Ask HN: How many of you quit using Facebook or rarely use? - bhootai
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foobarchu
I made a personal policy to not use it a few months ago. I still have the
account, because of some messenger threads, but the app is gone from my phone
and I have a policy of only logging into FB itself in a private browsing
window. This at least reduces their tracking, and makes it a little harder for
me to give in, so I only use it if I'm actively using it for something (e.g.
looking for hours on a restaurant that doesn't have a real website, checking
event information, finding somebodys birthday). I don't allow passive browsing
anymore.

My reason is that it was just becoming too big of an echo chamber. Everyone on
it was spouting their opinions and getting waves of agreement, making their
opinions stronger, in an endless cycle. I just don't want to be part of it.

The biggest effect it's had on my life is that I get seriously bothered when
someone asks me if I "saw their post". I immediately respond with something
like "i'm not really on facebook anymore, what are you talking about?". The
amount that it's dug itself into everyone's lives in pretty baffling. It's
nice to not find myself absently staring at an endless "news feed" of the same
soundbites and photos over and over again.

My wife will often be using it and get upset at the stupidity of something she
sees, and I can't always resist a told-you-so.

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rleigh
I stopped using it entirely a few years back. It got to be an unhealthy
obsession which I realised was making me quite unhappy.

While I read Hacker News and some technical subreddits, I don't think these
are entirely benign, but they are an interest rather than an obsession. They
do both have an element of gamification--your comment upvotes/karma etc., but
they aren't actively sucking you in with a never-ending stream of status
updates from the site members either.

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bhootai
I quit facebook and smoking together. I used to smoke 4-5 cigarettes a day and
once i started being mindful about why i do and what i get, i took a stance to
quit. I convinced myself to quit and also out of curiosity picked up a book
about quitting smoking.After doing all this, I felt facebook and smoking are
similar in so many ways. Trying to fill the non existent void in everyday
life. And even though we are so much aware of our physical health , we hardly
try to resolve our mental health issues. And then i quit facebook. Even though
i used facebook for may be all together 45 mins a day. It feels so much better
to not consume that insensible, utterly useless content.

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MitchellCash
I almost never use the Facebook website or app, but I haven't quit for the
sole reason of Facebook Messenger. I still find it the most convenient means
to contact my family and friends who are living overseas because Facebook is
still widely used amongst these people.

I've tried to move my friends onto alternative means of communication,
predominately Signal, so I could disassociate myself from Facebook, but my
friends just don't stick it out. We converse as per usual over the first
couple of months, but then their replies slowly dwindle down and if I go back
and message them again over Facebook Messenger they respond as soon as they
see the message.

Although them not moving to Signal is a pain for me, it's a bigger pain for
them to move to an alternative messenger. Why would they want to use two
different applications to message friends, let alone to just message one
friend. A lot of these people aren't the technologically minded folk of Hacker
News, these are the type of people who are Facebooks primary target audience.
They don't care about how invasive Facebook can be with advertising or that
their communications actually aren't that private.

I would love to see all my friends and family messaging me over some encrypted
and decentralised messaging application so I can leave Facebook for good,
unfortunately I just don't see that happening for the circle of friends and
family I have.

~~~
LifeQuestioner
Ah, facebook messenger was one of the reasons I quit facebook.

The fact it popus up on your phone and you cant get rid of it. So then I only
had it on the webbrowser - but then i'd only go on the browser version once a
day and people would have to take ages to get a response from me and it might
be important. But most people assume you'll check it multiple times during the
day.

So I just removed it entirely and gave people my whatsapp. And I'm so, so, so
much happier i've done this.

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memracom
I doodled with it a bit.

Added a few friends and relatives, then realized that most people that I know
are either not on it, or not very active. And I couldn't figure out what to do
with it. I posted a bit but that fizzled out.

Right now it seems such a primitive and restricted system and not of much use
at all unless you are addicted to it or you have no idea of what is available
on the Internet.

I get the feeling that it only appeals to those who like to get into a rut and
stay there.

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ratsmack
I never made an account because I could never grasp what value it really had
for me. It seemed to me that it was better suited for the "reality show" crowd
that liked following other peoples drama.

~~~
alxndr13
this summarizes my opinion about fb perfectly.

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19eightyfour
I'm probably just babbling but here's what it was like for me and what i think
about it.

I think i just wanted to use it to show off... And then i eventually thought
what's the point of getting likes on fb. I didn't find it translate into
enjoying my life more or making my life better.

I thought maybe it's useful as a record of experience. But then i just kept my
photos on my phone and share them in real life by handing the phone.

I don't think it's impossible to use fb in a way that works. Maybe there needs
to be a class... How to use fb like a pro. I think messenger is more useful.
But then i just used hangouts since its no setup required. I didn't get enough
out of fb to be worth time.

Mostly i feel happier chatting on the phone or face to face irl, instead of
texting or scrolling newsfeed.

I think in an ideal world fb would be a great tool to connect. But the world
is not ideal. People are not ideal. Fb is not ideal.

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cathyttrn
I'm using it to source and sometimes to talk to my users (from my personal
account) on days when I don't feel like going out. Most people in my country
(Vietnam) use it to sell stuffs, sort of like how they'd using Craigslist.
They particularly abuse the livestream feature to showcase their products...
sort of a fascinating behavior in my opinion. None of us uses it to have
"meaningful connection with one's acquaintance"... because we all know that
can only happen in the offline world.

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8jef
Never really used it, closed 3 accounts over time. Main use is to peek at
pages, and I've advertised my business on it at one point, with really bad
results. I deeply hate everything about FB, from the fakeness of it as a
distant relationship maintenance tool, to its core business model, to the fact
it is highjacking a big chunk of the web. To me, FB is a trap, tailor made to
attract the Internet illiterate, as I-products does with hardware and music
files.

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twobyfour
Still have an account but haven't used it in about 5 years, except
occasionally to deal with website integrations or answer an incoming message
or invitation. My life is much better without it. I do sometimes miss out on
announcements (especially weddings and births), and am not as much in touch
with some friends and family as might be ideal. That's a price I'm willing to
pay, but ymmv.

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vcanales
I closed my Facebook account a few months ago, and then reopened but deleted
everyone and everything to use it as a dev tool and for login on certain
platforms (I could not get a new account going without sending in a "proof of
id"; I did not want to give Facebook a picture of my ID card)

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101carl
I quit fb in 2013. It's a pesky habit to kick. I was an early adopter, early
2005. In fact, as soon as I got my .edu email I signed up. I tried giving it
up several times. I could go without saying how much easier it is to leave fb
when someone else does it with you; Finally, my future wife and I gave it up
together at the same time. Present day, the unfortunate thing is certain apps
only use fb auth and if you want all access to work with fb for developers,
your only option is to login through a fb acct. I imagine if you wanted to
work for fb one might need a fb account too.

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tedesign
Quit in 2013. Erased all posts. Unfriended all contacts. Asked others to take
off references to myself in pictures and in posts.

Now only owns a blank account to get access to our rugby team group for
logistics purpose. Al least, FB knows I love rugby.

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RUG3Y
I found that my friends and family didn't mix well, my crude friends were
posting random garbage that my grandma was reading. Then there was family
drama, backstabbing, angry political posts. The reasons for me to leave far
outweighed the benefits of staying. I also don't like being a "product", I'm
not interested in seeing advertising and the way they manipulate your feed now
is also something I dislike. I pulled the plug and haven't looked back, I
don't miss it at all.

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framebit
I still have an account because of an IRL social group that likes to do event
planning through FB Events, but that and using Messenger to communicate with
one person are the only reasons I still have an account.

FB and Instagram were only contributing guilt, anxiety, and FOMO to my life,
and I am so much better off without them. Weirdly, I've gone back to Twitter,
but I only follow one person that I know IRL there. Twitter is great for news
and weather.

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throwaway_atl
I was on Facebook for a couple years, caught up with all my old High School
classmates and a couple University classmates as well. Once I saw how everyone
was doing Facebook lost interest to me. I got to the point where the only time
I logged in to Facebook was to opt-out of some new option that automatically
opted me into. It was easy to give it up and I haven't missed it since. That
was probably 6 or so years ago.

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danielhooper
I've kept my account because I joined a local music gear buy and sell group,
and the experience blows craigslist and kijiji out the water.

~~~
mod
I find the facebook buy/sell groups to be awful. The group itself is fine, the
interface/search/etc is terrible.

It's getting better, though--I think FB lately has begun to make it a
"product."

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shouldbworking
Uninstalled it many years ago. Check about once a month and stay signed out. I
totally avoid it otherwise, too intrusive.

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eb0la
I use Facebook once a year. Just when it is my birthday because last year I
forgot to close the account and it is rude not to answer happy birthday
messages.

I simply don't get the Facebook stuff... I really find interesting Facebook
ads and all targeting options, but FB is definitely not for me.

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tmccrmck
I deactivated mine two and a half years ago and never looked back.

Besides the occasional surprise that I don't have a Facebook when I meet
someone it has never been a problem. Sometimes I don't know about events going
on with friends but I inevitably learn if it's important.

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niteshade
I made a New Years Resolution to stop using Facebook, deleted the apps on my
phone but occasionally end up on it by accident through my browser through
shared links etc. (never logged out, just stopped visiting).

The only thing I use is Messenger because people still contact me on that.

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codegeek
I rarely use it. About 2-3 times in the last 18 months or so. So yea, hardly.
At some point, it got too much to look at every little thing that
friends/family are doing and sharing. I have better things to do.

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bsvalley
Long story short - facebook is dead, majority of the people migrated to
Instagram. we went from myspace (personal) to FB (friends) to instagram
(personal). Looks like people would rather focus on themselves.

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tehlike
Use it rarely. Figured there was too much information noise from people i
barely care about. Use the web site version. There is one or two friends i
chat over messenger, but that is about it.

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synapse0
Used in lurking mode for a few months in 2008. In the last few years I open it
once every few weeks on average, mostly because of the email notifications.
The facebook is a sad place

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Raed667
I use Facebook daily. I tried quitting before, but for one excuse or another I
always come back.

I need to plan it better next time, where I have another way to contact
everyone I usually do over Facebook.

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gpetukhov
Using it about 10 mins per day. Hacker News is taking much more time.

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navyad
I stopped using it actively 3 years back, now i use very rarely.

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iSloth
Actually deleted mine yesterday, then had the fun of creating a new Spotify
account as apparently that was linked to my Facebook and you can't unlink it!

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fosco
I deleted in 2008 it is easy for me to stay off.

I lost touch with some people but it did not impact existing good
relationships.

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elorm
Quit in 2011, i believe.... Deleted everything and moved to a more dangerous
platform called Twitter.

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taf2
I use my Facebook account when I need to do stuff for work.

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toepitt
I never used it and never will. I want something better.

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shabinesh
Quit 3 years back, Saved lot of time since then.

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srebalaji
I hardly use facebook now-a-days.

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tradersam
Quit in 2012.

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mattbgates
I'm a web developer.. takes me a while to get "in the zone" to do some
programming, but once I'm there, I'm good to go! If I'm not, I tend to go on
websites or randomly search Google for stuff which causes me to procrastinate.
One of the websites is Facebook. I used to mindlessly get on Facebook and just
scroll through my feed. It was the worst during the 2016 Presidential
elections. Even though I really didn't care what was being said about either
candidate, it was more fascinating to see how my friends were reacting. It was
like watching a drama online with high school and college friends you used to
have drama with back when you saw them everyday.

It got so bad that I was doing it at work and had to install software to block
myself from Facebook. I give myself a little leisure, about 10 minutes a day
or so, before it locks me out for the day. It takes me a few more minutes to
be mindful of not typing in Facebook or whatever other sites I blocked myself
from.

When I'm at home, if I hop on Facebook, I installed a button (
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hide-facebook-
feed...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hide-facebook-
feed/fohdbaioejiekbmphjempgmniojhjgin?hl=en) ) that makes you click in order
to see it. This makes me fully aware of my actions. This has reduced my time
at home to very little on Facebook. Occasionally, I'll type in Facebook and
see that button and I instantly become aware of what I am doing. I trained
myself to get back to something more productive.

I think of it this way: For every minute I'm on Facebook and not being
productive, that is a minute they are making money on me and I'm not making
anything at all. It usually helps me get back to work. Why don't I just quit?
Because I live across the country, away from my family, who I don't get to
see. I do pick up the phone every few days and talk to them all and make sure
they are okay. But I also feel Facebook helps me keep in touch with them. I
also have lived in a few parts of the country, and I've met, befriended, and
Facebook'd many of those people I like to call friends. I may not be close to
them anymore, but I still like to think of it as the best way as a means to
keeping in touch.

There are two types of people on the Internet and Facebook teaches it very
well: You are either a consumer or a creator. Creators make money. Consumers
give money. If you spend your time on Facebook, which one are you? If you are
working on something productive, even if it may not make you money right away
or at all, as long as you are doing something productive: you are a creator.
When you justify all of your time on the Internet, and even deal with your
addiction to the Internet, which one will you be? A consumer or a creator?

Facebook has some AI scripts in it to learn your behavior and show you the
stuff you think is most important and the stuff you want to see. Every "Like"
(or reaction) is not just a like, but it registers into a series of
algorithms. For example, if you like a lot of a person's timeline, you're more
likely to see their timeline. The more you interact with each other, the more
you are likely to see each other's timeline. If you both have a lot of mutual
friends, you are more likely to see their timeline. Facebook, like Google, is
not just one giant database, but algorithms get created to do different things
depending on your actions within the application. And if someone has a wedding
or a baby, I see it, because Facebook has deemed this a very significant
event, based on the reactions it has. The rest is just news or something
someone is posting from a page you liked.

And I'm on here.. Hacker News, procrastinating, but answering questions is
relaxing and actually does help me to begin my focus. These are just some ways
I deal with my desire to procrastinate and stay focused.

