I literally just deleted my FB and Instagram accounts today. I was drawn into the rabbit hole of scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. Realized I wasn’t reading the pile of books I have stacked up. Ignoring my meditation time. I’m also a recent empty nester and honest to god it was becoming such a depressing and isolating waste of my life I’m done.
The irony is not lost on me that I’m reading and commenting on my phone.... but hey, baby steps!
40
“A recent study found that the average user would have to be paid $1,000 to $2,000 to be pried away for a year.”
And how much does Facebook loose if I deactivate my account? Knowing how much you are worth to Facebook could get users to demand more from those who reap the financial benefit.
12
Much may depend on why people use Facebook. I originally joined in order to connect with old friends in my hometown, where I planned to move and now live.
People who are older, single and live alone without a job to go to, or who work at home, may feel more connected with others by using Facebook, while younger people who are workers or students may disconnect from those physically present in their lives while using FB.
7
I was also in this study. Honestly, because my family all lives multiple states away, and my friends mostly work nightlife (whereas I am a teacher), I felt very isolated from my community for the month I was off of Facebook. I spent about the same amount of time on technology, and I enthuastically went back to using Facebook as soon as I was allowed to do so. I wouldn’t do it again for just $100, that’s for sure. If nothing else, I learned that social media is a net positive in my life. If you think it might be a net negative for you, try this and see how you feel.
6
it isn't so much that i enjoy FB but i do enjoy keeping in touch with my numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. if it weren't for FB, i wouldn't see pictures of their babies, their birthdays or their lives. no one phones, no one writes and a twice a year visit doesn't keep you in tune... (not that FB does either, as one only sees or reads what the individual posts). i am cutting back on reading political or even science articles and posts... especially after i realized i had only read about half the number of books i usually read in a year. it isn't easy to break off from daily (hourly) checking... but i am doing it a bit at a time. i hope to get down to a once a day look by next week.
4
The issue is that I am connected to a huge international group of collectors of a particular type of item. This would be almost impossible to do easily otherwise. Unfortunately I get caught up browsing other things. That is where my problem lies. If I could cut that out.....
3
I have a facebook account and I look at it about once or twice a year. I don't use Twitter or any of the other social media. I prefer actual "social" without the "media." Why would I want my life to be centered on an electronic device?
3
To each his/her own. For me, never had a FB, Instagram, or Snapchat account. Had Twitter, but dropped it. My impression is that these accounts let you feel like you are contributing to something, but with minimal engagement, and all the while ignoring of the real, immediate world around you. The 2016 election debacle made me realize that my character limited rants are not producing anything useful. And I hated feeling like I was being used as a product.
I much prefer to engage in the real world around me. Perhaps when I have maximized my real world interactions with all of the people around me, I will consider another social media account. Mr. Zuckerberg, don't hold your breath.
10
I'm sticking with Facebook. I've gotten a job through Facebook and adopted my kittens through there, too. I've been able to become more comfortable with my coworkers on a new job than I ever would otherwise (I'm an introvert).
I am in groups related to my profession there and get ideas from them.
It's also a good place for keeping my photos and watching Beatles videos.
Do I spend to much time on it? No more than on the NY Times.
Just before Christmas, I deleted both the Facebook and Twitter apps off my phone, realizing how much time I wasted on them, and the various effects this had on me, physically and mentally. Instead, I subscribed to the Times so I could still get news but without all the other nonsense. Now I go on to Facebook about once a week to check my notifications. It is still so easy to fall into the "scrolling black hole" when I do log on so I'm trying to be better at limiting that. Hard to believe I used to do it several times per day.
5
I tried to set up a Facebook account years ago and was told that I was too old for one. I never have had one since and I guess that somehow, life still goes on.
4
FB is bad for relationships. All that browsing and online co-mingling with exes and comparing your partner to the staged and curated images of other people's relationships is harmful. Grass is always greener thinking becomes inevitable. Get off-line and spend time with real people. You'll be happier.
7
I was slow to join FB, and even then it was only to access photos from a family gathering I had missed. I never felt comfortable with it. Too much boring gab over nothing. Most people use it to FILL THEIR TIME, as if they were trapped somewhere, and have nothing else to do. I do still have an account, but I use it so seldom that even the amount of email prompts trying to get me to login have decreased. I never gave up much personal information to begin with, not even a photo. This has been very easy for me, since I never got that invested.
I read (actual books), I make stuff, I am writing a novel, and I am starting to make my own music recordings, all offline. My friends are real friends. I don't "like" them; I like them.
I am amazed that Zuckerberg and other top FB execs are not in jail.
14
I grew up immersed in the Internet, and I'm a computer science major myself, so I'm not as technophobic as some of the other commenters here. However, I realized that I had become addicted to Facebook and needed a break.
So I recently installed a browser extension called Detox for Facebook that covers my "News Feed" with a *real* news feed, customized to show the sites I like. Facebook supposedly gets 90% of its revenue from News Feed, and I have found it to be the most emotionally draining part of the site. I also disabled the app on my phone, since you can't exactly block part of an app. Now, if I want to go to groups, events, or my timeline, I have to navigate to those manually or use the search bar.
I still use Facebook Messenger for communication (along with Signal and Discord) and Instagram for sharing photos. I still post to my timeline, check groups, and find events through the platform. I can't completely quit Facebook because my campus community is very embedded in it. I think it's okay to like parts of Facebook and not others, especially if you understand the risks and avoid using it in the ways the company wants you to use it.
5
I quit Facebook about 5 years ago and am reminded almost every day why this was a good move. Look at today’s story about FB paying kids to install software that would monitor their online activity. My own reasons were twofold. I realized that FB gives the illusion of fostering friendship, but it is a passive and lazy experience. If you want to be friends with someone, give them a call or write them a note. Looking at someone’s feed does not constitute friendship. I also realized that I, like many people, would reflexively frame almost any experience in terms of how I would post it. I wasn’t one of those idiots who take pictures of their meal in a restaurant, but it was a distortion none the less. Now, if I take photos during a trip or event I curate them and send them to a select group of friends who I think would be interested, and I no longer feel compelled to photograph everything. Good riddance.
11
I am an early computer engineer when computer science books were not published and we used journals articles to learn computer architectures. We used email long before the system was called email. When Facebook came in the Computer scene, I was thinking what is the value of this for my life. I opened an account but never used it. Till now I am regularly getting messages of how many people I do not know to be my friends. Facebook is very good platform for blogs and very bad for people who are weak in self control - a tool for narcissistic personality and privacy compromise. In this age of knowledge explosion, the sense of quality of knowledge is important and quality mark of the knowledge comes from contemplation to connect the dots with ones value matrix. Unless the value matrix of a person is founded on solid base, Facebook feedback loop will have devastating physiological effect. I hope we put health warning on Facebook like Cigarettes.
7
Facebook was a godsend for me when my wife’s lingering terminal illness kept me from traveling. But it also has stunted my friendships, old or new, far or near, with people not on the site. Should I withdraw, and how much? As more and more of my FB friends back off, it becomes less and less rewarding, so less and less of a dilemma. I sometimes wonder if the phenomenon will survive at all, for those of us with the affluence and alternatives to connect in deeper, slower ways.
1
This doesn’t really answer how your brain is on Facebook, but it is an interesting question.
Our brains are so wired to interact with our phones constantly. When we see something beautiful or funny our instant reaction is to record it and post it, rather than enjoying it in the moment.
How would our brains change if we didn’t have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or even Google on the phone? That I would like to know.
7
I quit a year ago and never missed it. News I read in NY and other online news papers. Live is better without it. Next one I will quit is Instagram .....
9
Heh! Never bothered with FB. Never saw the need. Email works just fine and I’ve made a few personal groups so it’s easy to keep in touch with one another with a bunch of friends, family or colleagues!
FB???.....I haven’t missed you
7
Deleted about a year ago and it’s as if it never existed. So easy and so refreshing to be rid of all the inane narcissism.
15
It is often said that a person is lucky if they have 5 good friends. In our crazy, hectic, self absorbed world we confuse pleasure and happiness. FB destroys our happiness but feeds our narcissistic pleasure seeking personalities. Friends are there for us in person and on the phone, our FB acquaintances are in the ether and actually afford people to talk about themselves to a large number of people. FB promotes our narcissism, not a good thing for the soul.
9
You couldn't pay me $100 a month to join Facebook, so I am completely out of step with 95% of the world. Facebook is corrupt and exploits people stupid enough to believe they are not paying for this service simply because it is "free." And I am so sick of banks and hospitals informing me I can do business with them through FB. As if.
13
Quite ironic to see a “Like us on Facebook” link in the middle of the article.
16
I wonder how many people have posted this story on facebook?
8
Let's face it, Facebook found a new drug that was addictive and pleasure giving and not illegal, and they are doing what all dealers do, maximizing their take in any way they can. This includes adulterating the product with nasty substances, in Facebook's case, phony 'news' from dodgy and criminal sources.
8
Learning that a malign foreign power used Facebook to sway our presidential election was enough for me to want to delete. Learning that Facebook didn’t care that a malign foreign power had used Facebook to sway our presidential election sealed the deal.
Advice to any finding it difficult to leave, and it is difficult... intentionally so... make big deal of deleting your profile. Let your “friends” know of your plans and your reasons. The prospect of eating crow and admitting that I was too addicted to drop it cold turkey prevented me from signing back on to the site on several occasions.
3
I did not require a "quantitative analysis" to propel me toward a non-FB life. I watched the PBS special, both parts, discussing why and how Mr. Zuckerberg and company gather and utilize our personal data. As the man said in the movie, "there is no security."
It is appalling how people have been snookered in
onto that platform and it is infuriating that Zuckerberg and Sandberg have lost the ability to see their consumers as People rather than data bits with monetary value.
I do miss the ease with which I was ab!e to keep in close touch with many far flung friends and family. But I now rely on my own initiative to seek them out usjng more personal interaction.
4
I quit Facebook about 5 years ago and have never ever regretted it. I do not belong to any other social media platforms, and I diligently read the NYT, the WSJ, and the Washington Post. But I still feel eaten alive by my phone and my laptop. Most op-Ed pieces are now quite polarized, and the comments sections of our best newspapers are a mine field of tit for tat condescension. The only way to deal with the whole obsessive/addictive black hole is to control the time I spend on these screens ( absolutely critical), as well as the sites. No social media is not the only answer.
This study seems pitifully inadequate in its scope. And Facebook ‘s press response - that FB fulfills deep needs - is enough to make anyone laugh and cry at the same time.
Life is out THERE, not in those screens.
4
I dramatically reduced facebook around election time. It was just too upsetting for me. Instead, I went to sister company, Instagram, and followed every great photographer in the world. Now I surround myself with beauty.
2
after 11 years, the only advantage I've found is that artists can easily and quickly benefit from the "free" advertising of their work. but don't you feel a little sorry for someone who haunts Facebook, really? that thing you used to do before Facebook, do that.
4
Facebook can also be a lifeline for people confined to bed, unable to get around at all. That is an unusual and special sort of case, but it does exist.
4
I deleted the app on my phone nearly 2 years ago and I immediately saw the following: increased satisfaction with my life and relationships, and soon thereafter less depressive-like symptoms. I highly recommend trying this for a month. Doubt you’d go back.
5
The issue with Facebook seems to me to be what economists call decreasing marginal benefit, meaning each extra minute provided you with less and less value, especially if you are young and able and would otherwise be capable of direct social interaction. too bad that we humans are so bad at self control, meaning most of us over-indulge significantly. I quit Facebook more than a year ago. At least now I can spend my time without staring into a screen and engorging myself in the mundane lives and sanitized dreams of other people.
3
Oh, and quitting FB has not decreased my political knowledge one whit. I did not, thank Heaven, use the platform for news in the sense of keeping up with current events, finding out what is happening in the world at large. I cannot imagine doing that.
3
I went cold turkey last year when the privacy issues emerged, and am doing just fine.
4
I was an early user (and investor) in Facebook, but I never felt comfortable with the invasion of my privacy. Finally, outraged by Mark Zuckerberg’s toleration of the abuse of the Facebook platform by commercial entities and political groups, I stopped using Facebook entirely.
That was about two years ago – after the 2016 election and the news of Russian meddling emerged.
I still receive regular notifications from Facebook and occasional requests by friends, relatives and others to become new Facebook friends. I delete all such messages from my email and let them know that I no longer use Facebook.
My use of the internet is heavy, and I am very current on culture, scientific breakthroughs, the arts and politics – both national and international. I spend hours reading articles and columns on my laptop and iPhone. I try, without much success, to spend less time watching MSNBC and CNN.
I am not happier today since exiting Facebook, but it has nothing to do with that decision. Very few Americans who have seen and understand the state of the real world since Donald Trump was inaugurated are happier today.
I am a very well-educated male in my mid-70s. Sometimes, your grandparents do know what’s best
8
This might explain the downward spiral of people who use Facebook to provide news. Then there is the search for a news source a person agrees with. Facebook has become a platform for extreme inflammatory politics. Which apparently people get addicted to. Facebook sells their client's privacy. They overstate the number of their users to gouge advertisers. They have become like cigarettes. They have discovered how profitable customer obsession feeding is.
1
I find it interesting the participants had less political knowledge after a month. If politics was that important to them, they couldn’t find another source!? There are much better ones out there.
10
I like Facebook in limited doses. I enjoy looking at people’s vacation photos, which is one of the best ways to learn about travel options. And I actually enjoy looking at puppy pictures—they make me happy.
And, since photography is a hobby of mine, I get to share my pics with my friends.
It’s all about moderation, folks, and what you do with Facebook.
9
Years ago, when Facebook first came out, I had funny feelings about it. So I never joined. What have I missed? Could I even be ahead of the game?
13
if you want to quit.....quit. But if you are still plugged in other social media areas i dont see what the big change is. Data is collected nearly always online..i couldn't care less if some ads are geared towards me.... it doesn't mean I have to buy anything.
10
@Aaron
You are talking about how people view news. They have collected data since the advent of media. Right now, your comment can be culled and we know something about you and your IP.
All of advertising is selling to folks. All. Sharing a pic with friends or amusing commentary... not really that important.
Perhaps you are easily swayed by social media news and advertising but that is not all. If you use Netflix, Amazon, heck any service were you make a purchasing decision (even if its with your time).... you are contributing to the Matrix.
Get Living Aaron.
Hmmm, a site that encourages you to care way too much for what other people think of you, then measures that insecurity and sells it to advertisers? What’s not to love?
I know, it can be useful too. But let’s be honest, it’s a Faustian Bargain if there ever was one.
25
Got rid of my Facebook page several years ago and never looked back. If you have a real life you don't need a virtual one.
12
What about if you never joined in the first place?
As best I can tell, my emotional health is just fine, thank-you.
10
There's one problem with unplugging, as opposed to simply ignoring the trash that some friends (or their friends) post: you lose touch with key people.
I have no way to know what is going on in the lives of a few old friends who have left FB.
Yes, I plan to send them e-mails. Eventually.
8
I deactivated my FB account in 2016 and have had no regrets. I did reactivate it for a short time in 2017 due to a girlfriend constantly bugging me to make it "official", however I was soon driven away by how toxic and unappealing FB has become.
I don't care about whatever MLM/pyramid scheme, blatant political lies, and other useless drama that Facebook offers.
I do like being able to focus on my close friends, not just a bunch of electronic strangers. I still from time to time check Google+ and twitter, then I head back into the real world for some food and fun with friends.
11
I dumped Facebook, the app and the stock, about 9 months ago. Didn't take much to sell my shares but it wasn't easy to get rid of the app. It is a lengthy and purposefully confusing process to cancel a Facebook account, and if you get tricked into logging in to your supposedly deleted account, you get re-activated and have to start the process all over again.
They OWN that information you gave them - even if you delete your account.
Scary stuff.
8
People are willing to pay 1 grand a year for the thing and they give it away for free? That's a trillion in revenue per year left on the table vs ~60B they made last year. Maybe the study subjects were Stanford students? Or one prankster said that he would pay a trillion and they took the average? Thought money is not real money.
But I would lose touch with the foreign relatives. That would be sad.
4
@Lydia, I know tons of people who keep in touch with their foreign relatives on WhatsApp which is now owned by Facebook- they are able to share messaging photos news jokes videos even phone calls within their groups. People use WhatsApp far more than they use FB. Now FB has announced it wants to integrate Instagram FB and WhatsApp into one holy soup!
2
a few years ago i signed on with an alias
never posted anything
how many of us NoDoers are out there?
4
I unplugged from FB in December. The hours recovered every day is well worth the initial feeling of FOMO. Now, I actually have DIRECT contact with my people in real-time and I have way more hours of meaningful (ie not "click" interaction/engagement) with my friends and acquaintances and business associates. Takes a bit of time to get used to NOT post photos or to 'share' my latest exploits/adventures/outrage, so not an easy break-up. I am delighted to be free.
5
So as a freak who has never used Facebook I of course don't know how it feels to unplug from it. So far as I'm concerned though, anything that encourages people to cease their dependence on it and reconnect with actual "friends" and their community is a plus.
I have been subjected to insane amounts of pressure to join Facebook by those who insist that if I don't I won't ever have any idea of what is going on in the world. I'm currently overseas and Facebook is widely used here. It is true that many things are posted here on Facebook such as jobs, events etc and I never know of them not being a Facebook user. I'm still unwilling to subject myself to it.
As for those who cease using Facebook being less "aware"of politics, I don't see why this should be the case. I access a variety of sources to obtain my political information which means I get to hear a variety of opinions and not just what is fed to me on my "feed" (or just the NYT either which I often profoundly disagree with). I consider myself more aware and informed than those who just take in what they are "fed'. I actually get to form my own opinions!
11
I decided to take a break from social media on Jan. 1. as a resolution. I still have the accounts but I don’t think I’ll need to go 11 more months before I login one last time and delete them all.
Facebook, and especially Instagram, just feel gross to be on these days. I’m not sure if that’s because of the trolls, people oversharing their fake lives, or the algorithms these platforms are constantly tweaking since they monetized these experiences. Maybe I’m getting old too, but they just feel like a very strange thing to be a part of after 13 years.
It’s easier to quit than smoking but it is like unplugging from the Matrix. After a couple days I stopped reaching to tap the “F” key at work when I needed a quick fix. My brain is still fried but I’m slowly getting my attention span back. With all the found time I’m able to read a lot more and my attention and creativity feels improved...I even got a subscription to NYT!
10
Facebook can't steal your psychological autonomy without your consent. Facebook is like a box of crayons, you can draw with it for awhile and then place it aside, or you can put it/them in the dryer with all of your clothes and it will ruin everything. Use with discernment. You are still in charge of your life and your future.
3
It's awesome. Unplug from Next-door, too.
7
Nearly a year ago I quit Facebook. No one paid me. Haven't looked back since. No need to comment or like anything. People will comment about what they posted on their Facebook page, and I tell them that I am no longer on Facebook. The perplexed look on their face is priceless. As if being on Facebook was a necessity to a happy life. It's not. Besides, Facebook's tracking is nefarious. They gather information on your surfing habits even when you're not logged in or have an account. I've blocked their trackers with Ghostery. And, believing that anyone is "missing out" on news is a pretty arrogant argument. That's why I read the NY Times!
11
I shut down Facebook after the 2016 election, and I don’t miss it in the least, of course I also don’t have cable tv either. I find it insane how ubiquitous it has become, to the point that I was asked to sign in to this account through Facebook. The premise of this private company turning your private experiences and connections into currency is so twisted, I find it hard to believe that the human race has agreed to to swallow this poison pill. Turn off your phone and experience reality in real time...
10
Better yet Charles, get rid of your phone! I’ve been living a phone-free life for about 4 years now, don’t miss it a bit.
1
Not to bite the hand that’s feeding me here; it’s just that reading this fascinating article about FB addiction & detoxing got me thinking about what abstaining from the NYT app for a month might be like.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the Old Grey Lady on many levels and this app is a genuine novelty organism with deeply embedded roots in all that real journalism aspire to be (e.g. AI, Big Data, AR, VR, etc).
It’s just that I’m starting to wonder if my immersion into FB over ten years ago is one part of a double helix that also includes my immersion into the NYT app a few years ago.
Who knows, maybe staying sober from the NYT app for a month will involve me having a certain perspective that I just can’t experience as of yet.
It’s all good ✌️
3
I was on fb from 2008 til 2012, which was around the time that the “check in” function started. The narcissism of that function (really, who CARES?!) added to the existing phony garbage about their “perfect” lives that people posted disgusted me. I think the whole defense of “I keep up with family and friends on there” is ridiculous. I never missed it for a single moment.
9
For those of you who haven't deleted your FB accounts yet, do so and spend more time reading the NYT & WSJ, and some good books. You'll feel like a new person.
8
I deleted FB over a year ago. Many years ago I had been a heavy smoker (3 packs a day). I thought about smoking constantly and even had to get up in the middle of the night to smoke. That’s exactly what FB started to feel like. I was checking it constantly. I became a non smoker over 30 years ago and decided to become free from FB. People told me I was stupid to quit. I felt stupid being a slave to it. FB hit the same receptors in my brain that nicotine hit. Becoming a non FB user was way easier than becoming a non smoker. Sure, I miss the kid and pet pictures. But I don’t miss anything else. The friends that remain are real people who I call on the phone and visit face to face with. I love being free from FB.
8
We all realize that Facebook and the other social media giants sold our privacy and democracy years ago when there stupidity and greed allowed them to be ignorant agents of the Russians.
I have never wasted my time on Facebook because I thrive off of human connection that doesn’t view me as a dollar sign. Real people what a novel idea.
Every month something horrific comes out in regards to the greedy corporate business model that is Facebook. Today ABC news carried a story about Facebook hidden charges for access. Life is meant to be lived my family is not staring at computer screens making money for Facebook. We are not fools. There is nothing good for democracy on Facebook And any politician who takes money from Facebook will not get thousands of votes from people who wAnt to keep their democratic America.
6
I stopped using Facebook when it hit home that their lack of ethics and patriotism conflicts with my value system. I miss baby pictures and some professional networking, but I do have more time for creative pursuits. More time for NYT!
6
I "deFaced" myself after the Cambridge Analytica scandal. I never used it much before then. It was mainly to click "like" on cute parrot photos and videos. After clicking "like" a few hundred times, it occurred to me that I might, just might, be wasting my time. Or, occasionally, I'd post something political. Since most of my Facebook "friends" were of the same mind as me, I was just preaching to the choir.
But FB still manages to creep its way into our lives.
1. Many sites require us to sign on via Facebook or Google+, neither of which I use. The only other option is using my email address. So much for privacy.
2. A lot of businesses don't even have websites anymore. You have to access their FB page to get info.
There's a glimmer of hope - kids are proclaiming Facebook is uncool - now they need to realize that Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram are pretty stupid, too. Just look at the Twit in Chief.
6
For me, unplugging from Facebook. was nothing. Nada. Zip. It's not even a real thing. Forget about it.
3
I found I had to unfollow news sites not because of what they posted, but because of how bot-likes manipulated which stories I saw and which ones got buried in the feed. And because the comments on even the most innocuous “water-skiing squirrel” type stories devolved into name-calling, hyper-partisan nonsense.
4
The more you share online, the more they control you. Facebook and other social media platforms sell your data — what you like and dislike, where you live, your socioeconomic status, your race, political and religious views, etc. — and sell it to parties interested in influencing your behavior (i.e., getting you to buy certain products or vote certain ways) by delivering content to you that they (algorithims) think will resonate with you. If you use social media, you are not the customer — you’re the product; you’re selling yourself. For what? Friend updates? Take back control of your life: Unfriend social media.
28
@Aaron
but you just shared online for free in a comment....you are the product here too. FB is a service where you pay with my data stats...big whoop. As for influencing behavior... welcome to ALL media - magazines, film, music, TV, the NYT even.
1
@ray No. Some forms of media are more passive (magazines, film, music, etc. can be used as propaganda to influence, but they are "dumb" and cannot actively tailor content to you based on what you've shared about yourself) and some are more active than others (social media or any media where you volunteer personal information). The NYT and other websites I visit know some things about me because of cookies, but not nearly as much as social media platforms that encourage people to share as much as possible, thereby increasing their value as a commodity for sale. You're making false equivalencies and willfully ignoring what's happening.
2
From the outset I felt FB was a form of institutionalized voyeurism but I went along with it largely because it allowed communication between parties involved in a traumatic event in my life.
About ten years ago I felt it become invasive, all the more as the media began to use it to to generate or supplant audience participation through commentariat forums of their own. That weeded out some of my reading and subscriptions.
I subsequently cancelled my participation in FB about five years ago, and though I get frustrated by the media still reliant on it never felt better (I suppose I even kept some sanity by avoiding much of the disinformation in 2016).
5
I don't know - I've used FB on and off for years and I've now stopped for several months. NABD at all. And I know a fair amount about addiction, etc. It's not a big deal to me - in fact I'm happy to be off it.
The only thing I've used it and other social media (Twitter, Google+) in recent years is (1) to post my astrophotography pictures and (2) to post publications of my group. I do those things and log off until the time to do so again comes up every few weeks.
2
I deleted my FB account about three years ago. I never liked their business model, and the relentless banality of most of what was posted just annoyed me. I'd never developed the habit of using at as my main access to news and current affairs.
I don't miss it. It's simple to keep in touch with people I care about through other means, and I'm really not interested in the rest. I still spend a lot of time online and consume most of my media that way. But I don't need FB to point me at what it thinks I like.
8
Much ado about nothing. This is the same argument that could be made about people who idle away their time watching television or reading scandal sheets. It's just a fact of life that without more meaningful activities people fill the void with innocuous activities which include Facebook. To a certain degree the diversion can be helpful.
8
I wonder how much they make on advertising per person? I like the original concept of FB....connecting with family and friends. I'd rather pay for service and not have the advertising weirdness.
I don't have enough contacts to make them happy. FB cuts me off and tries to force me to add more contacts. Not a problem; I read books and magazines. I use e-mail to contact friends (though a lot of people don't do e-mail anymore).
3
I'm SO glad I never joined Facebook.
From all I've heard/read about the company and people's experiences using it, never joining was surely one of the best decisions I've ever made.
20
I recently concluded my own self-imposed FB hiatus, in order to focus on a long term project.
I certainly didn't miss the political propaganda, the ads, and the posts with TMI. I dislike the FB business model.
But I did miss communicating with my extended family, as well as other private groups whose members live across the nation and who communicate via FB in between our annual face-to-face meetings. I want the good without the bad.
As with any technology, be prudent. As with any business that offers a free service, expect what you pay for.
7
Jeesh, all things in moderation. An hour a day on Facebook? that's crazy talk. 10-15 minutes every other day or so,a rare posting once every month or two about a fun event or funny photo, a couple likes of friends' postings and done. Keeps me in touch with what far flung friends and relatives are doing. No notifications, no games, no phone numbers, no clicking on ads and no facial recognition. What's so hard about that? The study requiring 15 minutes a day as a baseline already skewed the results.
3
I used to be a habitual Facebook checker. Always felt like I lost chunks of my day...less focused on anything I was supposed to be doing that was right in front of me, whether it was work or leisure.
I cancelled my account about 3 years ago. Ceasing my use of FB is somewhere in the top five best life decisions I've made in my 27 years as an adult. I got so much more by giving it up then I ever got by using it. Less clutter. More clarity. Real relationships.
19
Facebook connects people all over the WORLD. It's a fabulous resource. Our data is for sale every minute of every day every time we buy something, search for something, go somewhere or sign up for something.
3
@cece
I’ve never been on Facebook and I easily keep in touch with friends no matter where in the world they live or happen to wander. Or wherever and whenever I happen to wander.
2
I often wonder how FB comes up with their user numbers? I deleted FB and Instagram from my phone 2 months ago. Every other week I will look on my ipad to see some travel pics on Instagram. The fraudulent political and profile accounts drove me off. I doubt their revenue numbers or somebody is lying on the number of real accounts that actually have dollars available to buy advertised merchandise.
My children no longer look at FB nor the majority of my friends. It makes you wonder if FB creates millions of accounts per month just to aid in their development of algorithms for their advertising profile. I also am curious how companies determine how much their advertising dollars deliver on sales.
2
Their stock is way up. Intelligent people understand Privacy is dead. If people think other social platforms will be any different, they're wrong. It's 2019. Welcome to the future.
1
@cece - I marvel at such unequivocating declarations: ‘Intelligent people understand privacy is dead.’ As though the death of privacy merely is a ‘truth’ waiting to be realised by those with sufficient intellectual acuity. I’m curious also as to how privacy can ever ‘die’. The most private place in existence is a human being’s mind, if it is chosen to be.
So I would close with my own declaration: privacy cannot die; it only can be surrendered.
A 25 year old with a life expectancy of 85 and a one hour a day Facebook habit will add 2.5 years to their life by simply quitting Facebook. Plus nobody feels better after an hour on Facebook.
16
1k-2k isn't that much. It's not even a ski trip. I beta chronic pot smoker would say you'd need to pay him/her 50K/yr yo not smoke pot. I spend about 10k/yr on skiing (including pass, rentals, flights, lodges, etc.). If i didn't ski, it'd be like I was paying myself 10k/yr (because I'd be saving that amount). So, you'd have to pay me more than 10k/yr for me not to ski. I love to ski very much. I'm not sure I'd take any amount not to ski. maybe 100k/yr, because that would allow to me track/race cars a lot.
Putting an amount on cessation of something is precarious. I love steak. Could you pay me not to eat steak? Or not to run? I don't think so.
The fact that most people said 1k-2k means (to me) that they are not especially attached to facebook. I'm sure some pro athletes have to agree not to do something they love (skiing, surfing, hunting, deep sea fishing, plane flying, drug use), while under contract. Those guys are probably okay giving up cocaine or skiing or bowhunting for their 7 mil a year salary.
I quit facebook three years ago and never looked back. I was motivated to stop using facebook based on their behavior and the way they used my data. Since then my concerns have only been confirmed and the evidence would appear to indicate if anything it's even worse. With the company exhibiting a callous disregard for anything but the maximization of revenue by any means possible. I no longer believe that Facebook can even be successfully regulated and the only thing that makes sense in the case of this out of control company is a corporate death penalty.
21
@Jerry - That's about when I quit, and I agree with you completely!
5
With the exception of messenger on iOS I got off Facebook after 2016. Never looked back, and don’t have to.
There is nothing on Facebook that can’t be replicated by real human interactions.
10
The Selfie Generation is now creating corporations and taking control of political power. If Facebook is any indicator of what to expect from them we have much to be concerned about.
The full potential of Facebook was recognized by the Chinese government and the phrase social network has gained new meaning by recasting that concept as a social score that is used to control and repress it citizens.
Thankfully, so far, the Selfie Generation running Facebook is content with selling you out to the highest bidder. Such power to disrupt and control, in the hands of people that so far have demonstrated a certain lack of ethics and devil may care regard for your privacy, raises profound questions about what needs to be done with this blight.
My first inclination is to let the market and time sort this one out. However, upon reflection, I am not so sure about that perspective in this case. If fact I am strongly leaning towards being in favor of letting the heavy hand of regulation gut this monster and relegate it to being the keeper of nothing more than listicles and cat videos.
9
I walked away from FB 3 months ago. Although there was an initial withdrawal period of about 10 days it was all downhill after that. What a liberating experience! I didn't realize how much time I was wasting engaging in pointless political "fence fights" until I gave it up. An added bonus... I have found much more productive uses for my time.
15
I created a personal page and one for my business out of curiosity, but never came to understand what possible utility or satisfaction either might provide.
Then again after 3 minutes on the phone I can’t wait to hang up. Guess that’s just me.
3
One wonders if we could be far less politically polarized in case we disconnect ourselves from the media in general ! Personally,I have found be far less interested in divisive politics after I stopped watching political TV altogether.
7
Social media: humbug. As time has passed, I've found myself spending less and less time on Facebook. If folk want to reach me, they send me an e-mail. Stuff posted to Facebook can easily be missed. And while we are discussing social media, Twitter is also being downgraded to a lower priority in my life. I've noticed that when a tweet collects impressions in the four digits, it is propelled as often as not by bot activity and bot retweets. As I said, humbug.
4
I miss how you could peer into your neighbors newspaper in the train to get a glimpse of the interesting news, or look across at the person reading a book, and making a note of the author. This was sharing information, back over 10 years ago. I do miss the reactions and small talks leading from the curiosities of your neighbors interests.
9
I'm on FB, don't really read the news feeds much, nor do I partake in FB games. I do spend a lot of my time on my smartphone. As far as privacy concerns go, whether you have a FB account or not, your info is out there on servers. Grocery store rewards accounts monitor your shopping habits, there are cameras everywhere, and while your PC/smartphone may not be of interest to hackers, think of big business and big gov't. Plenty of corporations have had their servers hacked. The best practice is to closely monitor your credit score and history. Bank accounts, mortgage, car registration, etc. Keep good record of your financial habits, it will help alleviate that paranoid feeling.
1
I deleted my account a year ago because I was tired of the disenguousness, the fake veneer everyone paints in every post, the brainless simplicity of clicking a “like” button with no real engagement.
I didn’t do any intermediate steps like tech columnists recommend aside form first disconnecting Facebook from everything else. I didn’t download a copy of my data.
I just set my account for deletion and waited the thirty days. No hand wringing. No agony.
Poof, thirty days later, it was deleted. I couldn’t log in. And I didn’t care. My account was deleted, not me.
105
Facebook:
Just. Say. No.
(That goes for Twitter, too.)
15
Quit—and when I say quit, I mean I deleted everything from Facebook and Instagram—three months ago; in the time since, I’ve been more chill, get a lot of reading done, and go for long walks instead of playing along in the biggest waste of time the world has ever known.
I hate Facebook, and everything it’s done to our society.
56
I quit when I learned of they sold the privacy of their own customers’
8
@Jim G Facebook's customers, like Google's, are advertisers. Facebook users' data has always been the commodity being sold.
1
I gave it up after dealing as a business owner trying the advertising side of fb. When I dug down and saw the hidden side of fb, I dropped my ad account AND stopped all personal use. Way too much data being gleaned to suit my tastes. And, the terms & conditions of messenger scared the bejeezes out of me!
No interest in going back, and I work hard to help friends get off it( sounds like a drug addiction doesn’t it).
5
I can speak only for myself, having deactivated my FB account something like a year ago. My mood has improved to some extent, probably in large part because I'm less exposed to the revolting online behavior of others. There's also a feeling of satisfaction in not offering myself to the whims of the tech gods, similar to the improved self concept I gain from not buying anything on Amazon. As for staying up to date on politics, I continue to read the New York Times regularly.
12
I quit years ago. It takes more than a month, in my opinion, to make a difference. I quit because I was reveling in being a jerk. I was addicted to righteous indignation. Is there a sweeter feeling? At the time I thought not. But just because I liked it doesn’t mean it was good for me. I wasn’t happier in a month, but looking back, I am much happier now . . . and healthier.
73
I deleted ALL my social media accounts about 3 months ago. Life is way better now. I get real news by reading my NYT subscription. I’ve realized that I don’t care about what people have to “share” about their lives, and I know my posts aren’t missed in the least. My stress level has decreased a gazillion percent, and I look back and can’t believe all the time I wasted on Facebook due to FOMO. Guess what? I’m not missing anything from social media land. But I’m sure getting a lot more good books read.
18
I'm a scientist, and I've been on the net since Netscape published it's weekly updated list of websites every week in 1996, and I had an email address on BITNET. All y'all are noobs.
I am proud to say that I've never had a Facebook account. I'm also proud to say that my adult children. longtime users, are very jealous of my situation. They lament what they have posted online, despite my nagging for them to stop.
Sign up with a huge corporation run by a greedy little squint and give away a gushing pipeline of your personal information on a daily basis - what could POSSIBLY go wrong with that??
42
@Mtnman1963
There with you! I too recall the early days of Netscape Navigator, the online forums which was pretty much all the web had to offer and using DOS pre-Windows! When I was teaching I often cautioned my college students that what they post online could come back to haunt them but I don't think they truly got it. I thought about the business side of Facebook back when it first was available to the general public. I realized that as it was "free", that no way ads would ever be enough to cover the costs and make a profit so therefore the users had to be the product. No thanks!
6
Haven’t been on Facebook in ten years. Do not miss it at all. Cut yourself off and return to living your life.
17
I quit spring 2018 and have not missed it for a second.
10
I did this two years ago.
A lot less cat pictures in my life.
I need cat pictures?
Feh.
8
I wonder what it is like to quit online news too. Oh, then email. Oh, text messages too. I miss the simpler times.
3
@Ben
I gave up my phone about 4 years ago. Don't miss it a bit.
I quit Facebook about six months ago. It was the last of my social media accounts. Now I play FORTNITE. Oh well, I guess some of us are not going to change the world. But, I am happier.
2
I don't mean to contradict Dr. Gentzkow, but I quit Facebook over a year ago and I spend a lot of my extra time reading The New York Times.
12
@cody This has been my experience too. I was hoping that quitting FB would cure me of my smartphone addiction, but I’ve just transferred it to other websites - mostly the NYT and the NYT crossword app. I’m not sure my total screen time has gone down much, unfortunately.
5
Did it years ago! Initially I went on on the advice of a PR person for one of my stories. What a waste of time. I'd rather match socks and sharpen pencils.
5
I don't understand... I deleted my FB (and Twitter) account in 2016 when all those scandals around privacy and election interference started to emerge and never looked back. It's just an app... get real. Life has actual challenges in store for us!
4
In other good news..... The younger generation is not much of a Facebook fan. ‘Dad! Facebook is for old people! None of my friends actually use it or trust it!’ Bingo.
8
@M
Not sure about that statement everyone outside of thinking adults is on Facebook but every new social media group finds a way to steal your privacy and lives. Facebook is a brand name but Instagram and other Facebook spin offs rob you of your life in the same manner.
Till technology can save your privacy there is no need to voluntarily feed a monster
1
I quit fb over a year ago
1. Tired of arguing with ignorant trump supporters who thought he was the best thing since Jesus
2. Tired of the Russian influence
3. Mostly tired of not getting paid for my days
Like everything .. it will play out and become less relevant
7
I quit the day after The Clown Prince was elected. It was too clear that the influence of Facebook as a “newsfeed” for so many fools, and also a germination engine for angry discussion rather than true debate, was what put him in. And if Schultz runs as an independent and gives Trump a second term I will kick the Starbucks habit too. I might even picket outside a Starbucks to try and turn people away.
4
I find I’m better informed- because I read more actual news, and don’t waste time getting caught up in ludicrous squabbling about “TERFs” and “intersectionalism.”
My friend, who also deleted her account, just feels happier without it.
1
First deactivated. Then deleted my account. And so much the better for it. I wasn’t an active user anyways (didn’t have anything I wanted to “share”) but I have no desire to associate with duplicitous organization that gets exposed even more nearly everyday as a cavalier, yet profitable.
Good riddance.
1
If I still had my Facebook account I'd post this story on my feed.
5
I lost my job at Pearl Drums after posting myself in a ‘Mississippians for Obama’ T-shirt.
Yes, Facebook is careless, but so was I. Mark Zuckenburg and company could care less.
1
This is no different from unplugging from t.v. or other media.
1
Actually, I started to reduce my Facebook time a few years ago from daily to very occasionally. The reason? It had become boring. From what started as a fun way to reconnect or stay connected, Facebook has become nothing more than a tedious news feed where my friends repost all sorts of tiresome “OMG-can-you-believe-this!” political commentary that I already agree with. So, why even bother? It was easy to stop engaging mostly because It’s no fun anymore.
46
These comments make for an interesting read, indeed!
Since I have never been on Facebook, it is truly amazing that almost everything I had thought would happen apparently did happen to real people.
Hopefully Facebook is going to fold soon, as long as our society still remembers how it functioned before the poison started to flow.
5
I deactivated for the first time a two years ago, then again about 4 months ago. I don’t miss the bullies one bit. I like sharing photos on Instagram, and I can still connect with most of my hobbies, and in a much less stressful way. They must be better about policing the creeps, though, or they’ll find we can live without them, too.
I deactivated (but did not delete) my FB account in Dec 2017. At first I meant to do it for three months. It was hard, but I made it three months. Then I decided I should make it a year.
During that time I did reactivate on two occasions to check that I had not been hacked or breached by one of the many screwups on FB’s part. Each time I did, I took a quick look around and it felt gross. Then a year passed, and I was not eager to get back on. It took me another month to finally do so. It still felt gross. I quickly deactivated again, and have no desire to go back to that awful place.
If you are someone who, like me, spent a lot of time on it, you don’t realize just how messed up it is until you are off of it for a long time and let your brain re-adjust to non-FB reality.
40
I quit for free in March 2018 after having an account since 2005, my first year of college. I’ve never looked back. Don’t miss it for a second. In fact, when my girlfriend shows me a Facebook post on her phone, I cringe at the sight.
What I don’t miss the most: unmoderated comment sections.
8
I’ve hidden almost all my “friends” on FB and I only look at their profiles and their feeds every now and then. I mainly use FB for hobbies. I don’t have to see what my FB “friends” had for dinner, I don’t have to see any politics rants and I can just enjoy my hobbies!
You couldn't pay me to spend more than 15 minutes a month on my FB account.
1
A real plus FB friend and I met in early 2016 for coffee. We both started talking at once, backed up, started again, and simultaneously declared we were quitting FB. Laughter ensued! So we did quit, on the spot, vowing to support each other when the going got rough. But it never did! It was easy for both of us to let go. At this end of life why waste it scrolling through endless silly posts? Just wish now, as a retired person on a limited budget, that I’d waited to be paid for ditching it. I sure could use that $100!
4
I quit three weeks ago. Sometimes I get a craving, but I stay strong for my mental well being.
4
I think we have a bigger problem around toxic internet consumption that is taking a toll on our health and wellness. It's sexy right now to identify the villains as exclusively social media, but the same toxic effects are seen by reading the news media regularly or listening to the news, which has become more polarized and extreme in the last 20 years. This includes CNN, fox news, and even the nytimes. When was the last time you saw a purely factual article without all the drama, opinions, judgmental words and exaggerations? When was the last time you didn't feel manipulated to feel a certain way? My friends and I have also done experiments where we don't read or listen to the news for periods or only read the news lightly once/weekly. The result: increases in calm, peace of mind, more engagement and connection with others, increased productivity. And no this is not the same as pretending that problems don't exist in the world. You can volunteer to help others without reading the news daily or checking social media. I dare you, try it!
5
@Jane
I have an internet/phone sabbath. I unplug for an entire 25 hour or so period. Try it. At first you'll probably have acute FOMO but what you will find is that by not seeing the "news" right when it was happening, it didn't change anything at all in your life. Everything just kept right on. It's very restful.
1
I’ve been off FaceBook for month. I find I have multiple hours each day back.The fear I had of losing track of family and friends has not materialized.
I think it was a big time waster. There was stuff I spent time on that was totally wasted.
I recommend moving it off your “home” screen. You will quickly forget to check it every half-hour.
Bye, bye Zuck!
4
I was a latecomer to Favebook but loved it for the ability to easily reconnect with old friends and to stay connected with my family overseas. I do use the business platform but question how much that really means to me. BUT I have used FB less and less over the past 2 years and probably check it once a week if that due to my extended family's offensive political postings. Along with Trump, they know no boundries and do not clearly respect others positions or feelings. I also hated being bombarded by the silly game requests from friends and family members, most of us being well into our 50's and beyond.....it turned many of us into lab mice, lured to click away for some hidden treat-in my opinion.
1
I quit using FB back in 2016 when it became clear that trolls had taken it over. I never missed it even for a day. The only thing I felt was immediate relief.
5
Out since 2016, lost touch with few school friends a continent away but such was life prior to FB and thus it can continue. Just meet in person once every other year or so. Lastly, a 16 year-old at home confirms FB is for "old people, like you" to "complain about things, be rude and take pictures of airplane wings".
2
I’m a 64 yr old guy who deactivated his fb page right after last year’s major privacy breach became public. I’m happy to report that I don’t miss fb at all. Zuckerberg and Sandburg don’t deserve my data. Certainly not for free.
7
I was addicted to Facebook, on it all the time.
But then, in the fall, I read a few articles about Facebook, the company, and quit.
All at once. Cold turkey.
I don't miss it at all BUT I have one regret. I no longer take photos because I have no way to share them. Suddenly its the way it used to be, my photos are for my immediately family to whom I send them by email or test.
It's no fun at all.
I miss that. But nothing else.
3
I wonder if the real addiction (next time you are in a public space, check out what most are doing) is the smartphone and that Facebook has expertly utilized that technology. I personally have no problem getting off social media when accessed on my laptop. On he other hand, when I read The New York Times website, I find the computer with the more expansive screen far preferable (this comment is being written on my laptop).
2
Spoiler: Life after Facebook is like life before Facebook, with its ups and downs, successes and tragedies, except without the unnecessary comparison, competition, and concern with people that you barely know.
7
I quit in June 2018 and it's been great. The nonsense level in my life has been markedly reduced. I call and email people more often and have just been happier overall. I recommend it for everyone!
2
I bailed out 3 months ago, and couldn't be happier about it (I was an hour-a-day person). The "extra" hour I now have feels like more, much like the effect when you finally clear out your basement and discover it was bigger than you'd realized. I miss bits of news from friends, and some of the jokes, but the de-trivilialization has been a revelation. The news about how many get their political information from it is depressing, even if it is the comfort-zone effect of echo-chambering. Better to un-clutter!
2
FB has enabled me to find and keep in touch with old friends that live far away and with whom I had lost contact. I follow only nature and animal sites. Last year I adopted the most wonderful dog from her picture on a rescue site's FB page. My twitter feed is the same. Nothing comes in except photos or videos of beautiful nature or 'acts of kindness' videos by human and non-human animals. It's an oasis of peace and pleasure. You really are in control- just stop the mindless surfing. I long ago gave up the idea that there was any intelligent 'discussion' occurring on most sites. Political pages almost solely the realm of grunting trolls.
8
I'm an introvert. Facebook was too intense for me. I signed up and made a page but I ghosted it right away. Twitter is more my speed. Less commitment in every way. Plus Twitter has trained me to write shorter sentences. That is something my previous writing workshop instructors would applaud. LOL.
3
I stumbled onto Facebook, kept my account for a couple of years, always felt a bit embarrased to say I saw or read something on Facebook, then shut my account after it became clear I was just a tool for its poorly disguised excuse to collect information and data for commercial enterprise. People need to be paid to quit?! Seriously ??
I've dialed way back on FB, its only active when I infrequently check it; like the TV is only on when I watch something, never in the background. No more commenting or rants on FB, it is better this way. However, I do post more comments here (NYT) now that I've reduced FB. Have I just exchanged one platform for another, fooling myself that the Times is less onerous than FB?
1
Are not the comments here, in contrast, more collegial and bipartisan and less extremist name-calling? Just a thought.
1
Well, duh.
I deleted myself from Facebook last Oct. when I finally had enough of their privacy hacks and political ineptitude. I maybe missed it for 2 weeks, and haven't regretted my decision yet. And my social life is still full and rewarding.
Want to get your life and self-confidence back? Also drop Twitter, Instagram, and all your instant messaging apps. Give yourself some privacy and space and downtime and time to think and reflect. Start living for yourself instead of for what others (supposedly) think of you.
And never, ever use Facebook as a news source.
2
Just quit! It has immeasurably improved my life to not be on that surveillance platform.
4
More importantly. how can we pry children and adolescents away from Instagram and Snapchat? Ask any teacher how this new addiction is working out for kids.
1
Last August, I read a blog entry by Mr. Money Moustache entitled "The Low Information Diet": http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/10/01/the-low-information-diet/. I was inspired to log off Facebook and hand the "keys" over to a dear friend. I did this just before going on vacation with friends, which I thought would help with the transition. Then life got busy and I was SO grateful that I had cut myself off this distraction. Since then, I've logged on twice, staying for 1-2 hours each time to "catch up" and discovered that I no longer found what I found there all that interesting. The hardest part is knowing that friends are making assumptions about what I know about their lives. I have to take responsibility for reaching out to them personally and asking them how they are doing. This also means making some choices about who to contact - since I do not remember all of my FB friends and don't have contact information for all of them.
Wish we could be an abstainer but, alas, that isn't possible: We've never been on Facebook!
Instead, in our late 60s, my wife and I cycle 2100 miles a year, mountain hike 400 miles a year, ballroom dance, living in our truck camper 4 months of the year camping in remote areas filled with beauty and no people.
None of the ways we spend our time are expensive. We don't take cruises or trips to Europe, that kind of thing.
So I am going to say something that needs to be said, even if it can come across as unkind:
If you can't quit Facebook then look in the mirror and ask yourself why you don't have a life......and then quit Facebook and get one.
6
I quit FB when I learned that they built angering their subscribers into their targeted news feeds. The 2016 election result sealed it for me.
4
Not being part of social media ... gives so many opportunities to get to know people first-hand or experience the beauty of the sky, or feel the sun and wind on your arms. Being part of social medial ... requires undivided attention to every. single. change. that. makes. the. screen. jump. (The brain is slowed down). Social media is not worth it.
3
I barely use it so leaving it would have no affect on me whatsoever.
1
Deleted my FB account immediately after the election in 2016 and subscribed to the Times online which I read once daily. Wished I'd done it so much sooner. Definitely much happier with much less political angst.
5
I never thought I’d say the same, but I agree!
2
Never been on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. See absolutely no use or value in any of it. As Betty White said: now that I know what it is, it is a waste of time!
People, find something better to do with your lives. Read a book, go for a walk, turn off your phones, talk directly to each other. Relationships on-line are not relationships.
5
I've never had an account. I found the idea of some company monetizing my personal life without compensating me, to be a poor tradeoff for the benefits it purported to offer. At this point, they would have to pay ME to use it.
2
The thing holding me back from quitting facebook is the group feature. I am in several facebook groups related to my hobbies. I learn A TON from these groups and enjoy discussions with fellow hobbiests. I can do without the regular newsfeed. I'd like an app that just see a feed from my hobby groups!
41
Originally there was no newsfeed on FB- it was simply your own profile, other people’s profiles, and groups. A simpler time to be sure! I quit when the newsfeed hit sometime around 2008-2009. It was obnoxious at the onset and now seems to be downright diabolical.
1
Have you looked at Reddit? It's a message board website that has a whole host of forums for just about any topic you can think of. I know several hobbyists who are quite engaged in the forum(s) for whatever their particular interest is.
3
@AJ
Yeah, I got a Facebook account only so I could connect with a group that only posted its meetings on Facebook. I warned all my friends and relatives that I will be nobody's friend on Facebook.
I look at it a couple of times a month to find the meeting.
2
I deleted my Facebook account the day after Trump’s election. My initial motivation was to avoid smug celebration from old “friends” who inexplicably supported him. Two years later I can’t recall a single time when I missed posting to FB. If I want my family to see pictures of my kids I send them by SMS or email. If I want to reminisce with my old friends I start a group chat. But mostly, I just live my interactions face-to-face these days.
6
Two things I boycott, Facebook and Wal-Mart. I respect my privacy and promote human interaction. Communication without social cues is dangerous.
41
I was one of those people who got my news through Facebook. It was so easy; I looked at my feed and everything I needed to know was right there, or so I thought.
During 2016, however, I saw an article on my feed that said the Pope endorsed Trump for president. As a Catholic, I knew the Pope never endorsed candidates. At this point, I realized the news in my feed was based on the “likes” of myself or my “friends” and that I was missing other important stories. What’s worse is that Facebook determined what I saw and the stories weren’t always reputable.
It was at this time that I decided to delete Facebook, pay for subscriptions, and stay informed in a way that’s best for me. It was a good decision and I don’t miss Facebook at all. Good riddance.
32
In my old job, my colleagues would check the Company stock value every few minutes, I had picked up that habit, even investing in stocks was a very laborious time consuming process that took major investing in time and effort. I was glad I took Dollar/cost averaging on some good Mutal-Funds, and put all making Money on the back-burner. I focused on Health and Happiness improved when I put more effort in Spiritual pursuits.
Everything is play of Energy, Meditation strengths Mental, Intellectual energies, all other actives draw from these energies. It is better to conserve energy than to waste it, and judiciously use all resources.
3
It's really easy to live my life without facebook. The app has a tendency to warp one's personality and there are better ways to maintain contact with people I care about. FB doesn't need my info. Plus, there are plenty of cat videos on YouTube if I really need them....
8
From the outset, I saw Facebook as a threat to privacy-mine. I never used Facebook. If my family and friends want to have a relationship with me, they use the old fashioned way of visiting, calling on the telephone or writing a letter. Email is also an alternative. Businesses that make you use Facebook, as in "see us on Facebook", will never have my business. The study is one of cognitive function. I didn't need the study to highlight that users of Facebook who abstain save time, but I am happy to know some did not miss Facebook. Look up!
14
I quit Facebook, Twitter and Instagram cold turkey about 1 year ago. I miss none of it. I’m down to only LinkedIn which I use only as a professional networking tool.
I have 2 boys under 10 years of age and hope his generation adopts a much less addictive attitude toward social media but worry it will just be a different app / same obsession.
8
Facebook has its uses, but mostly in a community or hobby-oriented kind of way. I would never use it to post personal information. Our town used it extensively to coordinate the response to the Colorado flood of 2013, and it's also useful to share historical information, but I somehow doubt most users are inclined to post what they had for breakfast.
6
Facebook has provided me with a convenient way of keeping up with friends and relatives who are spread across a number of states and countries. I no longer post anything political on it, and a while ago vowed only to post only pictures and articles regarding kittens, puppies, and Paris. From the onset, I never clicked on any news reports that Facebook offered. Yes, I probably did naïvely reveal too much about myself on it, but cannot undo this error. Lastly, I now limit myself to visiting it only three times a week, for 20 minutes at most each time. The overall result: I have become somewhat calmer. Peace and goodwill to all.
14
I quit in 2017, and other than missing the precise date of birthdays, I am otherwise unaffected. I read the paper now and do productive, career-oriented reading and meditating. Glad with this choice!
9
I was using FACEBOOK years ago - for about 2 weeks. I was bombarded with "friend" requests - in many cases quite obvious to gain some advantage at work out of being "friends" with me. I thought that the numerous images that were sent to me were simply annoying. Yes - funny to see what happened to your old high-school friends but it just takes two messages or so to figure out why you are no longer in contact with them - because there are no common interests left. It is entertaining to chat about old memories - for about two seconds. In other words: there was nothing to gain for me that would have been worth giving up a really precious thing in return: privacy. FACEBOOK is invasive and ruthless when it comes to sell any user information/profiles - that alone should be enough motivation to leave. I did and i am missing nothing.
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@Thorsten Fleiter
I had the same experience and quickly quit using facebook.
I do not miss it.
9
Obviously the cost/benefit ratio will depend on how one uses Facebook. I get none of my news there because I watch and listen to pulbic TV and radio, and subscribe to the NYT, WaPo, and Atlantic. I use a browser extension to block all ads, games, "like" invitations, etc. I only have about 65 friends, many living overseas or on the other side of the continent -- Facebook is a good way to keep up. I have my privacy settings set at the most stringent level, as evidenced by the scant info Facebook has collected about me. I dont allow it to stay active on mobile devices and am logged out except when using it in my PC's browser. Plus, I seldom post to my own wall.
What I mainly value is my membership in numerous closed groups relating to one of my hobbies -- genetic genealogy. There is no other form of international social media that allows me to network on topics of platforms, research, social history, etc. I see no need to quit the site.
6
I deactivated Facebook 6 months ago and it was a good decision for me. One key benefit I observed, which was not explored in the studies here, is improved focus throughout the day. The nature of my work requires uninterrupted blocks of intense concentration on problem solving. That behavior has not changed, but what has is what I do in between. Instead of browsing Facebook, I'll go for a walk, get a coffee with a colleague, etc. I then return to work with a fresh mindset, ready to focus again. I find myself feeling better at the end of a work day.
81
I left Facebook about two years ago. I spend more time reading, taking online classes, and working on my landscape photography. I don’t miss Facebook at all. It was a toxic place.
I’m not less politically informed, by the way. I don’t understand anyone who says he gets his political information from Facebook.
95
My feelings exactly. And how one becomes more politically aware via Facebook is beyond me.
16
Facebook's commentary on its platforms failings are like Ford publicly acknowledging that the Pinto burns passengers and then saying, "Yeah, but at least you can get places before the fire starts."
When are they going to acknowledge that their platform has a real problem and that they're going to do something to fix it? They're like the big tobacco of the internet.
21
When I logged off of FB last year (March '18) it was in preparation for the midterms. I was just sick and tired of the political vitriol from those I disagreed with as much as those with whom I agreed. Everybody was an op-ed writer on FB. All of the disclosures around hacking, privacy, data mining, etc. served to reinforce my new habit of a lower social media profile. Now, I sometimes miss someone's engagement, or baby announcement, etc. but that is a small price to pay for permanently turning off an outlet that was creating more noise than news in my brain. Bye bye, FB.
28
@Jill Montaigne The nice thing is that your real friends and family will have your email and your phone number, so if someone you care about gets engaged, has a baby, etc., it's easy enough to keep in touch, even if they don't live nearby.
Photos of the new baby? Email them to faraway friends and relatives.
1
Just my two cents - I quit Facebook two years ago. Never looked back, never missed it.
34
I'm a 60-something who lives alone, works two jobs and has few single friends, but I belong to Facebook private groups for family, for former classmates, and for friends who are like-minded politically. The latter exchange news stories: I have a NYT's subscription, another has a WaPo subscription, and another is a scientist who shares the most fascinating journal articles about our planet. We are respectful of each others' opinions. Kindness matters. Do I spend too much time online? Probably. But if I weren't on FB in the evening, I would be reading or doing a crossword puzzle -- solitary activities. Facebook is not the answer to my less-than-vibrant social life -- nothing will ever replace the sound of the human voice -- but it offers me an opportunity to connect with people, and for that I am grateful.
75
I am surprised more people haven’t abandoned this out of control social experiment. One has to wonder why more people are not concerned about their personal information. My feeling is, and this applies to all businesses that use my personal information for financial gain- PAY ME ROYALTIES!
I logged off for good and deleted all my social media accounts several months ago and have not looked back.
The truth is if we don’t find a way to stop the collecting and dispersing of our personal information it will only keep getting worse.
19
Not hard to break a habit you never started. But if you are a small business owner or a parent or grandparent living far away from family, I can see the attraction. Many people I know are more than attracted, they are addicted, no different from video games.
13
Leaving Facebook has been the best thing I've done in a long time. Less angst and anger and more mindfulness and peace in my life! I do not judge anyone else's use of Facebook and Instagram (which I also quit) but I felt complicit in their and outside entities' manipulation of vulnerable people, especially American voters. I did not want to perpetuate any of it by participating. And guess what? My friends and family now text and email me notes and pictures, just like the good old days.
15
My difficulty in breaking up with FB will be the loss of inexpensive advertising for my small business. My community is very active through FB and once the business has followers, it is essentially free to keep them in the loop. Not sure what we'd use to replace it. If anyone has ideas, I'm all ears! Websites, constant contact-type emails and radio/news advertising are all quite expensive for us.
10
I had a FB account because I was involved with an international volunteer group. Time zone problems made phone calls difficult, so we decided to "meet" over FB. It never wound up being used for meetings, however - people just posted things they found elsewhere on the internet, just like any other FB account. One day someone I knew posted a nasty remark that I am pretty sure was directed at me. I felt upset. I peered over the edge of that rabbit hole and deleted my account forthwith. No loss, I must say.
15
Although I have never been on Facebook, I have a rich social life with many good friends near and far. I love getting together with people in person to play cards and Scrabble, to write together, to schmooze. I love talking with far-flung pals by phone (yes, phone). Life is good. It can be done.
48
I think most of us could substitute "X" for Facebook and make many of the same declarations about having more time and better quality of life: since I stopped watching TV news; since I stopped playing video games, since I stopped watching Real Housewives; since I stopped reading The Daily Caller and so on.
It's all about how we manage our devices and media intake. Turn off or ignore click bait, whether politics, pets or products. Your obsession might be FB, maybe mine is Angry Birds. Anything we do to excess is, well, excess.
29
I joined facebook in 2009 after an MSN web community tied to the online magazine "Slate" was eliminated, an active group that I had been a part of it for almost a decade. After being so invested in an intellectual community that offered such rich and varied discussions on everything under the sun -- facebook was a total letdown. As far as I could see, there was no opportunity for real "discussion" on current events, arts and culture - not like I had been used to. Facebook was nothing more than an echo chamber, a place for people to repost stuff they found elsewhere, post pictures and talk (mostly brag) about themselves. But primarily, it was a hotbed of falsehoods, rumors and online games like "farm" something, and "words with friends." Still, I checked in once or twice a week primarily to stay in touch with relatives and friends -- although it would have been just as easy to do that offline. When the concerns about privacy became too much to make it worth me staying - I left in March of 2018. I haven't looked back since. Trust me, breaking up with facebook will be one of the easiest things you've ever done.
60
@NancyKelley Don’t forget the ever-increasing number of ads. I left in April and haven’t missed it.
3
Mr. Carey writes if one doesn't access Facebook, one may have less political information. I've found the opposite to be true. I abandoned Facebook about eight months ago. By reading a number of digital news sites, which takes less time than I spent on Facebook, I actually know more about current events (not only politics). Facebook has no redeeming value, as it moved well past its original intent--a conduit for person-to-person communication. It is now only an advertising medium that threatens our democracy and our privacy.
106
I'm disabled, and have a FB account where I only connect with actual people I know and family. I don't get any political information from FB. I don't even SEE political information, actually.
I do get those annoying 'things' that appear (ads? links?) for products and links I don't want. So I just click them off, asking never to see them again. And I don't see them again.
Since I am retired, and disabled, I spend my time reading, participating in online forums related to my disabilities, watch very good series on Netflix, Amazon and Hulu and I read the NYT several times a day for breaking news, and take time to read in-depth articles.
FB doesn't take away from my other activities. I don't understand how people are feeling bad when they are on FB, unless they are doing things I don't do.
34
Facebook is, for the most part, toxic.
There. Now that we've got that out of the way, let's look at the big picture a bit more calmly.
Perhaps my relation to FB is different since I avoided it for 11 years, never having the slightest desire to log in to it.
I first got involved 13 months ago, solely as a way to learn FB so as to prepare for marketing an online choice.
Here's how it's gone:
1. reconnected with several dozen long-last friends and acquaintances. have remained in contact with several (mostly off FB, through email and phone).
2. Made several new very good friends, in few cases planning to meet in person within the first half of this year.
3. Noticed a growing addiction toward late last spring, took a one month hiatus, and since then, have been keeping my FB activity to between 10-20 minutes a day (in the past month, averaging about 5 minutes a day)
4. Found enormous amounts of information and a surprisingly large number of extremely intelligent, well informed individuals at the forefront of the growing Christian contemplative movement - people with a devotional level I have not before or since been able to find anywhere else on the net or in person where I live.
5. Found an equal number of new people at the forefront of a growing intensity of non-materialistic developments in science, world-wide.
Much more as well.
News I get from the Times, WA Post and the Atlantic.
Is the trade-off - no FB due to their malevolence - vs these contacts, worth it?
yes
9
The value of Facebook depends upon the amount of critical thinking skill each speaker is able to muster. It is a mass communication platform. That means that there is a spectrum of intellect and opinions. To suggest that Facebook reduces the quality of life is baloney. What you put into it; is what you get out of it.
Also, Facebook facilitates political discourse as well as adds to political knowledge. Just look at all of the news organizations, universities and think tanks that have Facebook pages. Thus anyone can find an article of interest and join in the discussion.
13
As a young adult who decisively quit Facebook a couple of months ago, I can attest a number of the observed benefits in this study. I have a clearer state of mind and am far more able to tolerate periods of time without needing distractions, I have developed closer relationships to the people that matter because I am actually calling them and meeting them directly instead of being vaguely aware of their goings on, and funnily enough I am actually better informed on global news than I ever have been. Previously Facebook has been my primary source of news, but I had felt more and more that the quality of the content I was viewing was unreliable and the comments were always toxic beyond belief. When deleting Facebook I subscribed to the NYT for my US and International news, and to the ABC for my Australian news. Through giving up Facebook I have actually increased my political awareness without any any of the partisan fist fights you'd get on that toxic platform.
The experience of being Facebook free as a young adult as been so pleasant that, unlike the participants in this study, I would need to be paid a significant sum to ever go back.
149
I took a break from Facebook over two years ago because it was too difficult to see how good everyone else’s lives were compared to mine. Two years later, I’ve never gone back. In the process, I have gained 15 hours a week of productive living.
99
@Paul in NJ Kudos to 15 hours of week of "productive" living.
I stopped using Facebook because I found it aggravating and pointless. Seeing all the clickbait, fake news stories and acquaintances preaching to their respective choirs was tiring and just not worth my time anymore. Whether it’s healthy or not I don’t really care. Let’s just say the all the downsides completely outweighed the benefits.
44
I quit Facebook in 2016 because I just don't care about all the minutiae, ads and other things that are part of the FB platform. There are far more interesting things to do with my time. FB has no value for me.
46
I deleted my FB account in 2016. It took lots of work on my part to jump through the hoops that FB forces upon the user just to delete the information but it was worth it.
I have never regretted it for a second. FB is not as important as my privacy and my peace of mind.
125
"Expect the consequences to be fairly immediate: More in-person time with friends and family. Less political knowledge, but also less partisan fever. "
1. How much in-person time you spend with people is not an effect of quitting anything. You might have more time to do that... doesn't mean you will do that.
2. Political knowledge? A steady stream of click bait news analysis articles and 'ironic' memes espousing opinions does not knowledge make. Read papers, many of them.
Facebook is a toxic force but for much more insidious and too commonly accepted reasons, all established well before 2016.
14
They needed a major new study. Hilarious. Just look at what has been accomplished before social media took everyone’s time and energy, compared to what’s happened in the last ten years. Figure it out.
7
I'm not a big fan or user of social media. I actually enjoy talking to people in person or on the phone and reading and doing other things not connected with the internet. I only use FB about 20 minutes every few days or so to catch up with friends that are not living locally where I can see them. That's it. As a teacher, I found that too many students were distracted by social media. When they were not allowed to use it, then they became more involved in reading a book or socializing one on one with each other. Social media may have it good points, as television did when it first started, but like anything, too much of a good thing is not good.
17
I finally quit Facebook in October after 12 years and I have felt so much better since doing so. I have noticed around an extra hour of time each day to do whatever I want, and I do usually spend it reading the print NYT or doing something else mindful. I just feel less anxious, stressed, FOMO, and angry.
30
What's a facebook?
53
I thoroughly enjoy the anti-Facebook campaign being waged by the media. I think all of the downsides of Facebook are true no doubt, but the only reason this is happening is because of the payback they feel is required for the election. By blaming Facebook as the scapegoat, it allows them to not admit the fault in their political arguments or their chosen political candidates.
6
"Expect the consequences to be fairly immediate: More in-person time with friends and family. Less political knowledge, but also less partisan fever. "
Less political knowledge? I do not get political knowledge from FB. I get it from NPR. Quitting FB for me just meant more time reading and being more relaxed.
183
@Anne
Yeah, this is the Scariest part of the article for me. Further confirmation that people are using Facebook for news. Facebook is a tool to keep in touch with old friends and find out what the current beer list looks like at the local brewery.
This highlights the importance of professional, sited news organizations like NPR (also the importance of multiple sources of information with mishaps like the recent BuzzFeed article). I think knowing how to obtain reliable information is a important skill that needs to be taught in schools, much like in the early 2000's when my age group was first learning how to gather information from the internet in general.
I know it will never happen, but Facebook should do a better job of preventing polarizing news, and focusing on its original intent... being a modern phone book to keep in touch with friends.
23
@Anne - I have a friend who always read the NYT for free on FB, while I subscribe. It wasn't the full content, but I don't read the full content here, as I don't relate to much of it. I'm guessing other news sources operate the same way, and that's what he's referring to. There are many legitimate news sites available online, political and otherwise, that also offer Facebook access. I like NPR too, but there is much more political news to be had than what NPR offers. I read almost daily from almost a dozen different news sites, political analysis blogs, investigative reporting sites and the like. I'd read more if I had the time. No interest in FB though.
6
@Jrb: Yes, I hear you. I'm just concerned about consumers of news on FB who are not discerning about the source of where the 'news' came from.
7