At what point in your life did you ditch all SM?

[justanothermanicmonday1]

light hearted

Just that really.

At what age did you completely ditch all social media and never looked back?

Was there a specific turning point that made you do it?

I haven't had FB in about 8 years. However, I still have instagram.

Problem is, I find myself comparing myself to what my other friends and family are doing and I end up feeling less than. I know people only show the good "moments" however I know this isn't healthy so I think I'm going to delete my account.

I'm about to have my second DC, and me and DP have made a lovely little life for ourselves. So im wondering if it's just raging hormones at being 8 months pregnant or whether anyone else feels the same towards SM?

Thanks :-)

I haven't come off them but have changed the way I use them. I keep my Twitter, IG and Tiktok accounts but never post on them. Twitter I only dip into very occasionally, say once every few weeks, Tiktok similar. IG I tend to just look at once before I go to bed, I mainly follow food and interiors pages and find the images relaxing.

FB is the one I still use most, I follow lots of local pages and organisations, it's really useful for that stuff. I am also in a lot of special interest groups and find those really helpful too. If I do post anything outside a group it is just a nice photo of somewhere I've been or similar, I like it when friends do the same, love seeing their holiday snaps etc. But it is very de-personalised on the whole, very few people I know post family stuff now. I think if used like this it can be a positive thing, but you have to be ruthless about unfollowing or blocking anyone or anything that is having a negative effect on you or that you realise you have nothing in common with apart from having been at the same school or whatever.

Bloody adverts are what’ll see me off.

I realised last night that when I pick my phone up for a scroll during TV ad breaks, I’m just swapping one lot of ads for another more personalised lot.

If the platform’s free, you’re the product.

I occasionally look atFB but haven’t posted for a couple of years ,twitter and Tik Tock I have never explored and only follow my children on Instagram…have no idea how to post!

But surely MN is very different as it's a 'forum' not SM as such. With anonymous usernames - very rarely any photos. I don't think you can compare it.

But to answer your thread OP I binned most of it off in my late 30s and have never been happier.

Created a profile on Facebook about 20 years ago because I thought I’d need it for a project I was involved in at the time. Turns out I didn’t, so it’s sat there all this time and I’ve never posted a single thing. Friends tried to engage with me on it at first but I found it so weirdly superficial and performative that I’d be getting, for example, birthday congratulations on a public forum from people I was already on private text chats with, or would be seeing that day IRL. I mean, it’s nice and all that, but why not just say it when you see me?!

I was always pretty appalled at how freely people would post photos of their kids and intimate details of their lives. Even back then it struck me as such an invasion of their children’s privacy, creating this indelible digital archive, their whole history and childhood laid out for anyone to poke around in for the rest of their lives. And all this shit is only ever posted for the benefit of the parents, to make them look and sound like mum-of-the-year or give the illusion of some picture perfect, high achieving, glossy happy family. As a very private person, the thought of my parents (or anyone) doing this to me outside of my consent or control absolutely horrifies me.

Then there’s all the ‘look at my shiny life’ stuff, people outdoing each other with their outfits/social life/holiday destinations. And all the pressure to like and comment every fucking minute of every day, the social requirement to respond to every bit of self-absorbed bilge and vain, filtered selfie - gaaahd, makes my head hurt just thinking about it!

I’m so glad I swerved the whole thing - I knew (after the fascination of trawling through other people’s profiles had worn off, obvs) that it wouldn’t be a positive addition to my life so I just left it alone. Never bothered with the toxic swamp of Twitter, cba with Instagram. I share the very few things I want to on small, private WhatsApp groups, and that’s enough for me.

And I feel lucky to be in that position. My kids and most of the generations who are currently under 40 are enmeshed with and imprisoned by it. They do use it as a tool, but equally they’re put under constant, nagging pressure by it. The one thing
I’ve heard repeatedly from 20-somethings is that they wish they’d grown up without the existence of social media, which is so sad.

I have FB but purely for membership of a couple of voluntary groups that I am part of. I don't post or share pictures outside of them.

I tried twitter years ago for a bit, but didn't really 'get' it. I don't use Instagram or Pinterest, and I've never been on TikTok.

LinkedIn for work, but I very rarely post.

I am not there OP, maybe one day. In the last couple of years I have unfollowed all those people from school I never talk to on instagram and removed them as followers too. I also unfollowed all the “what are they even famous for?” Celebs as honestly their content didn’t make me feel good and i choose to only follow those who add value to my life now, which helps. I removed similar types from Facebook a long time ago and mostly use it to update family on the kids. No twitter. I use TikTok for travel/recipes/DIY etc although I feel like this is the easiest app to fall into the trap of mindless scrolling

This is still a lot really, more time than I ideally want to spent on SM

I don't to insta, or TikTok or FB or snapchat or any of it apart from WhatsApp which I only ever use for making or confirming arrangements.
I waste too much time on here...I'd be even more of a procrastinator if I did anything else, I'm very good when I'm working at 'knuckling down' and very motivated, but non-working days I'm 100% shite....I mean I currently have sheets that need changing, laundry to put away, breakfast gubbins to put in dishwasher, animals to sort out before it gets any hotter....but I'm currently sat on my backside drinking coffee whilst mumsnetting, I honestly need a rocket up the arse!

Working towards it!!

I still have a FB account, which I rarely post on or look at. Endless ads and “recommended for you” algorithm pushed drivel to wade through. White noise waste of time. It’s not even useful for keeping up with friends - few are on it now and impossible to read quickly and chronically. But I still check it for certain community groups.

Twitter - I never, ever post, but I’m a news and politics addict and scroll it too much. I enjoy following journalists and academics, but lots have come off the platform since Musk took over and it’s a pale imitation. Need to give it up and get my life back. I’ll get my news and info from podcasts.

Never done TikTok, Instagram or others. It’s just homemade ads and promotion and unrealistic. I don’t care to be “influenced”.

LinkedIn is cringeworthy. In my profession it’s annoying. I was forced to build a profile by my company, but I never look at it - many contacts are old and out of date.

I didn’t ‘ditch’ Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or tick-tock because I have never used any of them.
I do have a Twitter account in a fake name, linked to a burner e-Mail address which I use to follow news & media outlets, journalists, sports people, politicians etc. I don’t tweet myself & have no followers. Apart from MN, again not linked to my real identity or eMail address, that’s it.

This.

I've never had Twitter or tiktok.
I go on Instagram maybe 2-3 times a month for 20 minutes.
Facebook I use a bit more as I'm abroad and it's how I keep family updated with my life. But I rarely scroll now. I have a 30 minute timer for Facebook and don't see it every day.

But Mumsnet is so addictive😅 I've increased my phone usage since reading and not sure how to scale it back!

But you are still on Mumsnet?

In my late forties I realised it was bad for my mental health. So I ditched SM, which upset a few people. But things have been better without it.

@Daisybuttercup12345 as others have stated, MN is anonymous, and I don't find myself having FOMO/comparing myself to others on MN.

MN isn’t social media, it’s a forum. Forums are for discussion and have been around for millennia in various forms, the Internet forum obviously being very recent. Social media is for updating people on your life and isn’t usually anonymous.

I don’t use SM OP. I deactivated FB around 6 years ago and Instagram almost 12 months ago. I’ve never looked back, it’s such a waste of time. If I need a social media account to keep in touch with people, then I don’t need to be in touch with those people is how I see it.

I have fb and ig, but I love overseas and use it really to keep in touch with what wider family and friends are up to. Those people you don't message daily/weekly.

However, it doesn't take up Lita of my time, rarely am I mindlessly scrolling, maybe a couple of times a month.

I only had Facebook, I came stopped going on it last year as I was I'll and couldn't watch a tv I really wanted to, I didn't want any spoilers so I stayed off it, I haven't got back onto it. Don't miss it one bit. My life is much better without social media.

Ditched FB a few years ago and never regretted it. I know quite a few people now who have ditched FB in particular and with it not being fashionable with teens/young adults I can't see it lasting in it's current format for much longer. I don't know anyone under the age of 20 with FB, none of my kids friends use it at all.
Still use Instagram but with very limited friends and don't find that bad at all.
Never had Twitter or Snapchat or TikTok.

Late 30s with small children and I got rid of my fb and insta apps about 6 months ago. I still have the accounts so can log in on a browser and do occasionally for specific reasons but not often.

I was in lots of parent groups which I really struggled with as they were all so "perfect" and would slate any parent who did things even a little bit differently. It really got under my skin without me realising and I was so worried about being judged. I also have a few friends / acquaintances who would constantly post about their supposedly perfect lives and even though I know it was all a load of rubbish it definitely got to me.

I do miss elements, I miss knowing what's happening in the community and regularly seeing pictures of family who live abroad, but on balance my mental health and wellbeing is better without it.... and I've had so much more time to relax, read and craft!

I use Facebook for some groups I’m on relating to interests/hobbies so I use it a lot but rarely post on my profile. Instagram I have bit scroll through it a couple of times a day.

About 4 years ago, I have little interest in other people's stupid selfies, etc.

I just have fb for a few business and hobby groups. I've unfollowed but unfriended all friends so I don't anything other than groups. Instagram I just business account.

About 2 years ago for FB although stopped posting before that, unfollowed everyone and just used it for groups/businesses but deactivated after a while.

Do dip back in every now and then for work related info but not much and don't miss it.

IG again don't follow "friends" just businesses/hobbies I might be interested in etc.

I stopped following people I know as I figure if we're good friends we'll catch up in real life or via messages. If not then there's not much point really.

I have but dont post anything on my ig, Twitter or fb. Just use then now to keep in the loop with my children’s clubs and activities and news in general. I don’t share any information about my life anymore, and I am 100% happier living that way!

Why is IG felt to be less toxic than FB? I have no problems at all with FB, still find it all pretty benign and a nice way to keep up with other people's news.