discussion Have you ever quit social media for an extended period of time?

[trueromance]

Title, basically, and how did it affect you? If you've quit any social media apps, do you feel like it had a positive impact on your life? Or did you regret it - did it make you feel lonely/left out?

I've been trying to use IG less and am now debating just deleting the account entirely, so I'm just curious about other people's experiences. 

[Sheep]

yes

[Sugar-Rush]

Technically I only have one social media account (X) and I only access it maybe twice per year, so I'm pretty much always away from it. Unless ATRL counts as social media.

[Breakdown]

I've quit Twitter for long periods but always came back. It was my first social media app and it will remain the one even if it isn't what it used to be.

Now the real issue is the whole tiktok/reels/shorts stuff.

While I never had Tiktok when they started integrating the Reels feature to Instagram I noticed how addictive it is and how fast you waste hours scrolling through braindead, shitty, short videos. So I deleted the Instagram app. I don't use it anymore. Sometimes I come back to like Niall's posts or see if any of the "influencers" I used to care about are doing something interesting, but no, their engagement has just dropped significantly in the past few years.

Now YouTube, while not a social media app in the sense of Twit/IG, also started this Shorts thing and then I started scrolling through this... Thankfully I eventually found out the tab can be removed, so thanks for that. Don't really use YT anymore though, sometimes a video here and there and also like to watch the videos by Beluga, they're short, funny and entertaining. Or watching music videos on the big TV with it.

I never used facebook and of course messengers such as icq and skype are dead.

 

Edit: It does feel like quitting one just results in using another one more excessively. So there's that... And with Elon's FYP on Twitter that refreshes with every scroll it's kind of the same thing such as scrolling through Tiktoks  

Edited August 31 by Breakdown

[Devin]

yea and it had a positive impact for me.

 

i used to be on social media a lot but after HS i started ghostin. priorities changes and i grew tired of ppl being fake, attention seeking, and redundant topics. and i didnt like the feeling like i had to keep up with the joneses.

 

it was tough at first but then i realized how much i value in-person communication. also, value my peace bc its draining to hear ppl drama and personal details of they life. nowadays i pop in once a month and i receive a lot of love (and i miss u posts ) usually i post a pic or something positive and go on abt my life.

 

edit: i had twitter, insta, snapchat, facebook, etc. with like 4K+ followers lol.

[Trent W]

I take breaks but I have too much business online to just disappear 

[Sabrina Carpenter]

no but most of my friends have quit Twitter, Facebook etc. and didn't even sign up for Tiktok

 

they mostly just use Instagram

[Jotham]

I used to back when I was very religious. I would give up apps like Instagram for Lent and it actually worked. My self-control is too weak for that nowadays though.

[jesus del rey]

I deleted my Twitter account 2 years ago. I quit instagram for almost a year, came back for a few months but then I realized I don't care what people do or think every hour of the day  So, I quit instagram again, I think it's been 3 months since then. And I never used TikTok. 

 

But, if you count Youtube as social media, I really have to quit that one too because the shorts thing is very addictive. It consumes too much time without me realizing it and most of the time its stuff that I do not care about. 

[BGKC]

I haven't used Snapchat since 2019. I still have it and get notifications, but it's honestly just there.

[Revolution]

yes and i recommend it

[Bends]

I left Twitter sometime in 2017, the peak was 2014-2016. I felt that I was doing this not for my own pleasure, but in order to collect likes, and the posts also seemed to be not authentic. I very rarely go there, maybe once a year, if I need to find specific information.

 

It was the same with Instagram. I used it in 2012-2015, and even gathered 5,000 subscribers there, but I felt that all this was also fake. And constantly throwing pictures, I don't like to portray something either. I made a new profile purely for my friends and acquaintances, and began posting there every six months. For some time in 2018, I moved the guys from Tinder there, and I was very surprised how many old and deleted profiles there were left. I can't remember 90% of the people.

 

I'm happy that I deleted Lastfm in 2013, because I was crazy that I didn't have all the songs saved there. It took me a while to stop listening to all the songs to the end.

 

As a result, I use only Telegram and I have a lot of news channels there, but I go in once a day and I don't answer everyone there either.

Edited August 31 by Bends

[pavi]

Only time was at a multiple day festival, so I went without it for just four days. Loved it, but then again, it was at a festival, so don't think it would have the same effect in my regular life. It would be harder at least

[Princess Aurora]

Yes, I took a break from Instagram for a week or so. I also left Twitter in 2016 

[allforyou]

I left twitter in 2019, came back 2 times but left permanently in 2022. It definitely made my mental health better.

[Darius]

I quit insta in 2020 and returned in 2022

 

I think it was good I was off it during the pandemic, but now I don't feel strongly about it at all

[Odette Violet]

Yes but mainly Facebook. I spend most of my time on Reddit and youtube tho  for educational purposes 

[Dante Silva]

Yes, I was bullied by someone who didn't like faults I was finding with various releases/ rollout strategies. I didn't learn until years later that person was/ is a Sony employee and in many cases I was unknowingly picking apart and finding fault with their work.

[єѕℓαм]

Yeah right now actually 

i haven't posted anything on my socials for a month now and it feels great but then again i'm not really that active anyways

[Burn]

I deleted all my social media accounts like a decade ago and have never looked back. I realised that I just don't care about people talking about themselves or posting pictures of themselves all the time. Like what's the point of it all. 

[motherfossora]

i never had tik tok, i deleted facebook in 2019, twitter in 2021, and snapchat last year.

 

i went a good time without using twitter and i've deactivated my "main" account on instagram for months, but i still kept an alt account so i don't feel desinformed.

Edited August 31 by motherfossora

[Reginald]

Yes, I deactivated Insta and Facebook four years ago, and permanently deleted Twitter, two years ago. After a while, I realized how much time I was wasting on social media, and didn't miss it at all. Another great bonus is that I appreciate real-world interactions so much more. I still lurk Reddit, watch Snaps, and YouTube, but those were never the platforms causing problems for me. 

[McNulty]

for 10 months during the last year of my high school

[YourFavoriteWeapon]

I was off Instagram for 5 1/2 months earlier this year and it was the best decision for my mental health. It was so freeing not comparing myself to other people and not having to see other people's bodies or "perfect lives" and feel bad about my own. The only thing is because I was gone for so long and didn't tell anyone I was taking a temporary hiatus there was a rumor that I commited suicide.  Mess.

[Chris]

14 hours ago, Devin said:

attention seeking

 

14 hours ago, Devin said:

its draining to hear ppl drama and personal details of they life

Super annoying.

 

 

How people can beef online is beyond me.