Deleting Social Media

Yesterday I deleted my instagram app (not account). I had fantasized about doing it for a while because  1) It creeps me out that it knows my google searches and conversations even though I disabled Siri and I've denied microphone access / etc.  2) I don't like how the user experience shapes people's world views / interactions with other people.  3) I'm tired of being passively "fed" content & ads I didn't choose to be fed.  4) I've been spending too much time on it because it has basically become my automatic decompression outlet, which makes me feel gross.  5) Mark Zuckerberg.  6) Probably a half dozen other reasons.

I never really used twitter and deleted my facebook app a few years ago and definitely don't miss it. I'm actually grateful I didn't have facebook in my periphery throughout the last election / pandemic. I only disabled my account (not deleted) had only been going back to check happy birthday messages once a year and this year I actually didn't go back to see those for the first time.

There is definitely a cathartic feeling of removing the noise from my life, although it brings up a few philosophical/existential issues.

I 'm aware I didn't delete either account so my footprint is still on both platforms. I feel like it may not matter so much because regardless of whether or not I delete my account, ol' Zuck still has my data. Still, I wonder if I should just go ahead and delete-delete them both. The only thing that really keeps me from taking the full plunge is this sticky feeling that I am permanently isolating myself in some way... which is already somewhat the case if I deleted the apps, I guess. Part of me also wonders if this is the way of the world, maybe I should just continue to live how almost everyone under the sun is living. If I'm stopping something everyone else is doing, maybe I am socially handicapping myself in some way. I don't know.

Whatever the case, I feel more good than bad about the decision. I just now need to figure out a way I can get the info I'm actually interested in getting without getting it through instagram... which now seems kinda hard actually. I feel I'll probably start reading books a lot mere, which is rad.

Have any of you deleted everything? If so, how has it changed your life?

I think caring this much about social media is the problem, not social media itself. There are loads of problems with it of course but that's just how it is. How cool would it be to keep Instagram and read more books at the same time

The thing about Instagram that drives me nuts is the ads. If you ever notice they roll a random number between 1-4 and thats how many posts you can see before you get your next ad. Insanity.

i got off music social media a decade ago, everything else 4 or 5 years ago. Just do discussion forums & things like that now. Social media gave me a weird feeling. It's like the pornographication of friendship

I envy you. I'd like to delete my social media. But there's too many people I want to remain connected to around the world that aren't close enough relationships to maintain by email. 

I've all but stopped using it to try to promote my music. New music I'm working on will be sent to labels (I've not sent demos in years) the old fashioned way, with no online presence. 

I'm not paranoid about social media companies knowing what they do about me; my life is not that interesting.

Recently, I've brutally stripped facebook friendships. Was at 650 "friends". Happily now down to around 200.

I've unfollowed all pages and groups so they don't clog up my feed.

I use twitter, but only for following the news and getting philosophical or political insights I wouldn't get elsewhere.

First, congrats on taking this step roo, whether or not it's in steel-toed boots the kind @chenGOD likes to wear.

I haven't myself deleted everything because I never really got on anything (except LinkedIn an that was out of necessity).  Nope to myspace, facebook, etc.  Pretty early on I saw these things for as the dopamine oscillators they are and wanted no part of it, still waiting for my trophy from the Ultimately Useless Wisdom Society.

  On 5/6/2021 at 4:28 PM, Cryptowen said:

Social media gave me a weird feeling. It's like the pornographication of friendship

That's a bingo. I was in my late 20s/early 30s when all of my friends were getting on FB, and yeah over the years it's definitely shaped (warped) who I stay in contact with an how.  Especially after kids, the needle had definitely taken a dive in the more isolated/lonlier direction.  Exactly along what u say, a lot of people use this as some sort of meta-surrogate for actual friendships.  friends hang out, do stuff together, talk life talk shit, vibe, etc.   All bells & whistles aside, IMHO FB is just a glorified csv file of people you know (or think you know) 

I have an Instagram but haven't touched it since last August. And Facebook I probably check only once a week anymore, and every time I do I feel like I haven't really missed anything.

I guess I could try to delete my social media accounts but can't be bothered. Out of sight, out of mind basically.

I deleted facebook 10 years ago. I was never a big user anyway, all felt rather vulgar. I did sign up to Insta recently to follow some bands/small companies. I wouldn't have been able to snag some contact mics from LOM if I'd relied on their newsletter. Don't use it to post, or engage with friends. 

LinkedIn is probably the closest I get, but I only use that as a contact book for work, never post anything.

I do use Slack to keep up to date with friends, arrange meet ups or video calls while in lockdown. A curated space, rather than using a social media site. Keep numbers small, and only to close friends. It certainly helped some mates that struggled while in lockdown.

  On 5/6/2021 at 4:31 PM, Thu Zaw said:

I'd like to delete my social media. But there's too many people I want to remain connected to

I will say that that's definitely a consideration. After getting off fb my irl social circle quickly dwindled to the people I saw on a weekly basis, and maybe a half dozen or so close contacts. But that didn't particularly bother me, emotionally. Perhaps I missed out on some social opportunities, but I reckon I gained far more with the time saved from aimless browsing.

It does make me wonder what socializing irl will be like post-covid however. Not being on social media in 2020 meant pretty much losing contact with everyone I had known irl - which didn't particularly bother me much. I was just about done with the circles I had been running in, anyway. I would like to build new circles eventually, however, and that's gonna pretty much be a "from the ground up" project

  On 5/6/2021 at 5:02 PM, Cryptowen said:

t does make me wonder what socializing irl will be like post-covid however. Not being on social media in 2020 meant pretty much losing contact with everyone I had known irl - which didn't particularly bother me much. I was just about done with the circles I had been running in, anyway. I would like to build new circles eventually, however, and that's gonna pretty much be a "from the ground up" project

Yeah, I hear you. I moved from the UK to France last year. I've already made that decision that I was gonna cut out a load of unnecessary friendships. I'm more concerned with connecting more with my new local community, and keeping in better touch (by phone) with long-held friends, rather than simply doing a "like" on their posts. 

I deleted Facebook in 2015 but I still have a second one I use very occasionally since Facebook groups are the only way to get support for some gear.  Haven't logged in to Twitter since 2009 or 10, I don't even remember my username.  Occasionally, grudgingly on Discord even though it's just a centralized, proprietary version of IRC that isn't as interesting as IRC used to be. Never got involved with any others.

Sometimes I think it would be worth getting back on Facebook to have more contact with old friends I don't see in my daily life, but it takes about 5 minutes on there for me to not want anything to do with it.

The hard stuff to get away from is Youtube and Twitch, I watch stuff on there all the time unfortunately.

never even started with that shit. facebook, insta, twitter, what-have-you... none of these. did i ever feel like missing out? nope.

  On 5/6/2021 at 5:19 PM, jaderpansen said:

never even started with that shit. facebook, insta, twitter, what-have-you... none of these. did i ever feel like missing out? nope.

Like smoking; better if you never start.

I fucked up on both counts. shit.

I deleted the instagram app and replaced it with a browser link on my home screen. I don't see any ads on it now. Much better.

Pre-pandemic i was staying on facebook because of events.

Pandemic took care of that.I keep messenger so i can write to friends.

Not missing it one bit.

  On 5/6/2021 at 4:48 PM, BobDobalina said:

I haven't myself deleted everything because I never really got on anything (except LinkedIn an that was out of necessity).  Nope to myspace, facebook, etc. 

same. the furthest along I got with social media was Friendster. remember that? seemed so cool at the time. then it turned into some spam fest, and then myspace came around and killed it. whenever myspace happened I was like nah, already did this social media thing once and it petered out, why bother with it again? but I do remember snooping on several old high school peeps on myspace to see what they looked liked circa 2007. and yeah, I too was more or less forced to create a LinkedIn account due to a 2013 job search.

I never used Friendster. I had a Myspace but never paid attention to it.

The drummer from my first band was on Makeoutclub for a few months during its beta but he got weirded out by the whole concept pretty quickly and quit, which makes him the first person I know of to delete social media, before it was even a coined term AFAIK.

i use a fake google account for IG and twatter and always behind a VPN. stopped using FB when it stopped being for high school and college students only

I've had Facebook for years, only started getting on Instagram about a year ago.  I think this is one aspect where my personality type actually helps me.  For example, the view I have of myself is a strange dichotomy in that I know that I am relatively smart and am proud of what I have accomplished and can accomplish in life, but at the same time I kind of have a low opinion of myself in that I feel that nobody really cares to know anything about me so why post anything in social media?  It honestly baffles me why some people share so much about themselves on social media, I can't even imagine being in the headspace to think that someone else would care that I worked out this morning, or that I'm taking a walk in the park.  I can understand artists and musicians posting their stuff a lot, that's different.

On Facebook I've only ever had max 90 friends, and that's mostly family members or internet friends from various music forums.  My FB feed has really been going downhill recently with a constant barrage of ads and my friends / family posting less, so I've moved to Instagram.  I only follow about 35 accounts, mostly family / friends / musicians.  Primarily I use it to keep up with artists / bands I like who generally release small quantity releases that I don't want to miss out on.  I never post myself, so I guess I just don't have a personality type that can easily become seriously addicted to social media (thankfully).

I did Facebook for a couple of months just as it started taking off about 10/12 years or so ago. It didn’t take me long to twig what a cesspool it was, and as everyone around me was getting sucked into it, I cut the cord and disposed of it forever. I’m sure it can be used in a positive way but I could see it for all the mountain of negatives which it is. I hate attention seekers at the best of times so I’m hardly going to become one myself. As time has gone on with all the bad stories about the effects of social media it seems to me it’s almost like making a pact with the devil. Sell your soul to Facebook and in return you will receive a shallow feeling of fame and love but really it’s just eating away at you, probably in a bad way.

I just use FB to promote music and as an events calendar (pre pandemic). IG is better for promoting music and finding visual artists. I work for a company that has a contract with a big social media company and now my personal account is tied up with their internal shit so I can't even delete it now until I work on a new contract.

I'm happy to never have jumped on the FB train. For a while, it was pretty difficult though. Around 2013-2016 I've noticed many people started to communicate with each other through FB. And there was a real sense of missing out on what people were talking about. People were regularly talking about stuff on FB in real life, back then. That has lessened nowadays. Although I have to admit that Whatsapp is a must. Even professionally. But that has nothing to do with a FB account. And I've noticed more and more people getting off FB. Often out of principle. Which is a good thing, imo.

Still use linkedin to follow what going on with former colleagues, expand the professional network and being informed about stuff that's relevant in my profession.

Joined Twitter as well. And mostly used it during Trumps presidency to counter balance the BS by liking the "good guys". Since this year, no Trump has gone, I'm rarely on Twitter I've noticed. Feels healthy.

Also, conscious efforts to NEVER connect the different platforms I am or was on. I'd like to compartmentalise my online experience. Even in terms of people I'm linked to on various platforms. There's no overlap. So, no you're not getting linked on linkedin. Or twitter. Bandcamp, perhaps. But I don't use that as a social platform.

It hasn’t been 24 hours yet and I’m finding myself at a break in my day  unconsciously going to the screen on my phone where the app would normally be and seeing one less app. Ugh. It’s a bit sickening to notice when you are addicted to something. 

  On 5/6/2021 at 5:19 PM, jaderpansen said:

never even started with that shit. facebook, insta, twitter, what-have-you... none of these. did i ever feel like missing out? nope.

Same here. The most social media I ever used was MySpace, just to promote music. Forums are as far as I’ll go for online socializing.