Quitting Facebook

Water Cooler
#1

The thread by ohai about happiness and how it’s derived got me thinking…how many of you quit facebook? How many haven’t? and why do those of you who haven’t still use it?

I’m 24 and quit facebook my sophomore year at college - it’s been about 5 years and I couldn’t be happier.

Pros: Not only do I avoid a lot of spam, but it also has eliminated the false sense of friendship people derive from it. It makes me have to pick up the phone and contact those I want to stay in touch with, which has given me a lot closer friendships. Also, i don’t care about most peoples vacations/highlight reel of pictures/unintelligent thoughts/rants

Cons: Don’t have an easily accessible place to save pictures taken by friends

#2

i have not quit still going strong. love seeing the unhappy folks post about their “great” lives.

#3

I kept facebook, no issues. I think the real problem is who your friends are. Mine are mostly outdoor sports people. Very positive, no materialistic posting, very few rants. Cheers me up even when I can’t be out doing these things as much these days. Also helps remind me what the goal is in a few years so I don’t get distracted by my cubicle environment.

Now getting rid of a smart phone, that’s something I could get into.

#4

this is what I use instagram for

I love leaving my iphone in my coat pocket or car when I go somewhere, it puts me out of my comfort zone and forces me to talk people and ask questions that I otherwise & ordinarily wouldn’t

#5

have it but never post anything. Its more of a remnant from when I did have a social life, like a year book, which is nice to revisit every once and a while.

#6

Never joined.

#7

I still have it, use it to keep in contact with many of my cousins/friends who I dont get to see often as I had to move away for work

#8

still have mine, but havn’t updated in years.

occasional look up select friends just to see whats up with them every few months, that’s it.

#9

I deleted my profile about a month ago. For the first couple of weeks, if I had any downtime I would reach for my phone to pull up FB. It was a little disconcerting at first. Now I find that I’m using my downtime much more productively…I’m setting new high scores in 8-Ball Pool, Solitaire, and Boggle.

#10

I check it everyother week. Its the only way I can keep in touch with friends and family around the globe, and I like the photo sharing aspect.

If you have annoying friends, just unfollow them. You can still reach out when you need to, but they’ll never appear on your feed.

One of my best friends is a serial social networker… it was hard to unfollow him but ultimately it helps us remain friends.

#11

Deleted it about a year ago. No regrets.

#12

I like my FB but that is because I have customized it to suit me. I “unsubscribe” to annoying people so that takes care of all the crap that gunks up the reel. I only stay subscribed to those who don’t post much or add value to my amusement. This one random Slovenian guy (not even sure how we became FB freinds… must have picked the request up on my travels), he must just travel the world and pick up attractive female FB friends. Every now and then he goes on these “like” binges and will like about 20 trampy photos from all over the world. It is like a profile of global immodesty from Germany to Australia to Singapore. Now that’s culture! (I may have made the list once wink)

I also subscribe to lots of news sources… bloomberg, Reuters, BBC… so I get all my news in one place, all the various slants hedging each other out.

#13

I log in a couple times of day but really don’t do a whole lot with it.

#14

Impressive, this thread tells us something about the future of FB stock.

I still have mine (I didn’t officially delete it), but every year I visit less and less, it’s basically one big garbage dump.

#15

huge waste of time. unless for some reason your job/career can benefit heavily from social media, you don’t really gain much by telling your “friends” everything that’s going on in your life.

#16

The new generation (14 -18 yrs) isn’t on FB, but they are on FB’s other platform, Instagram. Tinder is also growing massively in terms of members and that is also owned by FB.

#17

igor and itera’s responses are dead on with what I expected. Quoting “great” and “friends”. Haha so bitter and miserable, always. Love it.

I mean it’s gotten about 9 million times less useful since college/first few years after college as social groups tend to shrink, but it’s good to have just as another way to stay in touch/get in contact with someone you might not have other contact info for. You can keep your account active without going on Facebook or as previously mentioned just unfollow people who bother you. I don’t see a reason to have to quit it, unless you’re like addicted to it or something.

I know when I wake up the first thing I yearn for is my aunt’s opinion about Obama.

#18

yes

sorry not fan of grinder like you, so sticking with fbook

#19

I think Tinder is owned by Match, was curious about their recent IPO as they pretty much dominate the online dating market and find clever ways to get you to waste your money (wouldn’t know from experience or anything…). Instagram is definitely more popular than FB with the youngin’s but I’d argue that Snapchat is even more popular. FB needs a new platform catered to the younger generations.