Quitting social media for 30 days

I've given up social media for Lent, except Twitter to check the news from the President. And I can say I've gotten a lot of stuff done, more than I would have. Social media is such a waste of time.

 

And to add, SOCIAL media is NOT social at all. How can staring at a screen be social? Social is about person-to-person interaction. Even talking on the phone still involves a certain amount of distance.

Nowadays you walk into a room full of people, and everyone is staring at their phone. Hardly anyone is engaged with anyone else in light conversation. It's sad.

 

I want to reduce my social media usage to increase productivity. My job post stuff on a group Facebook page otherwise I would probably just deactivate my page but I can definitely limit the amount of time that I am on social media.

 

I searched for threads similar to this after coming from a Matt video, I'm so happy! I absolutely love the guy and his videos and I'm VERY strongly considering doing it except it's literally part of my job to use instagram. I'm mostly addicted to Twitter, I use it as BPD therapy.

 

i plan to block all my social media, i waste more than 1/2 of my days doing, reading silly post,
it's really a waste of time...

 

At one point I looked at how long it took for the state of my mind to change on Facebook, it was literally less than one minute. I know that may not mean much to people who are not sensitive to it but basically my brain literally feels different.

A lot of factors go in to it, and Lanier who wrote the book on ten arguments also says to try it, see how you feel different. The point is exercising our freedom to choose, not being free to is the issue.

 

Great idea!

 

Deleted my social media accounts, and accidentally deleted instagram off my phone.

I checked instagram a year later...

I didn't find it enjoyable at all.
People were posting the same things as before.
Nothing really changed.
I didn't miss out on much.

 

I quit permanently a couple of years ago. I don't miss it a bit. If you don't miss it after 30 days, go ahead delete all of your accounts. It's pretty liberating. One of the better things I've done in my life. Those online "relationships", profiles and twitters are so fake.

 

You guys are aware, of course, that this site is a form of social media, just as much as facebook. As is youtube.

You did realise that, right?

 

@Cornixico I see you made the OP on 4/10 so it's been a month, how's it going for you?

 

I have quit social media completely. 7 years ago I found out via facebook that my wife was cheating and my dad requested to become "friends" on the same day. Both of these are anti-social events (sic!)

I kept Twitter for a while following Elon Musk; but then it degenerated into reading for hours the comments others are writing on his tweets and the next month I was following news outlets for all their breaking news. Such a horrible addiction!

I joined Instagram in the days when it was for photographers mostly. I got really frustrated once it became "social", and all my colleagues and friends were commenting on my photos and I was expected to "like" or "heart" their silly selfies. So I quit.

I'm a much happier fapstronaut now.

@Old Fogey, allow me to disagree. I don't see here any posts with selfies, nor with pics from people's last amazing trip to nowhere, neither posts that make me try to compare myself with others. I believe the forums, in general, are a very good way to find like-minded people and learn from each other. What can you learn in 140 characters? That's not communication. What kind of social exchange is to see other people's pics and think how shitty I am because I didn't visit the same place and I don't have the money or the priority to do so; and why should I do the same or better than others in the chapters they define?! We're on this forum for personal gain/mastery, not to impress others and I believe that's a key distinction

 

The details have been addressed in this thread and I just made this post, if anyone wants to talk more specifically about it and make distinctions.

More generally than social media and the specific kinds of algorithms the larger platforms use, like apparently what they come up with at the Stanford Captology lab is its digital nature. One thing I want to point out is the fact that binary logic works on the same basis as black and white thinking, which is also the basis of abstinence itself. In an addiction recovery context, few people would question abstinence - but when it comes to behavioral issues it is simply not possible to quit everything, considering things as straightforward and necessary as food can be involved.

The type of tech is information technology, and it is a medium. This is why the work of media theorists are significant, and something like Douglas Rushkoffs Program or Be Programmed is very simple, short and accessible and can be used as a manual for dealing with tech in this day and age.

 

Don't be too sure about that. It's not just the 'likes' people can get on this forum, but also the comparing of streaks and some of the other things people talk about in posts. Indeed I've seen a lot of people trying to 'win' an argument on the basis of having a bigger streak than the other guy. Oh, sure, the forum does have some good points, but so does Facebook (I went to an amazing concert last year after hearing about it on FB, and I recently got an amazing airfare for an overseas trip which I also heard about on FB). As far as what we're all on the forum for, I think the purposes of people who come here vary quite considerably, as one would expect from a forum of this size. Honestly, once you look past the surface stuff, this place isn't really all that much different to Facebook or any of the other platforms. The value they all have really comes down to how one uses them.

 

And if you can't, in spite of trying - that's a good indicator you are addicted.

People also don't tend to consider that it is a political act. Even as a person that doesn't really get involved in politics, this is one area I am inclined to. The point is it isn't just about us, because with tech and especially social media it is a system - and the interdependencies are complex and have ripple effects in the collective.

In traditional recovery culture it is encouraged that people do some kind of service, but this tends to be a formal task based on some kind of division of labor. To me it's about what we support in the world, however subtle and by talking about it we also inform. Aside from not using the mainstream platforms I have read up on the subject and if anyone is open I can fill them in on some details of how these things work, and if they are not interested whatever they choose to do or not do I'm afraid will ultimately be limited.

 

I'm in.I wanna give it a try.

 

I like these NoFap forums. Reminds me of the days of IRC.

It's been awhile since I've been anonymous, chatting with random people, about random stuff.