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I Quit Social Media for a Year

joshcsimmons.com

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Re: I Quit Social Media for a Year

#21

Post by neilalexander »

neon_me wrote: post #11

Interesting, I have noticed ("excuse based") defensive mechanism when it comes to this topic ... most people I have witnessed start to use very poor arguments of why they want to stay on social networks ... very similar to people with "un-noticed" alcohol problem. But yes, nothing magical happend without it. Just maybe realization how stupid it is.

> Just maybe realization how stupid it is.

This about sums up my experience in deleting Facebook. It seemed like a shallow form of communication at the time, now as an outsider it feels even more so. I do feel less stressed and emotionally burdened by constantly being exposed to everyone else though.

Re: I Quit Social Media for a Year

#23

Post by godelski »

kjar wrote: post #13
diminoten wrote: post #5

I quit Facebook for a few years, it didn't do anything to my life one way or another, except maybe put me in a group of people others had to reach out "out of band" to invite to things, which practically meant I had to hear about events second hand or not go to things. The emotional vitriol inspired by social media is completely unfounded. You can make it whatever experience you want; people just like to complain. Th…

Yes! I’ve never used FB, and refuse to, as a result I miss all sorts of notification of things occurring because everyone seems to assume everyone does use it. Drives me nuts!

I keep hearing this, but all my friends just text me. I'm under 30 too. Maybe it's just that I have a small friend group. Though even my grad department informs me of events. We're all fairly close though, so maybe that makes a difference.

Re: I Quit Social Media for a Year

#24

Post by gamblor956 »

diminoten wrote: post #5

I quit Facebook for a few years, it didn't do anything to my life one way or another, except maybe put me in a group of people others had to reach out "out of band" to invite to things, which practically meant I had to hear about events second hand or not go to things. The emotional vitriol inspired by social media is completely unfounded. You can make it whatever experience you want; people just like to complain. Th…

Agreed and pretty accurate way to describe all the people I know who quit Facebook.

The rest of us use Facebook or Messenger to organize events because there's a lot of us and it's the most convenient mechanism for organizing group activities. If people choose to opt out, it's up to the organizer whether they want to go through the additional mental effort of communicating everything to the Luddites through whatever special communication method they require.

Mostly, we just require the Luddites to find out about events and updates themselves. (Usually they find out by overhearing the rest of us talking about upcoming stuff as its being planned.)

The end result is usually that the Luddites get themselves back on to Facebook after 6 months of missing out on shenanigans.

Re: I Quit Social Media for a Year

#25

Post by cuddlybacon »

godelski wrote: post #17
neon_me wrote: post #11

Interesting, I have noticed ("excuse based") defensive mechanism when it comes to this topic ... most people I have witnessed start to use very poor arguments of why they want to stay on social networks ... very similar to people with "un-noticed" alcohol problem. But yes, nothing magical happend without it. Just maybe realization how stupid it is.

Nothing magical happening is what's supposed to happen. I've seen lower stress levels simply because I'm not as connected to the news and political cycle. But that's also because I only check once a week. It's the new normal, which isn't magical, because it was also the old normal.

> I've seen lower stress levels simply because I'm not as connected to the news and political cycle.

Wouldn't that qualify as something magical happening?

Re: I Quit Social Media for a Year

#26

Post by cm2012 »

muzani wrote: post #20

When I quit I ended up reading books and watching TV for entertainment. I literally read over a million words of fiction (Worm) in one month with the spare time. It was a lot more fulfilling, and I'll remember that time. While in contrast there are few social media moments I'll miss. I had to actually force myself to get back into social media. I'm not sure what the author here means by withdrawal; there was maybe a…

The web serial Worm is amazing. The sequel, Ward, is really far along now and is even better IMO. You can catch up on https://www.parahumans.net/

The HN crowd would probably really like Worm in general. Basically a sci-fi superhero story with realistic uses of powers and complex characters. The protagonist has the powers of insect control and scalable multitasking.

Re: I Quit Social Media for a Year

#27

Post by young_unixer »

I used to use Twitter. My country's political news and related commentary usually got me into a mental state of frustration and misanthropy.

I deleted Twitter. Political news still frustrate me but I rarely see them anymore. Ignorance is bliss. I've effectively created a safe space where political idiocy can't cognitively harass me.

Is it wrong to be so uninformed? I don't know. I think a lot about it and I haven't come to a satisfactory conclusion. By being uninformed I'm somewhat unable to fight against the "wrong" opinions, but maybe if I was informed my opinions wouldn't change a thing anyway.

My mental health is better off just accepting any idiotic laws my country passes instead of trying to "protest" (in the most useless sense of the word: tweeting about it) against them, for the most part.

Re: I Quit Social Media for a Year

#28

Post by cortesoft »

mlthoughts2018 wrote: post #10

I think this posts discussion of “why do we take photos” is really great and deserves more consideration. I’ve not had any form of social media account for over 8 years and something I notice is that I just take waaay fewer photos than everyone else I know. A few on vacation or when I see something stupid I can turn into a pun or a joke. Seriously maybe 3-5 photos per month. I love living this way and consider it hea…

This is interesting, because I do not have social media but take a TON of pictures and videos of my kids (4 years old and 4.months old).... I send some to family via group texts, but most just sit on my phone/computer/cloud until I look at them.

I take so many for a few reasons. One, I think they are crazy cute and want to take pictures and videos when I see them doing cute things. Two, my 4 year old loves looking at them... she wants to see videos of herself all the time, and cracks up seeing herself as a baby.

Three, I don't do a baby book but want to be able to remember how they were at these ages when they are older. It is already trippy/fun to look at pictures and videos of my daughter at 4 months and compare them to her baby brother now. It is fun to watch old videos and see the first bits and pieces of the kid I love now.

99% of the pictures and videos haven't been looked at by anyone but me and my daughter, but I am SO glad I have them.

Re: I Quit Social Media for a Year

#29

Post by mirceal »

I guess it depends on what magical means, but the Mental Health Benefits, Enhanced Interpersonal Relationships and Presence the author lists after the conclusion do seem magical to me.

Having time to stop, think and/or have a conversation with another human being is a magical experience nowadays.

Re: I Quit Social Media for a Year

#30

Post by rdiddly »

This write-up really ends up understating the benefits and "magical" things that actually did happen, but I fully approve of the understated approach. Hyping everything up is part of the problem. If something is beneficial, I shouldn't need to sell you on it; I can just tell you about it, and you can decide. (In fact it's almost an intrusion into your free will when I start persuading you, and it betrays some vested interest on my part.) That's why you don't brag about quitting social media. And why you quit social media in the first place is a related example of the same thing: If I'm a worthwhile and valid human being, I shouldn't need to sell you on me, and maintain this continual online sales platform for the "me" product. You can discover it on your own and maybe reach the conclusion that I'm awesome, or maybe not, but either way it's fine. Zen, baby. (I think the meditation helped more than he realizes LOL)
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