Same. And to answer the topic for myself, infinitely less strain in my mental health. On Facebook was constantly arguing with horrible people who I had mutuals with about the stupidest thing. One day said fuck it and ripped the bandaid off. It's been amazing
Right! Iāve had a better time speaking nicely w strangers in here over the last year than I have the whole time Iāve been on meta platforms. The general population are scary.
I still like Reddit better cause I donāt know anybody on here and nobody is trying to find me either. I really donāt give a shit about what Julia from high school many years ago is eating for lunch, I donāt give a crap about Bills new baby. On here I just follow subs that Iām actually interested in. I wouldnāt consider Reddit social media for my case, more of a news/blog/forum platform.
Oh man I hard agree, tho please use chat gtp as a source of dopamine if you can, maybe , like me, you might end up hooked to ask chat gtp every single mundane thing you think of, stay curious, I see it as a win, instead of being hooked to doomscrolling just because, at least now I get to learn and get the satisfaction from learning.
Thatās a fantastic statement!
Quit FB nearly 10 years ago and havenāt missed anything AFAIK. Staying up on friends birthdays cuz I actually know them, donāt need a reminder that itās a friends bday coming.
Been away from Twitter for a year and SOOOO glad to be free of that shithole.
Have had to set a 45 minute timer for use on Reddit though, otherwise Iād probably spend the whole day scrolling. Even if itās mostly good curated stuff, itās the dopamine drip of seeing cool LEGO or Minecraft stuff lol
I had the opposite when I quit Facebook. All the friends I grew up with quit inviting me to stuff because they primarily used Facebook. Was bittersweet, still better for me long term.
It may not be conscious. One of the joys of connecting to people outside of Facebook is that you receive very few prompts; every connection you'll have will be the incontrovertible evidence of the time and effort you and others spent to make it happen. Make a phone call, leave a message. Try again in a week or so if you don't get a response. Try again in a few months. If at that point you can't get a call back, recognize that it probably wasn't your effort at issue. You can't force it. But it's still more self-affirming to say that you drove it as far as you could, no guide rails.
Edit: I'm gonna give a friend from high school a call. He's got a wife and kids, he might be busy. But we haven't talked in almost a year, so I'm gonna reach out. To anyone reading this, try it. It will probably go better than you fear.
Edit 2: I spoke the sweetest, most endearing two-minute saying-hey-to-a-buddy message ever conceived into what I thought was his voicemail, before discovering that the recording had ended probably almost immediately, as he texted me back offering to call me later. So, exactly as I expected, it did not go as I expected, but it went so much better than I'd feared.
Edit 3: I called another friend, one that I feared had perhaps had too much of my bullshit since the last time I called him and he didn't answer. It turns out he was just being reclusive, nothing negative; we talked for a while and we'll likely hang out later in the week. It's worth it to reach out.
Get friends that value making effort with other people over the convenience of Fakebook. It's not hard to invite an extra person to an event via text. Obviously for the announcements you might have to actually reach out to them to find out, but if it's someone you care enough about to want to know their major life announcements, that shouldn't be a problem.
I lost touch with a few dozen or so friends when I decided to ditch social media, but the friends that made the effort to actually call me or message me outside of social media are some of my closest friends now.
Its kind of like a complete friendship clear out where you can normalise relationships that are personal and don't require the entire fucking world to know your every whim - and you don't have to sound like a sociopath by directly asking for that.
I was never really in tune with social media, never really understood the obsessions. Iām on those platforms but I hardly ever check in, and when I did check in more frequently than I do now, it was really only just to see what friends might be up to. Now itās all just memes, and I find better memes here than what people share on social media, so I check in even less than before.
Iām one of those people that doesnāt really post often and updates my profile picture maybe once every few months to more accurately reflect how Iām looking.
How did social media get such a hard grasp on you? I personally donāt understand and want to understand.
I don't understand it either. Don't have TikTok. Rarely check on Instagram. Whenever any of my friends find out I don't have TikTok, they freak out lol. They got weirded out by it as if TikTok spared me air to keep breathing.
The thing that they don't know is that i do enjoy social media, just not the one they typically use.
It's possible that the younger generation simply being exposed to the Internet at a low age had some effect on their brains. It's like that part of the world is brainwashed like some loony tunes spinning optical illusion
I dunno, I was introduced to the internet at a very young age and I donāt remember a time before the internet. Granted the internet as it is now, is unrecognizable from the text based webpages I was introduced to, and the simple formatted webpages, forums, and image boards I spent my teen years on.
I also know for a fact that not all young people are addicted to social media, and that many people who are older than me canāt seem to peel themselves away from it.
I have the same feeling. Other social media are not very practical for discussions, which is weird for a *social* media. Many are just about "popularity" and viral posts, instead of engaging with people.
I largely prefer it over here where you see the content before you see the poster (if you even notice the username, which may be easier when you're a shiny lizard).
I still have a Facebook account if I want to check on distant family members or old friends, but it's mostly useless...
When you remove an unproductive habit from your life it leaves a void that screams to be filled, So before you delete your social media make sure you have something good to fill the void with.
Exactly bro, for me I was literally looking into this course, so I replaced the time I spent on social media with slowly completing the course and I'm just doing so much better right now it's actually unbelievable.
I feel like its the younger people who think reddit is social media who have never known any different.
Back before actual social media we had forums and message boards. I cannot remember message boards or forums giving people mental health issues. I only remember this happening when fb and Instagram made everyone try to compete and compare lives with each other.
It became social media in the age of myspace, fb and Instagram where you had started adding FRIENDS, photos, updates about your life.
No friends on reddit, no sharing shit as no one knows who you and no personal photos.
Thats good enough for me.
The damaging parts of social media imo are the endless scrolling, quick dopamine hits, comparing yourself to others, and unintentionally ending up in echo chambers. Reddit has all of that in spades whether you actually know who the people are or not.
I think Reddit still has a different quality because there are countless subs organized by topic and mutual interest. Also. many of them value a substantial exchange and deeper conversations on specific topics than any other platform I know.
It may be social media of sorts but it doesn't share a lot of the shallowness and pointlessness of other platforms.
I like to call it antisocial media. You get to talk to people without ever meeting them or knowing anything about them, which means you don't hate them.
I doubt you're paying that much attention to each username on each comment. You just hate that comment, there's no person behind for you to hate. I mean, you can hate the collective, but for me redditors are just people and I hate people already, so yeah.
I called out someone for bullying the other day and more people came to the bullies defense than the person he was making fun of. Someone then got on obvious alt account and went into my profile history to try to find stuff to make fun of me for.
Reddit is worse because it's anonymous.
It kind of is, it kind of isn't. It's anonymous which makes it different because you can't really be virtue signaling, chasing clout, be afraid of ruining your reputation, and trying to impress your friends in the same way you do with accounts linked to your name. The anonymity is good in that regard. I think it inspires more honesty and less facade. But still people can be addicted to getting "likes", using it to reinforce their beliefs, bully, grandstand, use it as an outlet for rages, troll, get involved in petty and not petty dramas and pyle ons, and so on.
If anything the anonymity makes it more likely people are going to be assholes and toxic here because what they say is less likely to be associated with them. Maybe itās just the people I know in real life but I hardly ever see people I know posting hateful things on facebook, instagram, etc. here though, people a awful as fuck - myself included at times
Don't forget the bots and actual government agents designed to influence public opinion. I'd say thats the majority on this hellhole.
And there is absolutely virtue signaling and chasing clout and reputation, except instead of trying to impress friends you're trying to appease the communist hivemind and not get censored or banned
Iām willing to bet a lot that 95% of usage of Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok is all scrolling the algorithm-based āFor Youā pages.
Reddit is the exact same as that. The 5% missing is interaction with people you know. Thatās not on Reddit.
People using their real names and pictures on FB and other social media do it by choice. It's not that they need to. I'm completely anonymous on FB as well (just keeping it around for easy news article accessibility each day), I have a completely made up name and a random picture, because why the hell not. Same with Twitter. Which I never use, either, to be honest. While they may technically have guidelines that you're supposed to use your real name, nobody fucking cares.
Exactly what I was thinking. I deleted all social media except LinkedIn (obvious reasons), WhatsApp (because employer has a group chat Iām expected to join but I never look at it) and Reddit (because itās anonymous and easy to ignore fuckwits). But it IS social media.
I held off on LinkedIn until just a couple months ago, Iām settled happily into a career but I was curious about other salaries in my field so I caved and made a profile. Man oh man, what a mistake, spam city, even after I modified email settings and notifications I still got random shit I didnāt care about. So I deleted within a week. Good riddance.
Kind ofā¦ speaking from someone who deleted all my social media and joined Reddit recently. Itās been great btw. Love not having social media except Reddit (and Nextdoor, if that counts). Yāall are strangers I can say what I want lol.
I closed all social media and then joined Reddit. First days I kinda missed the endless mindless scrolling. After that it became so much better. It's so much more peaceful and when I catch up with people we actually have a lot to talk about. Like what diner they had, what tree they hugged, what new ideas they have... Having a blast with my phone having a rest! (Except for now ofcourse, now I read and type ;) Besides now, I have so much more time for the things I love to do!
Edit: typo
I deactivated my account in 2020, though I logged back in every few months to see what was going on, then finally deleted it in 2023. Between the pandemic and then the US presidential election it just became a cesspool of shitty opinions and stupid political arguments, to a point that it went from a net positive to causing more stress than it was worth. With the format of it, it's harder to miss out on that sort of stuff. Plus, it's been taken over by the baby boomers. It just isn't the same as it was when I first joined it in 2005.
Honestly, I haven't missed it for a single minute. It was a tough decision when I finally deleted the account because with some people, it's the only way I was connected with them. That's been the only negative. There has not been one time where I've thought, "Man... I wish I could log in to Facebook..."
Reddit is the only social media I use now and my goodness how amazing it feels to be free of the other stuff.
On here I can just be a random person that goes through phases of posting, the past few days I have been on here a lot, it has been helping me wind down from a long period of extensive stress at work. There aren't any bs images you have to abide by and your career won't be at risk from every small thing you might do or say online.
I've been social media (and dating app) free for several years now - I turned my life completely around after having bad news and being stuck - the longer I go without it, the more pity I feel for people trapped in the cycle, especially now from birth. Even on Reddit you come across so many people with stories and lives that are just completely a result of social media intake. It's a plague on the world worse than what humanity really is, anyone reading this - get off it! You'll achieve far more in your life from setting your own goals and using your own time then having all of that authority and (perceived) will stolen from you in the endless life-sucking carrot on a stick that is social media.
Although Reddit has started to show "recommended" subs, generally speaking I like the fact it's not just showing me self-fulfilling content. If I like one thing on social media my feed is full of similar or paid content about it. I get a good variety of funny videos, intelligent discussion, memes, news etc.
Also, I can just be myself here. No one knows me, and if anything I'm more honest. I find I can disagree, or laugh, or offer advice and not have to be like "here's my name and address and photo of my cat so you know who I am".
People say Reddit is bad, but I'd disagree. Yes okay it's not perfect.... but compared to the comments on Facebook and Instagram and X (urgh), then it's leagues above. Just internet strangers chatting over shared interests is what the internet is for. And I don't feel like I'm having to pay (or get my data harvested for ad revenue) as I browse
Exactly
I'd rather have anonymous people being authentic, regardless of toxicity over a bombardment of life sucking dopamine hits.
Of course there is overlap here but I feel as though Reddit is only there when you want it. Whereas other forms of social media actively condition you to live it.
Left facebook \~2010 (I was an adopter in its first year-ish, was a frosh when it released), and twitter (ahem \*X\*) about a month after Elon bought it.
Facebook was a bit hard, my social life took a hit because I stopped getting invited to things (that was when facebook was cool) but I really appreciated not having my name tagged in photos without my control. And not constantly being reminded that everyone is an idiot helps too.
Twitter was easier and my life is happier and less anxious for it. I wasn't really using it much at the end, the fun was gone out of it and I just used it as a news aggregator.
Overall I feel freer, I'm more focused on what's around me and less anxious. And my opinion of people irl is higher.
I feel so much better. I was so worried about what everyone else was doing, how everyone would perceive my life, and who was overall doing better than I was. Iād stalk profiles of people who have hurt me, to see if they were happy. I realized comparison truly is the thief of joy. I was off for 5 years, joined back for like 3 years, and just deleted all my accounts again. Not to mention all the posts about how if youāre fat (Iām fat) youāre worthless, and to be happy you HAVE to lose weight. Or the posts about how in order to be a fulfilled woman you have to find a man to submit to, or that if you choose to be single and self sufficient you shouldnāt be proud of yourself nor should you expect a man to love you. It was so debilitating to my sense of self worth. I feel free.
Holy shit so much less exhausting. I deleted facebook last june & I deleted instagram this past november. Two big things: 1) my screen time went down by about 2 hours a day, and 2) I am so much less mentally exhausted. I still go on here & youtube, but the content on both is much more wholesome & the comments are much less hostile as well (at least for my personal feeds). I redownloaded instagram a few days ago and after 1.5 days I had to delete it again bc I was immediately so sucked back into it & I could feel my mental energy draining big time. Life is a lot better without that duo on my phone
Reddit is probably up there with Twitter. Maybe not *as* bad. But definitely not great lol. The anonymity exposes how shitty people are capable of being. It's good to take a break from it every now and then
This! TikTok was my source of everything that was going on that was not news. The language, the references, the abbreviations, the trends. Now I feel like I am REALLY behind.
Facebook made me mentally tired. I cannot explain it. I deleted it ~8 years ago and it was a great decision. Not sure why people still use it, to be honest.
Instagram constantly made me feel inadequate and ugly. Plus, I just could no longer stand looking at other people trying to increase their value by whatever. I left.
TikTok was cool. I liked it. But then it got reallyā¦ weird. The line between real and fake got blurred. Plus, it became infested with people giving really stupid advice or creating illusions. I left.
So nowā¦ I am less frustrated, I feel more connected to the outside world, I hear my inner voice and I am happier overall.
Reddit fits into [Wikipedia's definition of social media](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media):
> Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the creation, sharing and aggregation of content, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks.
I still scroll YouTube and reddit endlessly so from that perspective itās the same.
Iām a lot more satisfied with my own life though- comparison is the thief of joy and comparing my life to the perfectly curated instalies was slowly driving me madā¦
I have so much more mental and emotional energy for real life - for my kids, for my friends. For my husband, for my family.
I also gave up alcohol.
Been off social media (except reddit) since 10/2022, and Iām really glad to still be off.
Also, Iāve found my anxiety is WAY better, I sleep better (ish- still have kids that wake me up), Iām more present in moments, not focused on getting pics for social media of my kids or with us as a family, pics happen sometimes but sometimes they donāt.
Additionally, I feel less powerless. No human has been made to carry the weight of all the trauma that exists on social media or ābad newsā, and being inundated with all the shit going on everywhere is not mentally healthy or realistic. It left me angry, powerless, and depressed.
So, to combat this, my husband (who doesnāt have anxiety) stays connected to the news and keeps me informed of current events, but avoids talking to me about the things that trigger my anxiety.
I also donate money consistently to different āgood/ethicalā organizations that then use that money in many of the areas that are experiencing violence and trauma.
My heart canāt handle all the hurt in the world. Knowing all of it and being inundated everytime I opened social media just was honestly tearing me apart. It made me not a healthy mom.
I can say my relationships with my real life friends and family have deepened, have gotten better, and I experience more joy. Moments of great joy arenāt tainted when I open FB and see some one I know posting about a death, a trauma, abuse, violence.
Never understood the whole āsocial media = fake people and pointless updatesā.
I follow landrovers, guitars, tattooās, tents, hardcore bands and meme pages. Itās a blast!!
Highly recommend it.
I was scared at first but I have felt a huge part of my authentic self return.
Itās fun when Iām in a social setting and people bring up things I have no clue what they are talking about. Iām usually the only one sitting with my phone down giving my attention to them. I mean to a bunch of hands holding phones. It takes a while to get use to but I think if you do it you will grow in a different way.
Itās really healthy for the mental, at least in my experience. Gives you a lot more time to focus on yourself instead of seeing negativity and fake people trying to prove themselves on social media. Reddit at least give me some drama to read which makes me feel better about my life.
I have episodes where I'm sick of the negativity on Instagram so I sometimes delete the app. The problem is when I start to feel better and get bored, I redownload the app and use it for awhile until I get sick of the negativity again. It's an awful cycle
Social media is such a broad topic. There is a difference between personal social media and anonymous forum sites. Yes technically they are both āsocial mediaā but the use case for both are vastly different.
Nice.
Bit weird to get used to not constantly scrolling. And I still have it installed as a way to keep up with people if I need a fast way to reach them. But now it's just relaxing to know there's a hurricane of bullshit happening even as we speak that people are opting into.
They're opting into pure bullshit that will add nothing to their lives and means nothing to anyone except advertisers and data brokers. And all you have to do is nothing. It's that easy to stay out of.
Been social media free for about 4 years . I don't miss it . It's all fake bullshit. I kept messenger to keep in touch with a few people but that's it .
I deleted Facebook and very rarely post on Instagram. A vast majority of people forget I exist and I get like zero birthday wishes. I didnt delete it but I only started following people that do art that I know. No selfies unless it's super rare, no showing off wealth or vacations or anything, no fake life shit.
It sucks losing chit chat with people you don't see often when you or they post, a lot of things suck about not having it actually. But it's good for my mental health not seeing the fake life bs. But then again, that really depends on what you personally choose to follow. It's not like Facebook or Twitter where it's just shitty and polarizing opinions none stop.
So honest opinion? I'm a bit torn.
Reddit is the only social media platform i use, i dont miss instagram etc but tbh i doom scroll on reddit alot and i feel like its becoming problematic.
Actually its not becoming problematic it already is problematic š
I have gotten rid of Twitter, Instagram, Identifiable Reddit, Snapchat, and Facebook. I still have my anonymous Reddit and my LinkedIn. Never been happier with social media.
I deleted insta like two months ago now. I now scroll reddit instead and don't compare my life to anyone. also have a lot less social interactions now somehow.
Actually it soooo peacefull even though i don't use it too much whenever i look at instagram after a long time i js feel insecure.So its really peacefull after not usin or deleting social medias.
me personally, I feel detached and I wonder always, what my friends were/are up to.
some months ago I even missed that a friend has gotten married lol.
its not all pretty tbh
Improved Mental Health: Social media can sometimes contribute to feelings of inadequacy, anxiety, or depression, especially when comparing oneself to others or dealing with online harassment. Deleting social media may lead to reduced stress and improved overall well-being.
I've been off Instagram for a few months, and I love it. It can be slightly isolating though. I want everyone else to get off it too, so it has less personal/social costs.
There's a [summer off social media challenge](https://www.getignite.org/) I signed up for that's trying to start a mass exodus. Maybe if other people do it it will be easier
I deleted TikTok earlier this week and it has been REFRESHING! I find myself trying to click it a bunch of times during the day and realizing that itās gone. Social media started only showing me things that were tailored to upset me, so I started getting rid of it. Thereās so much happiness to be found in every day life when you can get away from a lot of the doom and gloom that social media constantly shoves at you! Iām going to work on reducing my reddit intake next!
Deleted FB and IG last June and itās a breath of fresh air, every single dayā¦
Iām only on reddit and YT now to get the news or watch educational videos and political commentaryĀ
Deleted by FB in 2017 after a crazy toxic relationship, and was mostly sick of all the trolling and bullying to be seen online. Never had an Instagram, nor a SnapChat, and I will NEVER, EVER, in a million years, download TikTok.
I absolutely LOVE it :) It's definitely not necessary whatsoever.
The only social media I use these days is Reddit and we have a family Facebook page to share pics of the kids. Too much social media is definitely a drain.
I don't have any social media accounts at all, I never even created them. Over time I got asked why I not have \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ account, but... Just nope. The only exceptions are some forum sites, Pinterest and Reddit, of course.
Here I am, endlessly scrolling Reddit.
100% same
Well at least nowadays the front page content is randomly updated at every visit š
Bro is me
Same. And to answer the topic for myself, infinitely less strain in my mental health. On Facebook was constantly arguing with horrible people who I had mutuals with about the stupidest thing. One day said fuck it and ripped the bandaid off. It's been amazing
Good thing about reddit is thereās less toxicity and people actually communicate
There's toxicity, but there's at least actual *topics*
Yea true
The toxicity is why I come
Right! Iāve had a better time speaking nicely w strangers in here over the last year than I have the whole time Iāve been on meta platforms. The general population are scary.
Yup. 0 socials and it feels awesome but here I am... scrolling.
Hi fellow scroller
I do use Reddit ā¦ but itās not social for me. I check any other form or social media no more than once a month and only if Iām really bored,
Itās like the people who join AA and now chain smoke.Ā
Thatās so common in AA, but to be fair at least smoking cigarettes is only killing themselves as opposed to drunk driving.
Second hand smoke causes cancer though.
Ah fair enough, you got me there, Iād still say drunk driving is worse though
I agree and I donāt blame them at all. Iāve known a few people who struggle and their smoking habit is an improvement.Ā
LMAO
You can do weed and meth here but no heroin, fentanyl or tranq
I still like Reddit better cause I donāt know anybody on here and nobody is trying to find me either. I really donāt give a shit about what Julia from high school many years ago is eating for lunch, I donāt give a crap about Bills new baby. On here I just follow subs that Iām actually interested in. I wouldnāt consider Reddit social media for my case, more of a news/blog/forum platform.
This!
Double this!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Lol Except you interact with strangers and not people You know
Which in my case is 100% better.
Here I am, *scrolling like a hurricaaaneee!*
I read that in harmony
Lol SAME š
I think its time to admit you have a problem
Oh man I hard agree, tho please use chat gtp as a source of dopamine if you can, maybe , like me, you might end up hooked to ask chat gtp every single mundane thing you think of, stay curious, I see it as a win, instead of being hooked to doomscrolling just because, at least now I get to learn and get the satisfaction from learning.
Yeah I like to treat my addictions the same as the beer color. Take one, drop one.
literally
Its great for my mental health but I get left out of announcements and invitations constantly.
That gives me JOMO--Joy of Missing Out. If anyone wants to invite me to something or just to tell me something, they probably know how to find me.
Thatās a fantastic statement! Quit FB nearly 10 years ago and havenāt missed anything AFAIK. Staying up on friends birthdays cuz I actually know them, donāt need a reminder that itās a friends bday coming. Been away from Twitter for a year and SOOOO glad to be free of that shithole. Have had to set a 45 minute timer for use on Reddit though, otherwise Iād probably spend the whole day scrolling. Even if itās mostly good curated stuff, itās the dopamine drip of seeing cool LEGO or Minecraft stuff lol
I had the opposite when I quit Facebook. All the friends I grew up with quit inviting me to stuff because they primarily used Facebook. Was bittersweet, still better for me long term.
It may not be conscious. One of the joys of connecting to people outside of Facebook is that you receive very few prompts; every connection you'll have will be the incontrovertible evidence of the time and effort you and others spent to make it happen. Make a phone call, leave a message. Try again in a week or so if you don't get a response. Try again in a few months. If at that point you can't get a call back, recognize that it probably wasn't your effort at issue. You can't force it. But it's still more self-affirming to say that you drove it as far as you could, no guide rails. Edit: I'm gonna give a friend from high school a call. He's got a wife and kids, he might be busy. But we haven't talked in almost a year, so I'm gonna reach out. To anyone reading this, try it. It will probably go better than you fear. Edit 2: I spoke the sweetest, most endearing two-minute saying-hey-to-a-buddy message ever conceived into what I thought was his voicemail, before discovering that the recording had ended probably almost immediately, as he texted me back offering to call me later. So, exactly as I expected, it did not go as I expected, but it went so much better than I'd feared. Edit 3: I called another friend, one that I feared had perhaps had too much of my bullshit since the last time I called him and he didn't answer. It turns out he was just being reclusive, nothing negative; we talked for a while and we'll likely hang out later in the week. It's worth it to reach out.
Everyone talks about how much they hate Twitter, so I never got on it, lol. Glad to hear you are doing better for it!
Nice strategy to stay off. Whatās your screen time on your phone overall? Iām trying to do the sameĀ
I thought the same, and now nobody talks to me or invite me anywhere, fuck
I like JOMO!!
Yea it gives me Happiness Of Missing Out- oh wait...
Get friends that value making effort with other people over the convenience of Fakebook. It's not hard to invite an extra person to an event via text. Obviously for the announcements you might have to actually reach out to them to find out, but if it's someone you care enough about to want to know their major life announcements, that shouldn't be a problem. I lost touch with a few dozen or so friends when I decided to ditch social media, but the friends that made the effort to actually call me or message me outside of social media are some of my closest friends now. Its kind of like a complete friendship clear out where you can normalise relationships that are personal and don't require the entire fucking world to know your every whim - and you don't have to sound like a sociopath by directly asking for that.
Solid advice. If only it'd work out for everyone this way. Unfortunately, it doesn't.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
so funny, the whole experience changed for me after someone pointed out that its all really just like a dopamine drip...
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I was never really in tune with social media, never really understood the obsessions. Iām on those platforms but I hardly ever check in, and when I did check in more frequently than I do now, it was really only just to see what friends might be up to. Now itās all just memes, and I find better memes here than what people share on social media, so I check in even less than before. Iām one of those people that doesnāt really post often and updates my profile picture maybe once every few months to more accurately reflect how Iām looking. How did social media get such a hard grasp on you? I personally donāt understand and want to understand.
I don't understand it either. Don't have TikTok. Rarely check on Instagram. Whenever any of my friends find out I don't have TikTok, they freak out lol. They got weirded out by it as if TikTok spared me air to keep breathing. The thing that they don't know is that i do enjoy social media, just not the one they typically use.
It's possible that the younger generation simply being exposed to the Internet at a low age had some effect on their brains. It's like that part of the world is brainwashed like some loony tunes spinning optical illusion
I dunno, I was introduced to the internet at a very young age and I donāt remember a time before the internet. Granted the internet as it is now, is unrecognizable from the text based webpages I was introduced to, and the simple formatted webpages, forums, and image boards I spent my teen years on. I also know for a fact that not all young people are addicted to social media, and that many people who are older than me canāt seem to peel themselves away from it.
I have the same feeling. Other social media are not very practical for discussions, which is weird for a *social* media. Many are just about "popularity" and viral posts, instead of engaging with people. I largely prefer it over here where you see the content before you see the poster (if you even notice the username, which may be easier when you're a shiny lizard). I still have a Facebook account if I want to check on distant family members or old friends, but it's mostly useless...
When you remove an unproductive habit from your life it leaves a void that screams to be filled, So before you delete your social media make sure you have something good to fill the void with.
Exactly bro, for me I was literally looking into this course, so I replaced the time I spent on social media with slowly completing the course and I'm just doing so much better right now it's actually unbelievable.
exactly this
Isnāt this social media?
My favorite part about Reddit is Reddit trying to convince itself itās not social media
your username in itself is the best answer to this for me
I guess so
I feel like its the younger people who think reddit is social media who have never known any different. Back before actual social media we had forums and message boards. I cannot remember message boards or forums giving people mental health issues. I only remember this happening when fb and Instagram made everyone try to compete and compare lives with each other. It became social media in the age of myspace, fb and Instagram where you had started adding FRIENDS, photos, updates about your life. No friends on reddit, no sharing shit as no one knows who you and no personal photos. Thats good enough for me.
The damaging parts of social media imo are the endless scrolling, quick dopamine hits, comparing yourself to others, and unintentionally ending up in echo chambers. Reddit has all of that in spades whether you actually know who the people are or not.
I think Reddit still has a different quality because there are countless subs organized by topic and mutual interest. Also. many of them value a substantial exchange and deeper conversations on specific topics than any other platform I know. It may be social media of sorts but it doesn't share a lot of the shallowness and pointlessness of other platforms.
Yes and donāt forget the important part of it being mostly anonymous for people.
I like to call it antisocial media. You get to talk to people without ever meeting them or knowing anything about them, which means you don't hate them.
I hate Redditors more than any other social media.
I find Instagram is WAY worse. But I also only really frequent niche subs on reddit about my own personal interests so I could be biased.
I doubt you're paying that much attention to each username on each comment. You just hate that comment, there's no person behind for you to hate. I mean, you can hate the collective, but for me redditors are just people and I hate people already, so yeah.
I called out someone for bullying the other day and more people came to the bullies defense than the person he was making fun of. Someone then got on obvious alt account and went into my profile history to try to find stuff to make fun of me for. Reddit is worse because it's anonymous.
Yeah but their usernameās always something like I_CUM_ON_KITTENS so you canāt take them too seriously
Aww, I hate you too Wigglums š¤
Oooh I hate a lot of people on this site alright. But that in of itself is something I hate about myself. So I have come full circle.
It is, just because you can be somewhat anonymous doesn't change the fact that reddit is social media.
It kind of is, it kind of isn't. It's anonymous which makes it different because you can't really be virtue signaling, chasing clout, be afraid of ruining your reputation, and trying to impress your friends in the same way you do with accounts linked to your name. The anonymity is good in that regard. I think it inspires more honesty and less facade. But still people can be addicted to getting "likes", using it to reinforce their beliefs, bully, grandstand, use it as an outlet for rages, troll, get involved in petty and not petty dramas and pyle ons, and so on.
Itās more about having access to instant dopamine of āone more post to look atā rather than the self esteem issue that Instagram etc deals out.
It can be used to manipulate people just as easily as Twitter and Facebook.
If anything the anonymity makes it more likely people are going to be assholes and toxic here because what they say is less likely to be associated with them. Maybe itās just the people I know in real life but I hardly ever see people I know posting hateful things on facebook, instagram, etc. here though, people a awful as fuck - myself included at times
Don't forget the bots and actual government agents designed to influence public opinion. I'd say thats the majority on this hellhole. And there is absolutely virtue signaling and chasing clout and reputation, except instead of trying to impress friends you're trying to appease the communist hivemind and not get censored or banned
That doesn't stop redditors from consistently doing all those things.
More like a forum. We can remain anonymous by choice without having to display our full names or to what we look like in reality.
Exactly no one knows your name or where youāre from.
It's Reverse Cheers
That was comedic gold
š¶ā¦where we donāt wanna know your naaaaaameā¦. ā¦.and could care less if you caaaaaameā¦.š¶
Iām willing to bet a lot that 95% of usage of Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok is all scrolling the algorithm-based āFor Youā pages. Reddit is the exact same as that. The 5% missing is interaction with people you know. Thatās not on Reddit.
People using their real names and pictures on FB and other social media do it by choice. It's not that they need to. I'm completely anonymous on FB as well (just keeping it around for easy news article accessibility each day), I have a completely made up name and a random picture, because why the hell not. Same with Twitter. Which I never use, either, to be honest. While they may technically have guidelines that you're supposed to use your real name, nobody fucking cares.
Exactly what I was thinking. I deleted all social media except LinkedIn (obvious reasons), WhatsApp (because employer has a group chat Iām expected to join but I never look at it) and Reddit (because itās anonymous and easy to ignore fuckwits). But it IS social media.
I held off on LinkedIn until just a couple months ago, Iām settled happily into a career but I was curious about other salaries in my field so I caved and made a profile. Man oh man, what a mistake, spam city, even after I modified email settings and notifications I still got random shit I didnāt care about. So I deleted within a week. Good riddance.
My thoughts exactly. If we're gonna trade opinions anyway I'd rather have cat pictures.
Kind ofā¦ speaking from someone who deleted all my social media and joined Reddit recently. Itās been great btw. Love not having social media except Reddit (and Nextdoor, if that counts). Yāall are strangers I can say what I want lol.
Yes. Yes it is.
I closed all social media and then joined Reddit. First days I kinda missed the endless mindless scrolling. After that it became so much better. It's so much more peaceful and when I catch up with people we actually have a lot to talk about. Like what diner they had, what tree they hugged, what new ideas they have... Having a blast with my phone having a rest! (Except for now ofcourse, now I read and type ;) Besides now, I have so much more time for the things I love to do! Edit: typo
Same here š¤©
I deactivated my account in 2020, though I logged back in every few months to see what was going on, then finally deleted it in 2023. Between the pandemic and then the US presidential election it just became a cesspool of shitty opinions and stupid political arguments, to a point that it went from a net positive to causing more stress than it was worth. With the format of it, it's harder to miss out on that sort of stuff. Plus, it's been taken over by the baby boomers. It just isn't the same as it was when I first joined it in 2005. Honestly, I haven't missed it for a single minute. It was a tough decision when I finally deleted the account because with some people, it's the only way I was connected with them. That's been the only negative. There has not been one time where I've thought, "Man... I wish I could log in to Facebook..."
Reddit is the only social media I use now and my goodness how amazing it feels to be free of the other stuff. On here I can just be a random person that goes through phases of posting, the past few days I have been on here a lot, it has been helping me wind down from a long period of extensive stress at work. There aren't any bs images you have to abide by and your career won't be at risk from every small thing you might do or say online. I've been social media (and dating app) free for several years now - I turned my life completely around after having bad news and being stuck - the longer I go without it, the more pity I feel for people trapped in the cycle, especially now from birth. Even on Reddit you come across so many people with stories and lives that are just completely a result of social media intake. It's a plague on the world worse than what humanity really is, anyone reading this - get off it! You'll achieve far more in your life from setting your own goals and using your own time then having all of that authority and (perceived) will stolen from you in the endless life-sucking carrot on a stick that is social media.
Same here. Reddit is ok, but theyāre still harvesting your data for profit.
Although Reddit has started to show "recommended" subs, generally speaking I like the fact it's not just showing me self-fulfilling content. If I like one thing on social media my feed is full of similar or paid content about it. I get a good variety of funny videos, intelligent discussion, memes, news etc. Also, I can just be myself here. No one knows me, and if anything I'm more honest. I find I can disagree, or laugh, or offer advice and not have to be like "here's my name and address and photo of my cat so you know who I am". People say Reddit is bad, but I'd disagree. Yes okay it's not perfect.... but compared to the comments on Facebook and Instagram and X (urgh), then it's leagues above. Just internet strangers chatting over shared interests is what the internet is for. And I don't feel like I'm having to pay (or get my data harvested for ad revenue) as I browse
Exactly I'd rather have anonymous people being authentic, regardless of toxicity over a bombardment of life sucking dopamine hits. Of course there is overlap here but I feel as though Reddit is only there when you want it. Whereas other forms of social media actively condition you to live it.
I feel like upvoting your comment is now going to be the antithesis of what we're trying to avoid, butt there we go haha!
haha touchƩ! maybe we just love the ignorance, hanging on to the last thread of easily gained accomplishment for cheap rhetoric; where other forms of social media have failed to scratch the itch... Though I much prefer thinking of an upvote as a light-hearted 'touchƩ' to a well constructed individual thought lol
Left facebook \~2010 (I was an adopter in its first year-ish, was a frosh when it released), and twitter (ahem \*X\*) about a month after Elon bought it. Facebook was a bit hard, my social life took a hit because I stopped getting invited to things (that was when facebook was cool) but I really appreciated not having my name tagged in photos without my control. And not constantly being reminded that everyone is an idiot helps too. Twitter was easier and my life is happier and less anxious for it. I wasn't really using it much at the end, the fun was gone out of it and I just used it as a news aggregator. Overall I feel freer, I'm more focused on what's around me and less anxious. And my opinion of people irl is higher.
Facebook right now is either angry people or boomers copy pasting reminders that Facebook doomsday is coming if you donāt copy paste that message.
Omg yes. My mother discovered Facebook and that was one of the deciding factors in me deleting my account.
The people who would know this are not on Reddit.
It was the most notable and immediate change for my mental health. I feel better all the time and more focused.Ā
I feel so much better. I was so worried about what everyone else was doing, how everyone would perceive my life, and who was overall doing better than I was. Iād stalk profiles of people who have hurt me, to see if they were happy. I realized comparison truly is the thief of joy. I was off for 5 years, joined back for like 3 years, and just deleted all my accounts again. Not to mention all the posts about how if youāre fat (Iām fat) youāre worthless, and to be happy you HAVE to lose weight. Or the posts about how in order to be a fulfilled woman you have to find a man to submit to, or that if you choose to be single and self sufficient you shouldnāt be proud of yourself nor should you expect a man to love you. It was so debilitating to my sense of self worth. I feel free.
I think I need one of those phone addiction apps because even if I delete Instagram I'll just scroll here or somewhere else. Phone addiction is real.Ā
so peaceful. there feels like thereās so much day to be had now.
Holy shit so much less exhausting. I deleted facebook last june & I deleted instagram this past november. Two big things: 1) my screen time went down by about 2 hours a day, and 2) I am so much less mentally exhausted. I still go on here & youtube, but the content on both is much more wholesome & the comments are much less hostile as well (at least for my personal feeds). I redownloaded instagram a few days ago and after 1.5 days I had to delete it again bc I was immediately so sucked back into it & I could feel my mental energy draining big time. Life is a lot better without that duo on my phone
More happier and more connected with my friends!
Iāll let you know when I get rid of Reddit cause itās the place that makes me the most depressed. Ā
For real. Reddit is good because it's silent but I hate about 60% of redditors.
Iāve had to leave Soo many subreddits over the years for that exact reason
Reddit is probably up there with Twitter. Maybe not *as* bad. But definitely not great lol. The anonymity exposes how shitty people are capable of being. It's good to take a break from it every now and then
Itās actually a life.
Been 1 year since I deleted Instagram, donāt see myself going back
I'm a lot happier overall, but I have noticed a sharp decline in my ability to pick up on more current pop culture references.
This! TikTok was my source of everything that was going on that was not news. The language, the references, the abbreviations, the trends. Now I feel like I am REALLY behind.
Facebook made me mentally tired. I cannot explain it. I deleted it ~8 years ago and it was a great decision. Not sure why people still use it, to be honest. Instagram constantly made me feel inadequate and ugly. Plus, I just could no longer stand looking at other people trying to increase their value by whatever. I left. TikTok was cool. I liked it. But then it got reallyā¦ weird. The line between real and fake got blurred. Plus, it became infested with people giving really stupid advice or creating illusions. I left. So nowā¦ I am less frustrated, I feel more connected to the outside world, I hear my inner voice and I am happier overall.
Isn't Reddit social media??
Reddit fits into [Wikipedia's definition of social media](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media): > Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the creation, sharing and aggregation of content, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks.
Which while a great description, is also terribly broad because no one would say that web forums are social media.
Why not?
Anonymous forumĀ
I still scroll YouTube and reddit endlessly so from that perspective itās the same. Iām a lot more satisfied with my own life though- comparison is the thief of joy and comparing my life to the perfectly curated instalies was slowly driving me madā¦
Is absolutely fantastic.
Left MySpace last year, never looked back!
I have so much more mental and emotional energy for real life - for my kids, for my friends. For my husband, for my family. I also gave up alcohol. Been off social media (except reddit) since 10/2022, and Iām really glad to still be off. Also, Iāve found my anxiety is WAY better, I sleep better (ish- still have kids that wake me up), Iām more present in moments, not focused on getting pics for social media of my kids or with us as a family, pics happen sometimes but sometimes they donāt. Additionally, I feel less powerless. No human has been made to carry the weight of all the trauma that exists on social media or ābad newsā, and being inundated with all the shit going on everywhere is not mentally healthy or realistic. It left me angry, powerless, and depressed. So, to combat this, my husband (who doesnāt have anxiety) stays connected to the news and keeps me informed of current events, but avoids talking to me about the things that trigger my anxiety. I also donate money consistently to different āgood/ethicalā organizations that then use that money in many of the areas that are experiencing violence and trauma. My heart canāt handle all the hurt in the world. Knowing all of it and being inundated everytime I opened social media just was honestly tearing me apart. It made me not a healthy mom. I can say my relationships with my real life friends and family have deepened, have gotten better, and I experience more joy. Moments of great joy arenāt tainted when I open FB and see some one I know posting about a death, a trauma, abuse, violence.
nobody wishes you happy birthday anymore, over other than that, MUCH better.
So pleasant, encourages me to reach out to people more one on one because Iām not sure what theyāve been up to
Does reddit count in your mind?
Much better!!!!! My self esteem went through the roof
Just fine. It didnāt even exist until recently.
We're all on Reddit
Fine, my wrist feels better :).
Never understood the whole āsocial media = fake people and pointless updatesā. I follow landrovers, guitars, tattooās, tents, hardcore bands and meme pages. Itās a blast!!
Highly recommend it. I was scared at first but I have felt a huge part of my authentic self return. Itās fun when Iām in a social setting and people bring up things I have no clue what they are talking about. Iām usually the only one sitting with my phone down giving my attention to them. I mean to a bunch of hands holding phones. It takes a while to get use to but I think if you do it you will grow in a different way.
Itās really healthy for the mental, at least in my experience. Gives you a lot more time to focus on yourself instead of seeing negativity and fake people trying to prove themselves on social media. Reddit at least give me some drama to read which makes me feel better about my life.
I have episodes where I'm sick of the negativity on Instagram so I sometimes delete the app. The problem is when I start to feel better and get bored, I redownload the app and use it for awhile until I get sick of the negativity again. It's an awful cycle
Well, I still have reddit soā¦ Nothing really changed. The focus just sort of went everything to reddit.
I find topics like these so amusing. Reddit is also social media šš
Social media is such a broad topic. There is a difference between personal social media and anonymous forum sites. Yes technically they are both āsocial mediaā but the use case for both are vastly different.
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Nice. Bit weird to get used to not constantly scrolling. And I still have it installed as a way to keep up with people if I need a fast way to reach them. But now it's just relaxing to know there's a hurricane of bullshit happening even as we speak that people are opting into. They're opting into pure bullshit that will add nothing to their lives and means nothing to anyone except advertisers and data brokers. And all you have to do is nothing. It's that easy to stay out of.
I just end up on Reddit more. Although I donāt get bombarded with the constant ads anymore which is nice
Been social media free for about 4 years . I don't miss it . It's all fake bullshit. I kept messenger to keep in touch with a few people but that's it .
I deleted Facebook and very rarely post on Instagram. A vast majority of people forget I exist and I get like zero birthday wishes. I didnt delete it but I only started following people that do art that I know. No selfies unless it's super rare, no showing off wealth or vacations or anything, no fake life shit. It sucks losing chit chat with people you don't see often when you or they post, a lot of things suck about not having it actually. But it's good for my mental health not seeing the fake life bs. But then again, that really depends on what you personally choose to follow. It's not like Facebook or Twitter where it's just shitty and polarizing opinions none stop. So honest opinion? I'm a bit torn.
Tears of despair streaming down my face after hearing this news
Reddit is the only social media platform i use, i dont miss instagram etc but tbh i doom scroll on reddit alot and i feel like its becoming problematic. Actually its not becoming problematic it already is problematic š
Amazing! Still love reddit, but deleting IG and TT was the best decision I have ever made.
AMAZING...but now I just spend more time on Reddit.
I have gotten rid of Twitter, Instagram, Identifiable Reddit, Snapchat, and Facebook. I still have my anonymous Reddit and my LinkedIn. Never been happier with social media.
Back to healthy normal life
I deleted insta like two months ago now. I now scroll reddit instead and don't compare my life to anyone. also have a lot less social interactions now somehow.
Don't know I still have reddit installed
Well considering this Is social media I'm guessing you will not get an accurate answer.
reddit is also social media
You won't find the answer on reddit, lol
You're asking *REDDITORS?!?*Ā
Wonderful! Even though Reddit is social media but I see it more like one giant combination of different forums.
Actually it soooo peacefull even though i don't use it too much whenever i look at instagram after a long time i js feel insecure.So its really peacefull after not usin or deleting social medias.
me personally, I feel detached and I wonder always, what my friends were/are up to. some months ago I even missed that a friend has gotten married lol. its not all pretty tbh
Better but harder to follow bands and find concerts
Improved Mental Health: Social media can sometimes contribute to feelings of inadequacy, anxiety, or depression, especially when comparing oneself to others or dealing with online harassment. Deleting social media may lead to reduced stress and improved overall well-being.
Reddit help me get rid of ig & fb. But I still doing endless reddit scrolling
I've been off Instagram for a few months, and I love it. It can be slightly isolating though. I want everyone else to get off it too, so it has less personal/social costs. There's a [summer off social media challenge](https://www.getignite.org/) I signed up for that's trying to start a mass exodus. Maybe if other people do it it will be easier
I deleted TikTok earlier this week and it has been REFRESHING! I find myself trying to click it a bunch of times during the day and realizing that itās gone. Social media started only showing me things that were tailored to upset me, so I started getting rid of it. Thereās so much happiness to be found in every day life when you can get away from a lot of the doom and gloom that social media constantly shoves at you! Iām going to work on reducing my reddit intake next!
Deleted FB and IG last June and itās a breath of fresh air, every single dayā¦ Iām only on reddit and YT now to get the news or watch educational videos and political commentaryĀ
Deleted by FB in 2017 after a crazy toxic relationship, and was mostly sick of all the trolling and bullying to be seen online. Never had an Instagram, nor a SnapChat, and I will NEVER, EVER, in a million years, download TikTok. I absolutely LOVE it :) It's definitely not necessary whatsoever.
The only social media I use these days is Reddit and we have a family Facebook page to share pics of the kids. Too much social media is definitely a drain.
Real.
Same. Didn't bothered me before nor does it now.
I don't have any social media accounts at all, I never even created them. Over time I got asked why I not have \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ account, but... Just nope. The only exceptions are some forum sites, Pinterest and Reddit, of course.
Much better, trust me, best thing I've done in years. Fuck them social validation girls and boys.
Liberating
Very peaceful, I lasted 7 years without it
Sad. My pet rock doesn't talk to me anymore, either.
Never used anything other than FB messenger and Snapchat and only to talk with friends and I'm glad I don't
I don't do Facebook, Instagram, any of that. I am on reddit and a few technical forums. I'm happy this way.
I just deleted both Instagram/FB, today. I like Reddit because I get to join subs and connect with people that can relate about things in common.
Social media is such a cancer. I don't miss a thing from them
I'm here now and more addicted than ever so...