la façon dont la France essaie piètrement de copier le modèle américain avec les sjw's, les gauchistes etc. Il est temps que ça s'arrête.

Anyway, I quit social media because I'm tired of the cancel culture, sperging autists on Twitter/Instagram licking each other's asshole for validation points, celebration of narcissism, and the call out culture. Looks like social media has become a competition about who can "roast" the best or can be the meaniest, fishing for likes and retweets. People get way to invested in virtual clout, while it literally does nothing in real life. It's only a void to fill since their lives are so empty.

Almost 8 months without fb and Insta, and I feel way much better.

No. 561293

>>561292
Woops meant Camila Jordana

No. 561296

>>561292
>copier le modèle américain avec les sjw's, les gauchistes etc.
Il y a tellement de choses qui vont pas en France, même en parlant de racisme que ce soit en métropole ou dans les territoires d'outre-mer, ou les liens diplomatiques entre les anciennes colonies en Afrique et la France, mais tout ce que je vois c'est petit bourgeois blancs pourris gâtés sur twitter qui parlent non-stop des droits pour les femmes trans (puisque les hommes trans, aka des femmes, n'existent pas et n'ont aucune importance apparemment hmmm really makes you think) et qui arrêtent pas de dire que le racisme c'est mal sans rien proposer de positif pour changer les choses. De mon expérience personnelle irl ce même genre de personnes s'intéresse absolument pas à toi si tu n'es pas le modèle type du parfait POC tout droit sorti de tumblr qui est d'accord avec TOUS leurs avis. Bref. Entre me faire traiter de bougnoule/beurette par l'extrême droite ou me faire cancel par des bobos parce que je m'en fous complètement des droits des personnes transgenres je préfère juste direct supprimer mes comptes aussi mdr.

>I'm tired of the cancel culture

>the call out culture
>Looks like social media has become a competition about who can "roast" the best or can be the meaniest
Same, I'm sick of it. Especially when they do that with celebrities instead of just boycotting them for good reasons, because it almost always backfires and give them free publicity. Usually it's done by total hypocrites, that reminds me of Jeffree Star accusing his former beauty guru friends of racism for old racist tweets while he's actually guilty of the same thing. You know irl these losers wouldn't even try to start shit with anyone, just one slap across the face and they're ko.

No. 561312

>>561296

The beauty community is just a festering hole of hypocrites. Perpetually engaging in catfights, but wouldn't even be able to throw a decent slap in real life. Bunch of pussies. Oh, and the hive-mind is the worst of it all. Pushing people to suicuide with bullying and harassing when celebrities or just simple people can have ""problematic"" opinions, but in the same breath, they scream at the top of their lungs how "mental illness awarness is important!1!11!!" It's just tiring.


Les soit disant "anti-racistes" sont les gens les plus racistes qui soient. Que ces gens là soient blancs, asiatiques, noir, etc. C'est toujours la même chose, "le racisme c'est maaaaall!!!2!! minorités oppressééééées!!!" sans jamais proposer de solutions derrière.
Je suis métisse (caraïbes/France/afrique) I know that struggle lmao, insultée par les sjw et les attardés d'extrême droite. Oh la question des transgenres, je pourrais parler des heures dessus… Tu as un discord sur lequel on pourrait discuter de ça ? J'ai peur de derail le thread.

No. 561332

File: 1590845127637.jpg (15.76 KB, 790x340, D2Eqm70X0AAtfML.jpg)

>>561312
Désolée, j'ai plus de discord depuis super longtemps et j'utilise rien d'autre qui pourrait être similaire. Mais c'est cool de voir que je suis pas la seule française à penser de cette façon, parfois j'ai l'impression d'être un extra-terrestre quand je vais sur des sites ou dans des communautés francophones/français, ça me rassure.

No. 561347

>>561332

Ah dommage ! ça me rassure aussi, mais honnêtement on est de plus en plus de personnes à penser comme cela. Tout cela finira par prendre fin.

No. 561565

I made a post a while back about deleting Twitter, but I’ve downloaded it and deleted it over and over. I’ve been trying to quit for I don’t know how many years. It’s how I get my news so I guess I might as well only use it for big events to stay updated with what’s going on now. God damnit.

No. 566456

File: 1591464007845.gif (2.32 MB, 405x304, lkjh.gif)

I literally just deactivated my Twitter account on my computer and deleted the phone app. Let's see how it goes for a month but I feel like I'm going to resist temptation easily.

Right now that means I have a instagram account I don't use a lot and a facebook account I want to delete but I can't yet now because I stay in touch with my friends with messenger. I'll keep my facebook account until I get a stable job somehow and I'll see if I will need to keep or not depending on my job or if coworkers will want to stay in touch with me this way (answer will be "no" but who knows). At least I should be removed from fandom bullshit now.

No. 566462

>>561312
nta mais j'taime française basée.

No. 566510

>Have you quit social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, tumblr, etc.?
Quit FB a long time ago, never bothered with IG, Snap, Tumblr, Twitter etc.
>What has your experience been? How has this impacted your friendships?
My experience has been okay for the most part, because I didn't feel the need to be super involved. Some people definitely think you're totally weird for having no socials and you absolutely make less friends than you otherwise would.
Work-wise having no FB has never been an actual problem, just a minor inconvenience.
Sometimes it does feel a little lonely, like you're missing out on things. "Everyone's raging over xyz, maybe you should too."
I've pondered making a Twitter acc lately, but it also seems to be the time where everyone's going "Twitter is toxic, closing this shit, etc", so lol. Not sure if I should bother.

No. 566543

>>566462
>basée
chui même pas vraie 'francophone' mais voir ça m'a fait rigoler, la traduction officielle de la ferme mdr

No. 567453

>>566456
I have so many questions about this gif…

No. 567454

>>567453
what raises questions about literally cleaning a plate after you eat off it?

No. 567772

I have decided to ditch Twitter, however I'm afraid I'll get sucked back into it again. I guess I'll try not to think about the site too much. I wish there was a guaranteed way of leaving those kind of sites for good.

No. 567814

>>567453
Hopefully this will answer most of them.

No. 567845

>>567814
Indian soaps are hysteric, I love it

No. 568117


No. 569911

quit ig and facebook and can't say i regret it. i had a kind of bad situation going on and i can happily say i feel so much freer. I don't have to compare myself to other people anymore. feels good man. posting pictures all the time was exhausting and now i don't care if i take good ones or bad ones

No. 576606

Posting here to kinda make myself this 0,1% more accountable by having a trace of my initial resolve immortalized - after suffering yet another insecurity-fueled breakdown caused by something I saw on social media I'll try cut myself off twitter, facebook -except messenger- and instagram for a week. Last time I've managed to do that was like 10 years ago when I blocked all social media to study for 3 days, let's see how well can I do this time.

No. 576669

I quit FB about 3 weeks ago. Had a personal account that I mostly posted memes and tagged my friends in, but through that it was one of my most used platforms. I deactivated and really cannot see myself going back. I still have IG, but delete the app when I go to work during the week and try not to check it too obsessively outside of that. It's hard. I compulsively go to the app every few minutes and really need to quit that–deleting the app during work is helping, but still.

No. 580194

Just started a challenge for myself, blacklisted all social media on my browser and deleted all the apps from my phone. We will see how it goes for a week and hopefully I can hold out for longer than that. I have struggled with my self-image for years and I also had a bad habit of looking up my partner's ex and even my ex's ex online and comparing myself to them, basically torturing myself in the process. It's so stupid but hopefully cutting myself off from those platforms will be a step in the right direction in learning how to value myself more

No. 580935

I thought imageboards counted as social media too

No. 580984

>>580935
They do, but Western social media is so grotesquely divorced from its Usenet roots with its upcummies and profiles that the mainstream fails to make the connection, which is why forums like halfchan harbor such a negative connotation: because normies ascribe superficial attributes of forums to the imageboard format. I doubt if Uriel expected anything like modern-day Reddit to come out of his Usenet clone by consequence of its upvote/down mechanic.

No. 580990

Like all forms of addiction, it's symptomatic of a deeper issue. That issue may be as simple as having inadvertantly conditioned yourself to reach for your phone at the behest of an impulse.

This is my unsolicited, half-assed advice, but, I'd think downloading an RSS reader and compiling feeds for news, miscellaneous hobbies, etc. on your phone if you're suffering from social media withdraw might be an effective solution; my theory being that it's a very small departure from social media proper, but it transforms /passive/ consumption, e.g. advertisements and algorithms geared specifically for stimulating those dopamine receptors, to /active/ consumption, in that you're proactively seeking out media that isn't necessarily as pertinent or stimulating. An opportunity to read relevant stuff and stretch your attention span, so it turns a harmful habit into a productive one. Plus, a feed on your phone is a very suitable ergonomic replacement, in that, when you impulsively pick up your phone, you can just select the RSS app instead of an Instagram app or whatever. As far as I'm aware, most news sites have RSS feeds, as well as a lot of blogs. And YouTube, too, although you have to dig through the page's source.

No. 581080

How should i go about quitting youtube i spend the majority of my time on it and i always need it playing in the background while drawing or doing stuff for school. i hate that everything is boring compared to youtube and i cant even watch movies or tv anymore without clicking off to a youtube video.

No. 581170

>>581080
Use newpipe it helps for android i find it is less addictive than the official app because it doesnt have reccomended videos

No. 581176

Ugh, I just want to delete Instagram but it's what I use to chat with most friends who live in other countries. I'm scared that they'll get tired of me when I don't see their Instagram updates.

No. 581182

>>581080
who are your favourite ytubers?

No. 583546

Anyone had any luck with books like Cal Newport's Digital Minimalism? The book itself reads like classic dudebro self-help but some tips seem really good.

No. 583549

>>581176
I had the same issue! I made a 2nd account and went through the people I was following and I followed everyone who wasn't my friend. Then I unfollowed those people on my main account and deleted the account off my phone (I have the details for the acc though).
Since doing this I have stopped randomly scrolling through IG and I've only been opening up IG to reply to friends.

No. 583752

>>580990
This is good advice, specially the RSS reader.

I think looking for alternatives that suffice the needs SM does is a good strategy. Asking yourself "why keep I logging into these sites?" and look for alternatives that help you lessen your dependence of them.

I depended on twitter for years to keep in touch with several friends. I keep in touch with them through chatting nowadays so I can afford stop going on twitter which has become a complete cesspool and now I don't have to deal with its bullshit anymore, and it's been so refreshing. I feel a lot more hopeful and positive since I was able to stop checking there everyday.

No. 584094

>>581176
I deleted the app but allow myself to check the browser version every so often to check family posts and messages

No. 584947

File: 1594858124802.jpg (75.43 KB, 391x609, IMG_9080.JPG)

I spend too much time online. Mainly lolcow and shopping sites that I never buy from. How much time should I try to limit myself to? What are some activities to do to distract myself from the internet, aside from exercising? I feel like I need to get some hobbies that I genuinely enjoy if I want to limit my screentime long term but I get disinterested in my hobbies every few months or so

No. 585038

>>584947
I'd say start small, an hour offline and work your way up. For offline activites, reading works well for me. I read somewhere that the brain enjoys social media because of all the useless information. Reading books gave me that information high, even books I realized sucked I hate-read through so I can give them a review on goodreads about how awful it was, similar to watching cows and posting shit about them here, kek. Journaling is a good hobby to release stress and relax. I'd reccomended cooking too, simply being present while prepping and cooking can get you good enjoyable meals you appreciate. I don't know your location but try doing walks on nature trails or parks near you. Exercise plus experiencing nature can help get you off your phone more.



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