Why I Need to Quit Facebook
From a social media marketer
This may seem odd coming from someone who works within social media, but I’m not the biggest fan of Facebook.
Facebook is having a rough ride at the moment. It’s getting battered from all angles and rightly so. That being said, it is still the most used social media platform by quite some way. But they, as far as users are concerned are on a downward spiral, whereas the more visual platforms like Instagram and Snapchat are growing.
Apart from the recent scandals of which there have been quite a few, Facebook just isn’t relevant anymore. The generation that made it the colossus it is, has lost interest in the platform, and it doesn’t appeal to the younger generation. It doesn't help that the platform is now a hotbed for an older generation, parents and grandparents even. No one wants their parents to see what they’ve been getting up to…
I have been thinking about my Facebook usage and Facebook as a whole for a while now and as such here are some reasons why I would love to quit Facebook.
- I don’t think being on Facebook is conducive to positive mental health.
- I don’t use the platform properly, I rarely, if ever post any updates. I just scour through the news feed, over and over.
- I’m addicted. I’ve got full on FOMO. The first thing I do when I wake up is to check Facebook — a terrible way to start the day. As I sit at home on an evening, playing with my son, I have an unbreakable urge to pick up my phone and check what’s happening.
- I don’t get much from Facebook anymore. What with ads and the group posts inundating my feed I hardly ever see posts from my friends.
There are also a few reasons why I would be hesitant in deactivating my account.
- I am addicted. I can’t yet envisage a Facebook-free life, such is the power it holds over me. (After writing this, I went to deactivate my account, I felt I had the resolve to do it, nothing was going to stop me. Until it came to the crunch and I bottled it.)
- I am a part of a few groups. I find the chat informative and entertaining. I also like the fact that when I watch a football game, I’m watching it with other like-minded fans. Albeit through cyberspace.
- I work in social media, so I kind of feel like I should have an account.
- You do come across some pretty cool things from time to time.
I have been trialling lowering my use of Facebook over the last week or so, in readiness, in case I do decide to pull the plug. At times when I would usually head for the blue button, I have been opening Medium instead. It has made me feel better like I was taking a positive step in the right direction in the betterment of my mental state.
While writing this, I went ahead and did it. I deleted the app on my iPhone. I found it rather easy, although of course, I did it knowing that I could as easily reinstall it if I wanted to. A kind of safety blanket. It is a nice feeling to have finally done it though. Now that Apple sends you screen time notifications it is quite shocking how often I looked at Facebook.
Facebook Usage
In the past week, I have been on Facebook for a total of 9 hours and 41 minutes. That’s a whole working day out of every week, an inordinate amount. And that’s down from the previous week.
Think of all the free time I would have if I stopped using Facebook altogether. I could spend more time writing for instance, pay more attention to important things in life.
The path to a distraction-free life… Without Facebook
There are so many distractions in our modern day lives. Of course there are good and bad distractions, but the bad ones stop you from seeing the really important things about life. Time spent scouring through your Facebook feed could almost definitely be put to better use. I for one would love to live a life not controlled by my Facebook app. Facebook is a distortion of true life, it allows us to hide behind a false wall, feeding us fake information, it gives us a voice to do and say things we wouldn't dream of doing in the outside world.
That’s why I want to deactivate my Facebook account. Whether I will is another matter. Perhaps I’ll just limit my usage. We’ll see.
