
I quit Instagram and Facebook and it made me happier - prostoalex
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/01/social-media-detox-christina-farr-quits-instagram-facebook.html
======
propman
I deleted Instagram a few months ago and I’ve not missed it once. The people
who post more take up most of my bandwidth and those people I sincerely do not
care about but due to social etiquitte have to follow. As I grow older I find
that I really don’t care about maintaining superficial relationships with
acquaintances, many of whom I might not see ever.

Other negatives- I click on one picture of a scantily clad woman and my entire
search feed turns into softcore porn for a month.

Culture is too vain. Selfies, blatantly showing off, spending hours on touch
up apps were looked down upon in the entire history of the internet until that
Ellen selfie photo that got huge. Apple, Facebook, Google, the media all
advertised and made it socially accepted that the vanity is good. That had
it’s pros and cons but I feel like we are crossed over on the cons side too
much.

The culture is too global. Everyone’s opinions/posts/comments all converge to
the same dumbed down pop culture accepted norms/memes. Everyone tries to be
funny in the exact same socially accepted way and there is no originality.

~~~
vlunkr
I’m also tired of the “global” culture. Reddit is a terrible offender of this.
The same opinions always prevail, and dissenting ideas are pushed out of
sight. This applies to politics, religion, humor, pop culture, everything. It
rewards conformity and it’s so boring. Smaller subs are usually lots better,
simply because there are fewer people there to perform their predicatable
voting.

~~~
dougmwne
I have an odd image that I think provides a good mental model of this. Bear
with me...

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWR0AS2rW48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWR0AS2rW48)

These metronomes start out tick-tocking in their own time, but each affects
the other until they are all locked in perfect sync.

This is what global digital media culture is doing to us, subtle nudges to
conform to a single global monoculture, so gradual that it's hard to see it
happening until it's happened.

~~~
antidesitter
Very cool demonstration!

You might be interested in this interactive demo of social networks:
[https://ncase.me/crowds/](https://ncase.me/crowds/). It explores how the
connectivity structure of social networks impacts the spread of ideas.

~~~
jhwhite
What field of study is this?

~~~
esfandia
Social Network Analysis:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network_analysis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network_analysis)

------
lkrubner
All of us who have engineering talent should think about what we can do to
make it easier for people to set up their own presence on an international
online network such as the Internet. If that means rethinking some of the
essentials of IP, TCP, DNS, HTTP or HTML then we should do it, if it makes it
easier for people to get away from the walled gardens.

I've had my own domains since 1999. I used to think it was easy to set up a
blog. When I was young I thought it was really fun to write basic HTML. I've
been online for many years. But I've come to realize that a lot of things that
I found easy are a bit too much for most people. In particular, paying
something like $35 a year for a domain name, and maybe $5 a month for online
hosting, is way, way, way beyond the commitment most people want to make.

So I wonder if there are ways this can be made simpler or cheaper?

I enjoy online conversation. And comments people post to my blog. I very much
enjoy having full control over my own blog:
[http://www.smashcompany.com/](http://www.smashcompany.com/)

I'd like everyone to have the experience that I have. But we need to find a
way to make it much easier, otherwise the walled gardens will still be the
default even 25 years from now.

~~~
tammer
I think this is valid and needed but I often wonder if we over-focus on the
open web as the alternative over the other biggest widespread open technology
in the world: email.

I go to a lot of art & music performances. Lately, and particularly for the
last few events I’ve attended, the performer emphasized joining their
(MailChimp-managed) mailing list, because they didn’t want to seem uncool by
promoting Facebook.

I don’t know exactly what it looks like, but I strongly suspect the social
graph that disrupts Facebook gets built on email, somehow. Something like
MailChimp, but without the direct marketing/conventional newsletter
expectation baggage and a focus on message consumers as well as producers.

The advantages of “push” style communication, flexibility in styling messages,
and potential for advertising all seem to me like a revolution waiting to
happen. The openness of email, combined with the fact that everyone has one
(even millennials!) are icing.

~~~
jslabovitz
I just hosted a small house concert last night for about 20 people; the age
range was 18-50, I reckon. I put out a sheet of paper with spaces for names &
contact info, for folks who wanted to be notified for future shows, and
intentionally left the contact method open -- I figured if they wanted a group
text, or a FB msg, I could do that.

I was surprised to find that every person who signed up wrote their email
address.

So you may just might be right.

Granted, this is a rural area (West Virginia, US) and there's far less
incessant use of smartphones and the like. So my experience might not apply to
more urban places.

~~~
lowercased
I have no idea how I'd give you my 'facebook address' \- you'd look me up, but
it might be private, or you might find the other one of me with my same name,
or... I dunno. Problems.

If you send them an email with your FB page in it, a certain % will follow
then, because it's a way to get some more passive updates when they want.

EDIT: 30 years ago, everyone would have given you a street mailing address,
even though some possibly had faxes or may have wanted a phone call or to be
paged when you had updates.

------
rdiddly
She is still doing a lot of approval-seeking in this very article, so I'm not
sure how to handicap her odds of success at staying off Instagram for example,
but I wish her luck.

Social media is a lot like every other popular idea that ends up being
bullshit. It always ends up costing you time and money in the short-term, and
of course some years often have to pass before you finally figure out it's
bullshit. So, somewhat unfairly, I refer to that whole class of things as
"rackets young people fall for." Like smoking. (Both.) Or drinking, or...
weddings. Marriage itself (oh snap). Playing in rock bands. Bungee-jumping.
Skiing? I'd better stop before I insult everyone. Get off my lawn. (Lawns
also. Total racket. Fuck lawns.)

~~~
fred_is_fred
You had me until skiing. Skiing is awesome.

~~~
vonseel
It really is, but as someone who started skiing when I was 3-4 years old and
am now closing in on 30 and am not in excellent cardio shape... wow, skiing is
tough. I had no idea it would be so much harder at 25 (years ago) than it was
at 16.

------
thinkingkong
I quit those tools too and realized the number of real relationships I had was
_dramatically_ lower than I would have guessed.

Leading one to wonder. If the friendships or whatever feelings these tools
provide are placebo vs real. If something bad happens to you in the real world
are the online friends going to help? Does support extend to seeing a number
with a heart next to it. Does getting 1000 hearts replace the support of close
friends when you experience loss?

~~~
z3t4
Relations are all about spending time with someone. The problem with online
friends is that the time might be unproportional, you might spend hours with
someone's content and feel very involved, meanwhile they don't even look at
yours. Facebook, Twitter, et. al. communities is best for the popular people,
and way more "efficient" then the real world. The only problem is that they
can't share their private issues, that's what you need real friends for.

~~~
fjsolwmv
But don't forget the cases where you have a problem and no one it meatspace
can help, but an Internet forum can. This is common for social/psychological
problems.

~~~
jsemrau
Interesting point. Works better in anonymity in my opinion

------
mjd
“We have an enormous ecological disaster created by badly-designed social
media now being used by people to control and exploit human beings in all
sorts of ways.

“That’s the consequence of social media structures which encourage people to
share using centralized databases, and everything they share is held by
someone who is no friend of theirs who also runs the servers and collects the
logs which contain all the information about who accesses what, the
consequences of which is that we are creating systems of comprehensive
surveillance in which a billion people are involved and those people’s lives
are being lived under a kind of scrutiny which no secret police service is the
20th century could ever have aspired to achieve. And all of that data is being
collected and sold by people whose goal it is to make a profit selling the
ability to control human beings by knowing more about themselves than they
know.”

— Eben Moglen

[https://web.archive.org/web/20120414150710/http://www.betabe...](https://web.archive.org/web/20120414150710/http://www.betabeat.com/2011/12/13/in-
which-eben-moglen-like-legit-yells-at-me-for-being-on-facebook/)

------
elorant
I don't understand why there has to be this dichotomy, you're either active on
social media and miserable or off of them and happy. Why can't you have just a
moderate use of Facebook. I mention FB because I don't really get Instagram,
it's a bunch of photos with no context. I was forced to create a FB account to
monitor the social media of a company I consult and my relationship with it
thus far has been smooth as silk. Apart from the tracking stuff which I try to
mitigate by blocking third party JS on web sites. Other than that it's another
tool to get the job done. I don't befriend everyone that makes a request and
rarely ever bother to view what my friends put in their timeline. I don't feel
that there's only one way to use Facebook, which is to like and watch every
little shit everyone in your social circle posts. Just sort stuff out and have
a very conservative use of it. A chat session every now and then with friends
you can't meet as often as you'd like and a little browsing of posts of the
really important ones, like family and very dear friends. Everything else is
just irrelevant and you can ignore it. Simple as that. Well at least it works
for me.

~~~
majewsky
> Why can't you have just a moderate use of Facebook.

Because social media apps are designed to access the same neural pathways as
addictive substances. Let me rephrase your question: "why can't you just have
a moderate use of alcohol?" Sure, many people can (and note how that's not
newsworthy), but try suggesting to an alcoholic to just drink a little less.

~~~
MyOwnSpirit
But the answer may not lie in promoting severance from alcohol/facebook. Like
Elrant, I believe there should be a middle ground people try to reach. Not
everyone may be able to reach it by themselves but education should be put
before a more extreme solution such as cutting people from alcohol/facebook in
my opinion. It is not efficient to tell a alcoholic to drink less but it is
efficient to educate people around you about the dangers alcohol can pause.

------
godelski
I've had a pretty similar experience when quitting facebook. One think I've
noticed is that it forces you to have different kinds of relationships with
people. My friends that live on the other side of the country? I text them
once a month or so to keep up, not just like their photos on facebook and feel
like I'm still friends. I feel like social media tricks you into thinking
you're building relationships. And while I see that it can help you keep in
touch, it encourages relationships that aren't worthwhile. They are just
surface level. Having real relationships with people takes more work and
without social media you are forced to work a little harder just to maintain
them. But this is worth it in my opinion.

~~~
Bahamut
What would you define as a "real relationship"? Is texting someone once a
month any different than commenting on things going on in their lives, or
messaging them on [insert platform]? My view is no - a relationship, whether
by social media, text messages, or shared experiences, does not make any other
form invalid or less real. I have seen people fall in love purely from online
interactions while playing games, or chatting in IRC - these relationships are
as real as any other. One person's notion of relationships may be different
than another's, and that's ok, but trying to say one's notion is more real
than another is hogwash. Depth is not so easily measured here either - direct
text messages can also be just as banal (or more) as social media interaction
in developing relationships.

I still remember times before Facebook came to dominate social media. It was
difficult to keep tabs on friends, and the barrier was higher to keeping in
touch with someone you met casually in person, as there are a lot of people
who are less willing to share phone numbers with people they just met - there
is something intensely personal about phone numbers or similar to many people,
which still holds today. I think many people under appreciate this, and the
controls for managing the communication relationship social media gives you
(or at least Facebook - Twitter's are garbage).

I use social media casually today - just Facebook and rarely Instagram, and
post maybe once a day or every other day. I am in some FB group chats, all
which could be text messages, but text messages aren't as robust of a medium
(for example, location sharing in a group or easy searching of pictures people
want to use to respond with).

~~~
godelski
Well there's a complicated answer, because there are different kinds of
relationships.

What I noticed with facebook is that it encouraged a lot of vapid
relationships. Not real. And it really discouraged getting to know someone.

And here's a difference in a texting once a month instead of seeing pictures
on fb and messaging.

We have to tell each other what happened to us.

Now that may seem simple, but there's a lot that unpacks in that. Jokes happen
and you get more a sense of what happened than being shown. You are forced to
see the events through your friends eyes. You are automatically filled in on
the parts that are important to them, and not the parts that appear most
appealing.

I do think the barrier for keeping in touch should be high. You can't
reasonable have a good friendship with a lot of people. So it forces you to
pick and choose where you are going to devote your emotional time and energy.
That's because relationships take work. Knowing someone and what they do isn't
a relationship. So someone you have met once and never really talk to is like
the relationship you have with a celebrity. It isn't real, but facebook makes
it feel that way. I'm not saying all relationships have to be the same as
those of a best friend, but I think social media encourages a type of
relationship that is more destructive than beneficial. There's also a lot
more, but this is already long.

As for instant messaging vs text? Who said I don't use instant messaging? I
just don't use Facebook. I do use Signal, WhatsApp, GChat, etc. Friends never
have a hard time getting ahold of me. I'm still connected, just not with
relationships I don't consider "real".

------
makecheck
I have drastically reduced Facebook to like once a month or less (and even
then, using only "mbasic.facebook.com" because their normal site is annoying
to use). It takes less than a minute of my time because I rapidly realize how
little value there is in the content. At this point their value is almost
_entirely_ to act as an address book because I’m a bit too lazy to dredge up
at least one alternate contact method for each friend. Still, I think my
“reconstruct normal address book and delete Facebook” day is coming soon.

Sadly, part of the content issue is Facebook shooting itself in the foot
because they refuse to show a simple chronological list of what people have
been up to. They literally already have lots of content that _would_ be
interesting and they refuse to show it, instead opting for these weird
algorithmic “views” that won’t even stay consistent between the time I follow
a link and go back to the previous page. No wonder I quickly lose what little
interest I had.

I would love if social networks were banned from search results too. I am
tired of Googling things on “the Internet” and finding lots of results that
are essentially “we showed this entire page to Google but all you get is a
log-in page”. If your site is displayed in search results, you should be
required to have _at least a paragraph or two_ “always on” so that I see
_something_ when I click the link, instead of absolutely _no_ content and a
log-in/create-account page. If you want to hide 100% of your content, make
your own damned search engine.

~~~
Phanyxx
That's a pet peeve of mine as well. If you see something as you're clicking
away from your timeline, good luck ever finding it again. Would it kill them
to let you toggle between chonological and "curated"?

------
cyberferret
I think it is all dependent on how you curate your feed. On Instagram, I only
follow friends I know well in real life, and even then only about 50 or 60 of
them. I am an avid guitarist, so follow a lot of guitar builders or stores
that post some great shots of lovely instruments. I pretty much _never_ follow
any celebrities or "influencers" at all as I don't do the whole 'fake life'
thing.

For that reason, Instagram is actually a happy place for me. Whenever I need a
little inspirational pick me up, I fire up the app and look through pictures
of beautiful guitars, chess sets, planes etc. as well as the occasional
picture of friends going about their lives and I feel happy.

Now if only I could reduce the number of ads in the feed... ;)

~~~
msds
Same here! Essentially everyone I follow on Instagram is an artist or skilled
craftperson, with at most 1 degree of separation from someone I actually know.
That means my feed is mainly people posting awesome projects they're working
on - it's really nice to look at, and inspires me to make stuff.

Avoiding celebrities/influencers/boring friends is key.

------
JoshMnem
I've had a similar experience after leaving. My in-person social life is much
better too. I read more books.

If you want more motivation to quit, track the amount of time you spend on
social media sites. After you're done scrolling through the algorithmic feeds,
write down what you've learned and compare it to what you would have learned
if you read a high quality book on the same subject or learned/improved a
skill.

More inspiration:

[https://medium.com/s/story/the-simple-truth-behind-
reading-2...](https://medium.com/s/story/the-simple-truth-behind-
reading-200-books-a-year-1767cb03af20)

~~~
japhyr
Whenever I feel too distracted, I find a half hour or so of reading a book to
be really grounding. That either regrounds me for whatever I really need to be
doing, or it turns into a few hours of really enjoyable, focused reading.

My son is seven, and he's just becoming comfortable enough with reading to
enjoy reading for hours at a time. It's such a pleasure to witness this stage
of development for him. I also enjoy sharing with him the tech insiders' view
of devices. It's really reassuring to him to know that most knowledgeable
people are struggling with how to manage the appeal of connected devices, and
that it's not just some weakness on his part.

------
maxxxxx
I only wish they would remove the "Likes" counters from social media. It's so
easy to get addicted to that and instead of posting stuff that interests you
you start planning and posting stuff that gets most likes.

For some people who make it big that way it works out but most people get into
that endless cycle of chasing likes.

Happens to me even on HN...

~~~
jammygit
I like that HN has an upvote option, but I wish the numbers were hidden from
me. I get pretty distracted

~~~
lbotos
I think the difference is "content" vs. "communication".

Insta and FB have become Personal PR outlets where you make content for social
validation.

On HN, you communicate, and karma can be a proxy for social validation, but
it's to help you calibrate for communicating on the platform.

Karma serves the greater community by helping you understand what the
community values, whereas likes serve to validate your own brand.

I think the feedback loops are similar but subtly different.

~~~
maxxxxx
I agree but it's still pretty easy to get addicted to karma.

------
rdl
Instagram makes me happy: my feed is full of cats, guns, food, and travel
pictures from people I know (and from a couple of famous pro shooters, famous
Japanese cats, a pro cat photographer, Beth Stern who does cat rescue, and a
couple of vendors I use.) I post mostly travel, food, cat, and gun/range
photos, sometimes datacenters/tech and weird architecture and conference
photos. I can easily curate exactly what I want. I don't feel obligated to
follow anyone because of social obligations, and I don't make any effort to
post certain kinds of photos (other than generally trying for technical
quality and "interesting").

------
tomlue
Am I the only one who doesn't feel this way? These posts seems susceptible to
positive response bias, but they also seem more common lately.

If you are like me you might be happy to know that there are other people who
don't care about social media (being on it or off it or anything about it).

~~~
chapium
Honestly, when I first read about the negative effects of these platforms I
came to a realization that I was using them in a negative way. I abandoned the
platform and I don't feel any different. I just spend my free time differently
now. When I see others addicted to the approval loop, I feel a little bad for
them, but there is no reason others cannot enjoy social networks positively.

------
hugh4life
One thing I just noticed with Instagram's website is that I can't select
comment text any longer... that may or may not be a new change but I never
noticed it earlier and it's driving me crazy now as I frequently copy comments
to put into different translators.

~~~
Flow
Their site is also intentionally crippled so you need the app to do some
things. For example, to upload pictures, the primary function of the site...

And with the app comes the tracking and stealing of personal information,
often using more or less dark patterns to trick the user.

From what I understand, an app that has no rights to pictures, contacts and
location and so on, can still get info about the WIFI and put together a
pretty good picture of your movements.

~~~
kevinventullo
On Android, Location needs to be enabled for an app to access ambient wifi
(scan of all nearby APs). On iOS, there is no API for ambient wifi, though
their location API does use it behind the scenes.

On both iOS and Android, an app can access _connected_ wifi even with location
disabled.

~~~
Flow
I was under the impression that on iOS an app without access to the location
API still could get the name of the WIFI and perhaps the SSID too?

------
blhack
There are currently about 30 people at my house for a family dinner. We aren't
an actual, blood family, but we are close friends that crisscross paths
through our various jobs and life events.

We keep track of each other via Facebook. We organized this event, and every
other of these events (which are recurring) via Facebook. Tomorrow morning, we
will comment on and share each other's photos of the event via Facebook.

I get that some people don't like the service, and that's fine. I personally
find it _incredibly_ useful.

~~~
pcurve
Maybe that's what FB will eventually turn into, mostly. An evite.com

------
partisan
“Everything in moderation”

She wants to go from the extreme of over-participating to the extreme of not
participating at all. Somewhere in the middle is a healthy balance that she
isn’t considering.

As humans, we have the ability to understand and improve on our failings.
First you have to understand that in fact you allow yourself to reach a state
of excess and then understand why.

If you aren’t able to approach the true issue then you will just repeat the
same cycle the next time something social shows potential for excess
consumption.

~~~
Gatsky
This argument falls down because social media companies expend a lot of effort
getting you to use their platform as much as possible. Why keep a snake that’s
trying to bite you in your pocket?

~~~
partisan
I have to imagine that at some point in life, we have to take responsibility
for our actions. That is, regardless of how much the cigarette or liquor
companies market to me, I’m not going to allow myself to become addicted to
their products. I drink. I very infrequently smoke a tobacco product. I don’t
consume them in excess because I know it is bad for me.

I suspect that we are going to see this type of movement more and more. It’s
more signaling. It says, I don’t need to have social media to have a
fulfilling life. My life is fulfilling. See pictures of me in [popular
vacation spot]. See pictures of me having casual fun. But again, it’s not
solving the true problem. If you needed the affirmation from random strangers,
that won’t change.

------
stevewillows
Social media started out as 'friends hanging out', but turned into 'friends
bumping into each other at the mall while salespeople spray us with perfume'

------
freyir
I’d be sick of all these “deleting Facebook made me happier” posts, except I
deleted Facebook and it made me happier, too.

~~~
jsemrau
I did that 10 years ago, so I am at least 10 years happier than you ;-)

~~~
ArrayList
You should make a post on social media and.. oh wait.

------
admiralspoo
Intelligent people are quitting Reddit too, that place has become a toilet
except for very niche topics.

------
sandov
I would use some social media, but social networks don't want me to use them.

The other day I decided to install Instagram on my phone, only to be unable to
find a valid download link on the website, there was only a Google play URL
that didn't work because I don't have Google play installed.

Then, I created a Facebook account but it asked for my phone number, which I'm
not willing to give them, so they just blocked the account, but provided some
really creepy ways to 'authenticate myself': uploading a photo of my face, or
my government issued ID card.

So, in the end, fb and instagram don't want me to use them.

------
bsvalley
Sharing your personal experience on CNBC is much more powerful than IG and FB.
What’s the difference though? Having a need to share our opinions and personal
life is the reason why social platforms exist in the first place. The real
problem is us, not software companies.

------
mabbo
In October, I took the month off alcohol. It was difficult sometimes due to
social pressure, habit, and shitty days. But I made it the whole month and
felt proud of myself.

For December, I decided to take the month of social media. It's day 2 and I've
already opened Facebook out of habit 4 times. It's just so deeply ingrained in
my habits.

I'm thinking of giving up video games in January and meat in February. I don't
think either of those will be as difficult.

~~~
cylinder
Manually unfollow everyone. It takes time but worth it. I never check FB
anymore (over two years) because I have no news feed. I use Messenger still,
unfortunately.

~~~
mabbo
That creates an unneeded amount of work come January of re-following everyone
and everything I want to follow.

This is a month experiment, not a permanent life change. At least, so far
that's all it is.

------
nmca
So I have been wondering what the world would be like if randomly selected
self-report happiness was an executive-level KPI (key performance indicator)
at Facebook. Perhaps a billion people might be a few percent happier?

~~~
avip
Ask someone from Bhutan :)

------
rbreve
I use instagram to get inspired, I follow artists, photographers and
travelers. It really depends on how you use it. I also love photography, so I
will always take photos when I travel. I don't think deleting instagram will
make me happier or taking less photos. Everyone is different.

~~~
franzwong
Me too. I always search how others do composition, what good photo spots are
before I go to a particular place to take photo.

------
randiantech
I no longer use fb, instagram and twitter. Was not a premeditated decision
though. Just lost interest on them. I found traditional forums like hn more
enjoyable.

~~~
Insanity
I miss the more traditional forums.

In the past - many groups like clans on games had their own forum with their
own members. With topics like "Humour", "Game X", "Game Y", "Introductions",
...

Nowadays that seems to be mostly gone - though more replaced by Discord than
Reddit.

However, niches just moved to Reddit and I stayed behind :)

I miss those times somewhat.

------
scarejunba
I actually like Instagram. I only got on it a year ago and it has nice
features like “you’ve reached the end of your new feed” and stuff like that.
Takes me 30 s to go through every day and see what my friends have posted.

The stories stuff let’s me tap to move through. Overall, quite pleased.

~~~
einr
_you’ve reached the end of your new feed_

This was actually a nice, user-friendly addition for once. But it's pretty
much a cure for a disease that they invented themselves; the removal of the
strictly chronological feed.

------
maverick2007
The second part of the headline of the piece ("and that's a big problem for
social media companies") stood out to me as super-hyperbolic. From my
perspective it seems to me that me and my peer's relationship with social
media is like unhealthy food. We know it's bad for us, it's just way easier to
reach for it than to reach for what it's replacing or substituting for, in the
social media case traditional interactions.

So the headline stood out to me as hyperbolic in the sense that most people
know that sugar is bad for you but I'm not worried for that industry. Of
course I could just be a minority and most people don't know that quitting
would make them happier in the long run.

~~~
rdiddly
The hyperbole might've been injected later by an editor or whoever optimizes
cnbc.com articles for pageviews & clicks. Not sure what that person's job
title would be. (Senior Outrager? Assistant Click Angler? FUDmaster General?)

------
stratelogical
Question is: would there be a lot of people willing to take these so called
baby steps if they can post pics like this on the CNBC website -
[https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/edit...](https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/11/30/105602974-1543610916557chrissy-
santorini1.530x298.jpg), and would that make them happier?

Where baby steps according to her is removing Facebook and Instagram apps off
the phone, and logging out on the web “without fully disabling or deleting
them”).

------
new_here
I find that being immersed in a challenging personal project tends to
drastically lower the compulsion to fire up dopamine crutches like Instagram,
Reddit and HN and also ends up being a far more rewarding experience.

------
_mrmnmly
I think it.. depends - I use instagram as my inspiration feed - it's full of
nice things, not other people's lifes - so I think it depends who are you
following or what content are you interested it - most of my instagram feed
contains professional lego builds, custom mechanical keyboard or bauhaus-like
designed products.

Same for twitter - despite the fact I'm now slowly move into joining some
weekly emails about the stuff I'm intersted in I still use twitter as a my
main source of news about front-end tooling / programming / entrepreneur /
design stuff.

------
matte_black
It’s a self fulfilling prophecy, quitting any social network because you think
it will make you happier probably will.

~~~
dwaltrip
It very likely has a real effect for some people, beyond just placebo.

~~~
matte_black
Only way to know is to get people who are actively using social networks and
aren’t thinking about quitting to just quit for no reason. Chances are you
probably won’t see any change in happiness, just a change in habits.

~~~
im3w1l
That would be a fascinating experiment to perform if experimenters could get
compliance.

------
chiefalchemist
I've been doing what I call #FacebookLessFridays. Think meatless Mondays but
different.

Knowing that I have no "obligation" to do FB is liberating and empowering.
That said, I still check HN ;)

------
xte
I never been nor on FB nor on Instagram and never feel the need of being on.
Many keep asking me for WhatsApp, Skype, Hangout, ... I polity decline saying
I have mail, with a good setup not crappy webmails, and I have a VoIP
{soft,desk,cordless}phone(s) with plain PSTN numbers from multiple countries
so anyone can call me toll free from their PSTN/VoIP/GSM phones.

The problem in that sense is that people do not know other system exists. Not
only "casual people" but technician do not know them. Often I find programmers
(not code monkeys, not stupid people, not "ignorant" one) that _do not
understand_ how my Emacs works, for them seems magic. Many when I say that I
have RSS via mail, notes from mobile (BlitzNote) via mail, projects&c via mail
they think it's impossible to handle such volume of messages, when they see a
modern (ancient) MUA the seems child looking at some incredible machines.

IMO the sole solution came from a state-backed action that start to limit
actual IT trends for the sake of democracy, competition and national safety
and empower universities and schools enough to teach basic IT concept not in
term of ridiculous "coding courses" but in terms of IT freedom and dangers
like democracy vs dictatorship in politics.

~~~
kkarakk
some things youre extolling will mean social ostracization. if i tell someone
to email me vs whatsapping me with the phone number they already have, you
know what will happen? the person will just say it's too much hassle to
contact me.

also rules out usecases for people who aren't actually "settled" and have to
follow social norms in some areas- actually expecting a girl to contact me via
phone or email before the first date, i'd be living in a fantasy land. it just
won't happen

~~~
xte
If someone is not willing to contact me via classic phone, mail or SMS well...
I do not need to be contacted. It's not a matter of social ostracization.

Also IMO it's a lesson I give for free to my contacts because I explain why I
do not use such services.

------
dharma1
I don't use instagram or twitter much and I don't really get it. For me the
best interactions on the internet have been forums, reddit and IRC back in the
day

------
bb101
I use Instagram like I imagine others use Pinterest or browse lifestyle
magazines. Subscribe to a few nice cooking, travel and photography feeds and
open it once a week or so for inspiration.

I would never consider posting my own photos on there, the same way I wouldn't
consider mailing my own article to a magazine.

------
ehnto
Me too. Except instagram I started using afterward, and my engagement with it
was much different. I just put some riding photos up from time to time and I
only have good friends on there. No spam and my friends are rad so I don't get
the social showboating or preaching. I reduced phone usage in general, and I
would only open the app once every couple of days and that's normally to post
a picture.

My main change about how I use my phone is that I only touch it when I have a
task to achieve, and that is frankly very infrequent. It also doesn't go
everywhere with me. If I can do something on my PC later I prefer that to
using the phone.

Convenience is not a substitute for substance and I have found myself happier
when I delay things to be done thoughtfully later rather than getting them
done now.

------
danielor
This is not surprising. There are many serious people worried about the mental
health aspects of being on social media for extended periods of time. As with
most things in life, moderation is key. They can be useful services as long as
they do not consume you.

~~~
adjkant
The key point here though is that they are explicitly designed to consume you.
Notification patterns, feed organization, how the online connection between
two people is displayed, what gamification factors as included, what metrics
are included on each "post/event", the list goes on. In reality only a small
portion of people have the knowledge and skills to actively fight against
these designs, and that mental power has a cost. This is why both of these
platforms at their core start from a bad seed, even if they are able to birth
positive things.

IMO there are many solutions, but two very basic things can fix these
problems:

\- Make users pay to use a service so it is ad-free or ad limited so that
there is not an incentive to hold a user on your platform as long as possible

\- Remove public facing metrics such as likes/views unless absolutely
necessary. When necessary, make them a harder UX to get to so that someone
without the need cannot easily access them.

People keep saying the model won't work, but when you look at ARPU for many of
these services, many people would gladly pay that. People always frame it at
replacing ads, but I think it's much more than that - it's making the
experience of using the platform itself better by removing a lot of the
incentives that cause bad mental issues with social media.

------
virmundi
My issue is that not all social networks allow you to delete your account.
They don't even allow you to suspend your account or disable it so you can't
log in. Personally I can't walk away from such sites. If I couldn't login, I'd
be far less likely to waste my time on worthless debates. While the commentary
on such sites is helpful, for the most part enough of the conversations
devolve into authoritarians demanding the rights of others in order to not
feel offended, that I'd rather leave permanently. Unfortunate such sites are
like a train wreck for me. I can't look away. My only hope is banning.

~~~
ericd
Try pointing them to 0.0.0.0 in your hosts file? Or changing the password to
something you don't know? At least then you'll have the chance to think about
it when you're about to visit them.

~~~
virmundi
I have. I have an addictive personality. It’s my fault, and I think I’ll try
to give them up this month, but obviously I’m failing even now.

~~~
frabcus
One option would be to give the account password to a friend and get them to
change the email and password and not record the new ones.

------
Yizahi
Stopped using FB and IG, still uses Twitter "for work", riiiight, of course...

~~~
interesthrow2
This. There is nothing worse that Twitter when it comes to social media drama,
attention-seekers and outrage shit shows. At least one can use Facebook as a
private network of close friends. Twitter is just cancer at this point, which
demonstrates the hypocrisy of the OP. She didn't quit social media, she stayed
with the worst one.

------
beefsack
Using social media nowadays is like standing in a room with everyone yelling
at the same time. Only the loudest people get heard, and they rarely have
important / interesting / well informed things to say.

------
theredbox
I would have to leave internet and find relevant hobbies. I dont do fb or
other social networks ( well i occasionally check insta but that is very
minimum ). Most of my time gets thrown at rss/browser.

------
jusonchan81
I haven’t deleted my accounts but for whatever reason I haven’t been using it
at all.

Now that I think about it, the last time I logged into FB was about a year
ago. That too I think I was somehow tricked into doing so with really
clickbaity reminder emails.

Instagram, I use the app for sake of the filters but I always save the photo
and will remove my post immediately. Maybe there is a better app for me to
just take photos with filters.

The only time I look at instagram posts are when it’s embedded in some news
website talking about something interesting happening around the world.

~~~
johnchristopher
I use snapseed. It's from Google, has filters and other basic editing function
(crop, resize, etc.).

------
sudo_rm
Around January of this year, I took the plunge and deleted all of my social
media accounts. It's been great, and I am pleasantly surprised with how easy I
was able to cut cold turkey.

What I can not seem to quit, however, is excessively watching YouTube and
Twitch. I spend so much of my time everyday on these platforms and I find it
difficult to pull myself away from them. If anyone has any tips or advice on
this, I would appreciate it.

------
dana321
There is a black mirror episode that shows you how ludicrous it is, posting
pictures and hoping someone will like them, and becoming obsessed with your
score.

------
sfilargi
I, on the other hand, re-joined Facebook after years of absence and was really
disappointed. It’s all politics and memes. Just an eponymous Reddit.

------
prince005
I too did quit facebook and instagram like 6 months ago, since then I have
achieved so much. For starters I have a Job and 6 pack (abs not beer:) and not
to mention my relationship with people near to me has drastically improved. I
think this was one of my best decisions ever and I am really happy to see that
so many people think the same way!

------
medievalMoose
Personally, I find it is still convenient for Oauth and event planning. Not
sure that justifies the $400B market cap though...

------
ttroyr
What would you think of a Facebook alternative that was the same, except it
shows you content only based on who you're around most frequently (using GPS
tracking or check-ins). That way your friends in real life (who you actually
spend time with) match what you see of your friends' activity online.

------
nistak04
I’m a student and I deleted the twitter app. In my timeline, all my classmates
talked about who they don’t like or so. After quitting I found myself relaxed
because I don’t need to be careful about the existence of friends who are
bothered by my trivial behavior. The twitter unfriend custom was awful.

------
bitrrrate
Deleted Facebook and Instagram years ago. There was no point to any of it.
It’s astounding that with all our tech advancements we are so good at building
HA distributed systems that can allow people to over share their baby pictures
or political opinions while people are still dying of cancer.

------
slics
Next thing on the list - when you walk in the house, turn off your phone. Only
then you will feel as if you are free, and the free time it’s yours to do
whatever you feel like. You soon realize that there is so much you can do
without the social media in your fingertips. Enjoy it.

~~~
grecy
Currently I'm using a phone just to tether as I move around Africa.

I turn it on do so some work, then turn it off and put it away.

It feels extremely liberating to be free of the phone.

------
bayesian_horse
I have to use facebook for a couple of specific aspects in my social life,
otherwise I would probably quit it altogether. As such I would say Facebook is
improving my social life, rather than depriving it.

That being said, I am extremely aware of the potential negative impact.

------
BooneJS
If there were a better way than Instagram to see beautiful photography from
the National Parks in the US, I’d use it. As it stands, it’s not bad but I
wish they’d just let me see an actual timeline and automatically mark images
seen/archived.

~~~
chapium
You could go there :)

------
cauldron
[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/18/chinas-
selfie-...](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/18/chinas-selfie-
obsession)

------
technological
I wanted to quit these apps then this thought comes to my mind "Is my mind
weak such that something external controlling my emotions (happy or sad).
Cannot I be strong enough ". How do one overcome such thought

------
dzonga
Bunch of us quit that poison decades ago. and we don't make a ruse about it.

------
matthewwiese
Journalist writes the obvious and gets credit for what the dissenters have
known since the inception of "social media." Shocker.

At least it's upvoted highly here on HN; gives me hope that more and more and
catching on.

~~~
Karunamon
In my time on this site, I've seen a variation of the "I quit $socialnetwork
and you should too" post make the front page a few times a year. It's almost
to the point of a tired meme.

------
alexnewman
I never used instagram much, but i found the same to be true of facebook.

------
grungydan
I don't get how people can let Facebook take up so much of their life/time
that they have to delete it or stop using it to "get their life back." I find
it ridiculous.

I use Facebook basically for two purposes. Sharing and consuming denk mems,
and for scheduling gatherings of friends that use Facebook (which is mostly
all of them, because this is about all they use it for too).

People need to stop acting like these things are somehow controlling anything
you do and realize that they're just tools. Do what you want with them.

If that's "not use it" for whatever reason, fine. I just wish people would
stop with these nonsensical "I QUIT FACEBOOK AND NOW MY LIFE IS SO MUCH
BETTERER" stories.

~~~
HenryBemis
I think that you are missing one of the biggest points. The problem with us,
"facebook haters", is not that we are incapable of managing our time, or
friends. I personally quit it because they are one of the worse trackers out
there. They show zero respect to privacy, and every year we learn something
shady practices that overshadows the previous year's shady practices.

They started as "let's connect the world", and they ended up with "let's track
the world, even if they don't want to have an account with us".

I got a massive HOSTS file, a very well catered Adblock+ list and NoScript,
just to stay away from those scumbags.

~~~
grungydan
And you seem to be missing that that isn't what the article was about. The
article was talking about the people that I find absurd: "I can't stop letting
sosh meeds run my life so I have to just not use them."

The issue of trading data for service isn't new and wasn't the subject of the
article.

------
LeicaLatte
When there is a fire your social network is likely to recommend more fuel. Not
the extinguisher.

------
obilgic
I just decided to do that yesterday as well and deleted Facebook, Instagram
and Snapchat.

------
stesch
My average time on Instagram is 14 minutes a day. I need to cut it down a bit.

~~~
stabbles
How do you measure that (so accurately)?

~~~
taytus
In "Screen Time" (IOS) you can see how long you spend on social networking
apps

------
rb666
Deleted my Facebook 6 years ago, feels good being a trendsetter \o/

------
huxflux
How is this news? I thought this would be common knowledge in 2018.

------
strimp099
I wonder how many people are quitting it because of Screentime

------
perseusprime11
Instagram is just porn, steroids, and protein supplements.

~~~
yesforwhat
then your friends suck

------
moretai
You'll be sad soon enough.

------
dathinab
Welcome to a new world ;=)

Lets turn tech into what it was meant to be: A tool to give people a better
live.

</philosophy>

------
gamblor956
I started ignoring the people who talked about quitting FB and Instagram and
suddenly my life was a lot better without their constant negative energy.

Turns out they were the problem, not the platforms.

Good riddance.

~~~
castis
No doubt you can see the irony in your comment?

~~~
gamblor956
Temporary negative energy is not a bad thing. Constant negative energy is.
Surely you can understand the difference?

------
anonu
>> took a break from social media after realizing that she spent far more time
on Instagram than she realized.

So she ended up realizing...

