Delete Facebook!

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I know, it might sound kind of wierd. But I firmly believe that the best thing possible for one's social life and overrall well-being is to delete one's facebook page, or at least massivly limit the amount of time one is on there for and the amount of friends one has.

I recently deleted several hundred of my "friends" (down to 183 from 500) and feel massivly better about my life. I am on the way to deleting the account altogether.

Why will it improve one's social life/wellbeing? In many ways.

1. More Authentic Relationships: Facebook is really an Orwellian dream come true. One can peer into the lives of others and envy them, even if you don't know them all that well. Perhaps by being caught up in the more fruitful lives of people far away, one misses out on people who are immediately in the area?

2. Greater Privacy When you launch a facebook page you are giving Mark Zuckerberg the right to your data and all your information. It is his to do with as he pleases.

3. More Free Time How much time does one waste on facebook? How much of that wasted time could be spent on more productive things?

The reason I post this is I feel Facebook has caused a lot of damage in my life. It almost ruined my first year of college with a lot of wasted time, and in retrospect wasted opprotunities, using facebook to peer into the lives of other people I envied, and trying to engage with them (misunderstanding completly the concept of what a facebook "friend" really is )

For the past 8 years I just took facebook for granted, like it was a part of my life the same way breathing, eating, or wearing clothing is. Just lately though I realized it doesn't make me very happy, it doesn't add terribly to my social experience, and is responsible for much and more wasted time.

I deactivated my account today and I presume it will be liking going off 8 years of being a crack addict. I made sure to get the names/numbers and contacts of my real friends (more in the realm of 15-20 as opposed to 500) and am trying to detox.

It will be tough but worth it.

I know exactly what you mean!

I have been off Facebook for 2 years now, and life has been continuously getting better ever since. I find it a lot less stressful not worrying about wasting time perusing through people's lives, especially when I don't really know them--but wish I did.

I also find it a lot easier sans-facebook to have positive attitudes toward socializing in real life, which is important because sometimes I find myself in large social gatherings--passing as an NT--and the hangovers that follow are less intense with positivity in mind.

I think snapchat is a little less draining because the snaps are quick and disappear, and I get to see when people save what I sent them--thus protecting myself from awkward situations that I had with Facebook back in the day.

I applaud your decision to quit facebook, I think it will be extremely refreshing for you!

I agree with you. I took a look at FaceBook when it first became a big thing, out of curiosity, but being a lifelong loner, I realized I had no need for a social network site, so I never signed up, and I don't feel that I've missed anything. I do hang out here at WP sometimes, but this site is very relevant to me because of my Asperger's, so it's more of a help center than a social site for me. The social site aspect comes in as a side benefit. However, I control how often I drop in here, and how long I stay on, and whether or not I post, or respond post, or email anyone here. This keeps the social side of it under my control, and at a level I can handle. From my reading over the years, people tend to let FaceBook and other social sites take control of their lives, instead of themselves being in control. I am constantly amused and shocked by the stupid stuff people put on their FaceBook accounts, out there for the rest of the world to see. No thanks, that's not for me!

Glad you are getting the monkey off your back! And remember, you can still keep in touch with your real friends by phone and email.

I have one facebook friend, and almost never post or reply anything.

Good humor denying all the people who want to be my facebook friend, and seeing all the people I don't know that facebook tries to get me to friend.

You can tell when people look you up. That's a hoot.

My profile is a humorous mess. My picture looks like some new age magical hokus pokus, and I went to college at some fake place from a science fiction show. I grew up in a town with the most rediculous town name I could find.

I keep it just in case an interesting part of my past shows up.

Im sure too much of it lowers your IQ.

Facebook has LONG since been deleted. I hate Facebook just like I hated that 90's Tamagotchi, constantly requiring my attention and overwhelming me into a meltdown when I just want to be left alone without anyone expecting anything of me constantly.

I used FB 2 years and then I deleted it, it was 8 years ago and I have never looked back. I did it because the FB-site is confusing, just a lot of "friends" that posting babypictures and "see how fun we have". I had trouble with it because I know people don´t have this kinds of fun all the time. It was too fake for me and just a site for bragging. I do have instagram but I´m very inactive. I also do feel more lonely looking at those pages because I can clearly see that I don´t have many followers and likes as the normal people do. I know that I should not judge from this type of sites but I do. Sometimes I´m thinking about closing my Instagram and only keeping my parents and siblings but then people would judge me like were not friends anymore maybe.

I have had it for 8 years and started it for the wrong reasons. I started to stare at the lives of the "cool kids" the ones whose lives I believed to be better than my own.

I decided to delete it 4 days ago, and honestly I feel so much better for doing so.

i only have it because my parents like to share things with me all the time, i really dont have anyone to add other then them anyways

I have a facebook account to keep in contact with some family members but have been annoyed by the advertising and political news algorithims on the page. I left for a while then came back for contact with family I would never see anyway due to long distances. I do not have much time to stay on due to my studies.

Facebook is fine to have. Just don't "feed" off of it.

Have it for it's intended purpose: To keep in contact with friends and family. Do not have it as a means to spy upon the lives of 600 or so people you have some semblance of connectivity with.

You don't know 600 people or so. You know maybe 150. Delete the rest and only go on it every so often.

I really don't like it but I feel as though without it I'd never keep in contact with any of my friends.
Usually whenever I post anything on my main account where people know me personally I feel really embarrassed about it and then end up deleting it anyways.

My big account I don't really care about, it's mostly just people from games I play with and keep in contact with.

facebook is a social jail. We should see our friends and meet peoples outside.

Hi,

I had and account for what, maybe 6 months... it really didn't make a difference in my "social" life.
I actually opened an account just to make it easier to post comments in other websites and, in theory, I thought it could be an efficient way to publish a project I was working on in order to attract people with similar interests.
It turned out to be the opposite of what I was expecting.
My old "friends" post only about a particular subject of interest (their own) like politics (some right-wing, some left-wing, never engaging in proper discussion), drinking habits ( ), all habits (full descriptions of their amazing life ). Some "new" friends posts some comments, agreeing or not about any issues, but most only click the Like button... meaning?
I think the facebook page is visual pollution to my already impaired vision. Too much information about nothing, really.
One thing I have learned from this experience is that most humans are boring and whatever some few talented humans create or invent to try to escape from boredom it's promptly spoiled by the boring majority.

How do you tell when someone looks you up?