I want to leave Social Media

[Pricelessadvice]

Any tips? Unfortunately I do use it for my business (advertising- showing customers results, which they love and look forward to seeing) so can’t just delete my personal account as I need it to have my business page.

But I am finding myself becoming frustratingly annoyed/angry with the mindless nonsense, Influencers, desperate posts for attention… yet I get into a rut of doom scrolling. I hate it. I’m frustrated with myself because I’m wasting my life on something that winds me up.

I only use FB and instagram (don’t have TikTok). I tried an app that locked the apps for a specified time, but I just ended up unlocking them.
I hate what these things are doing to my brain.

Anyone managed to do it? Help and solidarity needed!

I read somewhere that constantly scrolling online gives them the same feeling as a hangover. That resonated with me because it pinned down exactly how being online on social media (including on here) makes me feel. And as a result I have reduced my online activities.

I deactivated and uninstalled facebook. Only have whatsapp now. I maybe go on mumsnet more now! But at least that is real people with real problems! What was annoying me about fb was a lot of content not of my choosing, and then even people I was following started to format their posts in what seems to be the trend of two lines of text, gap, then another two lines of text, gap etc. I just felt really irritated with people who didnt do that then started doing it. Im of the opinion now that my attention comes at a price - at the moment reserved for mums on mumsnet, family on whatsapp, checking my bank account, and bbc news, iplayer, vinted, ocado website!

I recommend considering other ways to advertise your business. See what you can come up with. It does feel relentless, and then you are trapped if you feel that your business relies on it.
You can delete your account and it gives you 30 days grace. In that time you can bring it back to life.

Or think about creating a business page and deactivating your own for a while.
I found the urge to 'check fb' lifted and it was a massive weight off my shoulders.

Thank you for your comments. FB really is the best way to engage with the business and I get a huge amount of enquiries through it, so I really can’t let that side go. It’s my full time job and main source of income.
I do use a business page on FB, but you can’t have a business page without it being linked to a personal one.

I think I might start by getting rid of instagram. That’s the one that annoys me the most in terms of content (influencers, ‘funny’ reels etc).

I think you can try separating your business account from your personal scrolling. Turning off notifications and moving the apps off your home screen can also reduce the urge to open them automatically. Or like I use it, you could use it on the browser instead of an app.

I deleted both insta and FB. Lile you i was fed up of the "influencers" the reels, doom scrolling. At first i was a bit lost but now Im not even bothered. A friend asked me to look at something and i reinstalled it, looked, closed insta and now the app sits unused. I have no desire to go on now.

Facebook, noone really posts anything decent on there now so i deleted the app a while back HOWEVER its still good for the pages where you can get information and that is hooking me back in via the internet page not the app. Ive been on there more recently looking at specific things for a holiday were going on and I am being really careful not to doom scroll.

Can you try and allocate a timeslot a day for posting your client pics and doing any research/replies and dont go on it outwith that time?

You could start by deleting your Mumsnet account.
And then there's YouTube, email lists, WhatsApp... All SM too.
If you only meant "leave facebook" then maybe should have said FBk not SM.

Facebook only feeds you stuff you reacted to & watched & didn't curate off your feed. Finding self-discipline in many areas of life is difficult. There are specialist counsellors or services that help with that.

With a business its important to continue with your business account. However, this has been my answer!

1. Delete all friends off your personal account and change your profile picture to a greyed out profile icon

1. Delete the fb app off your phone

1. Only use the business account on your work laptop

pay a comms person to do your posts

I feel the same. I’m more interested in MN and should really delete this. I spend far too much time on it.

You can deactivate Facebook but keep open Facebook messenger, which I thought was a great deal.

I personally got fed up with all the clickbait news articles flooding my Facebook news feed even when I didn't follow those pages. I find Instagram easier to control what I see on my news feed to what I follow only.

I am the same as you, I need FB (to a certain extent) for advertising my business and its still the place people go in my area and demographic to let people know what I do.

But I deleted it from my phone about 4 or 5 years ago and it was the best thing I ever did. I go on when I am on my laptop which is only a few times a week and I advertise on my business page, share adverts then come off it. It made such a difference to my mental health.

I feel I should do Instagram and I do have a page but I refuse to be drawn in to it on my phone. I have thought about linking the FB and IG so whatever I post on FB goes on to the other but then I would need to enagage with private messages on IG and I can't be arsed with it.

I still have the Meta Business on my phone and Messenger so I do get private messages fron prospective clients.

I do still have a fb personal page but its not something I think about much anymore.

(Now, Mumset is another thing altogether and I am still constantly trying to come off it. I have periods of time when I put a timer on my phone for the day and I get on with so much more and feel better but I get tired or fed up and here I am again.)

Interestingly, I know forums are probably classed as social media, but as they’ve been around for longer than things like Facebook and instagram (and MySpace, back in the day!) I don’t consider them true social media. It’s things with short videos and sponsored rubbish that I’m trying to avoid. Image-based and video based content. I actually enjoy chatting and discussing things on forums. I certainly don’t feel it’s rotting my brain like instagram is!
I have a rare health condition that means I don’t get to live a fully normal life so forums are a nice way for me to interact with people.

Came off insta and FB for Lent.

It’s wonderful!

I'm coming from a particular vantage point because I've never had any social media for personal use.
Recently, though, I started to use Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn for my business which necessitated setting up personal accounts too. I can see how people get drawn in.

One of the ways I've resisted this is by booking slots in my diary as dedicated social media advertising time. The same as any other meeting, once the time's up, I close the social media sites and get on with my life. I find it really works and separates my time on social media from my wider life because I feel like "Right, I've got half hour on here to do some advertising" and that's it.

The problem with people being so boundaried around only using it for business purposes is that that increases the frustration other users feel with the apps!

I hate that it is now all advertising form people who don't interact, uplifting or bringing anything new to the party!

I personally take a dimmer view of friends I know who don't interact at all EXCEPT to advertise. They don't like or share or support others but then expect that for their posts.

I hate fb and insta now as I hate being shown videos of people I dont know and being advertised to all the time. I loved the original way of using them, catching up with others, seeing pics and news etc. But that has all but gone now.

FB and Instagram probably aren't the best platforms for advertising on, FB is 20 years old and Instagram not far off it, mainly used for looking at stories and no interacting.
Pick better pages, groups, and people to follow. I don't see influencer stuff or local idiots. TikTok is great, I learned about forest plants that are edible, nettle tea, beautiful locations, a community for people with abusive parents, recipes, etc.

One way to deal with it is limiting time and location of access. If you really need it for work, then schedule it as part of your work day and do on a dedicated machine, lap top or workstation. No access on personal phone and no access on personal time.
Good luck!

I deleted FB about 10 years ago and I don't miss it one bit. IG is so addictive, I understand where you're coming from. I uninstall it all the time only to download it again a few weeks later. One day I'll stop, it's a journey! Deleting the app on your phone and then having to logon online with a computer or laptop is a good suggestion, that way you can use it for work without easily getting sucked into doom scrolling.

I understand that. Mine is simply a business page where I post pictures of my customers animals. The owners love it and actively tell me they can’t wait to see the pictures. So it’s not active advertising, but does work as such because other people see it and then like what they see (if that makes sense). You have to follow my page to see them, I don’t do any sponsored (pushed) ads.

'm coming from a particular vantage point because I've never had any social media for personal use.

Except Mumsnet?? If you waive MN you probably exclude many other SM in that sentence.

It’s things with short videos and sponsored rubbish that I’m trying to avoid.
One way to try to reshape habits is to impose defined rules. This is how abstinence works in Overeaters Anon, for instance, when people want to stop being compulsive about food which they still obv. need. I read those words from OP and want to say these are 3 basic rules OP could follow:

1.On Facebook only go to your business page,
1.1you're not allowed to look at any other page on FBk.
On your business page, you only allow yourself 2 activities:
1.2making new/editing posts &
1.3checking for comments.
When those things are done, you are done, leave FBk/close the App.

2.Also on your phone: turn off all notifications on FBk or Messenger Apps.

3.On Messenger, check every 2 hours in business hours (or whatever response time you want ) for new business-related messages.

You could soften rules under (1) by allowing yourself 40 minutes on a designated day of the week, say Sunday, to catch up on whatever Friends post about their personal lives. In that period, still not allowed to look at reels, and hit the X button (+irrelevant) on any post in your feed not related to business or your friends' personal lives.

I don't see MN as social media.

On here, you don’t know who anyone is and nobody’s curating a personal identity. You’re debating topics with strangers, not connecting with people you know or building a personal profile. For me, it’s a forum, not social media.

I've never had any form of account (social media, or forum) linked to my personal name and identity.

I wanted to come off FB but find it’s the only place to find out what’s going on locally. We’re quite rural and a small town, so all businesses, events, road closures etc are posted on there. I came off it for a whole and missed out on a few things I’d wanted to know about. It’s so frustrating that FB seems to have a monopoly on getting local information out there.

Yes that’s the problem I have too. I only use it for local info now.

I haven’t been on instagram for 48 hours now and I feel better for it. Small step perhaps but a positive one.