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This is all anecdotal but I committed social media digicide a short while ago because I didn’t like how it was affecting my life. Constantly checking for likes

This is all anecdotal but I committed social media digicide a short while ago because I didn’t like how it was affecting my life. Constantly checking for likes, feeling an urge to participate in conversations to feel like “an important voice”. I got to the point where it wasn’t just directly affecting me but also the amount of attention I was giving my kids had dropped enough that I was mad at myself for becoming “that dad”. I made sure the github stayed live (with some pointers towards currently supported alternatives) so that anyone relying on that (now redundant) work wouldn’t be left high and dry - other than that I just quietly took my online presence down. I feel like I’ve lost nothing and have been much happier since.

mattgreenrocks 5y ago
I found myself fantasizing about social media digicide, so I went for it. Totally worth it. You’ll know when you’re ready for it. I do miss keeping in touch with some older friends via my FB account. There is certainly a cost.
- headmelted 5y ago
  I can see how this could weigh on some people, and everyone's situation is different, but in my case it was just slices of other people's political views and (more often than not) photos of their pets and their lunch. In my case I just figured if I've lost touch with people over the years there's probably a reason. I don't mean that in any ill or dramatic way, and it's equally true from their side too. I'm not sure it's that different from an amicable break-up with a partner in that you can naturally drift apart from other people and say "hey you're going that way, I'm going this way, best of luck with everything". Honestly I thought losing connections with people I actually did have some history with and knew well many years ago was going to be the unfortunate cost of getting off of Facebook. As it turns out, not so much. Clinging too much to the past wastes the present, and life isn't that long to begin with.
  - moneywoes 5y ago
    That last part really hit me. Since deleting Instagram there’s definitely people I haven’t talked too but I wonder if it would’ve been beneficial to talk to them at all. Am I missing out?
- wilsonthewhale 5y ago
  You can have a "Messenger-only" FB account, which would allow you to keep in touch with said friends.
  - sneak 5y ago
    I'd still have an FB social account if I could have disabled Messenger; people insisted on messaging me there even though I'd log in like once per month. I deleted my actual FB just to get people to stop trying to contact me on Messenger, because it was impossible to turn off.

mattgreenrocks 5y ago

I found myself fantasizing about social media digicide, so I went for it. Totally worth it. You’ll know when you’re ready for it. I do miss keeping in touch with some older friends via my FB account. There is certainly a cost.

headmelted 5y ago
I can see how this could weigh on some people, and everyone's situation is different, but in my case it was just slices of other people's political views and (more often than not) photos of their pets and their lunch. In my case I just figured if I've lost touch with people over the years there's probably a reason. I don't mean that in any ill or dramatic way, and it's equally true from their side too. I'm not sure it's that different from an amicable break-up with a partner in that you can naturally drift apart from other people and say "hey you're going that way, I'm going this way, best of luck with everything". Honestly I thought losing connections with people I actually did have some history with and knew well many years ago was going to be the unfortunate cost of getting off of Facebook. As it turns out, not so much. Clinging too much to the past wastes the present, and life isn't that long to begin with.
- moneywoes 5y ago
  That last part really hit me. Since deleting Instagram there’s definitely people I haven’t talked too but I wonder if it would’ve been beneficial to talk to them at all. Am I missing out?
wilsonthewhale 5y ago
You can have a "Messenger-only" FB account, which would allow you to keep in touch with said friends.
- sneak 5y ago
  I'd still have an FB social account if I could have disabled Messenger; people insisted on messaging me there even though I'd log in like once per month. I deleted my actual FB just to get people to stop trying to contact me on Messenger, because it was impossible to turn off.