To find Facebook depressing?

[Misterbumpbump]

I know, it might sound strange but I hate looking at it. Hate looking through the news feeds it always makes me feel like a failure and pretty shit in general. I try and avoid it but sometimes I am drawn to flicking through but my feelings remain the same.

Bloody hell that's bad isn't it.

I'm not dissing anyone who uses and likes Facebook, I just wonder what's wrong with me I wish I could feel positive about it!

listen most people on facebook and other social media do not live the life they portray everybody looks happy because you are not but really they are probably the same as you it used to annoy me too but dont worry about them just try better yourself.
Deactivate your profile for a while

YANBU, I hate it. Or I should say, I hated it - I deactivated my account about a year ago now and I don't miss it one bit! It used to make me feel crap and lonely even though I have a perfectly good life.

It sounds like you are focussing your own general dissatisfaction on Facebook - would it help to make positive changes in your life?

Most people just show their best bits. I personally love seeing highlights of friends' lives but I can see that if you're not in a happy place it could get you down. Just remember it's the person's chosen image and not likely to be the full story. I've had friends go on about their love for dp then next minute they've split etc
I do get ideas for days out - what is it about their lives you want? Can you replicate any bits in your life?
We all have times we feel like a failure it's how you pick yourself back up and try again that makes the difference.

YANBU, I too have considered deactivating my account. There are so many little cliques at work who are always advertising that they have been out somewhere, as if they just need to rub it in that others haven't been invited. If it wasn't for fb I wouldn't have even known they had met up, so wouldn't feel like Billy No mates.Just make me feel crap.

Yanbu

I use Facebook for the groups. We chat, do daft quizzes, have fun.

YANBU but as someone else has said, it's not always real life.
I know it's hard not to be sucked into it, it becomes a habit. I took the app off my phone which made it easier to avoid - got so fed up of reading things that were totally at odds with what was being said to me in real life.
Make it harder to access - a baby step down from deactivating if that seems too extreme.

Very good points. The thing is, I do like to think of myself as a friendly upbeat person in general I am not that miserable...honest!
I just don't 'get' Facebook. I have no desire to get involved in it and it generally puts me in a shit mood.
I think thats the thing that is probably bothering me - why do I hate it so much when most people love it.

If you hate it then you have the wrong friends on there. I don't have people who make me feel inferior on mine. I don't have much to boast about myself!

What kind of stuff are they posting?

YANBU! I hate it!

Will be deleting my account tomorrow. Seriously. Tomorrow.

For me I like it because I get to see photos of what my friends are up to, people post interesting or funny things that they find, I'm in several groups where people post interesting or relevant questions, I follow a few pages which post interesting articles etc.

I like posting photos of DS or photos I've taken and little funny/interesting things that have happened recently. People reply, it's nice.

Good to know I am not the only one who feels this way! I suppose I get annoyed with the 'everything's wonderful' stuff... Perfect fun interesting lives happy families, holidays, perfect perfect. Like it's showing off. Maybe I've got the wrong friends on there. Flipping heck I sound soooo miserable!! Sorry.

If you like social media for funny videos, news, gossip etc then use twitter. I find it's more impersonal and doesn't have the crap that fb has but you can get the fun aspects of it.

FB is not compulsory.

I agree with BertieBotts.
I have only been on FB about a year, belong to a couple of groups.
I am careful who I "friend".....certainly not mere acquaintances.

My friends post reasonable things.

I have not experienced this one upmanship that I read about on MN.

Well, that all goes on who you befriend on there in the first place, doesn't it? Your newsfeed is only as good as the people you allow to be on there.
If you hate to see any happy news, or events in your feed as it makes you feel depressed then that's worth looking into deeper.
Why do you feel depressed at other people's lives and their daily happenings?
If you feel that way maybe disengage for a little bit and concentrate on building yourself up.

Perfect fun interesting lives happy families, holidays, perfect perfect. Like it's showing off.

It always surprises me that people think like this - I am perfectly happy to share a funny thing that has happened to me with the range of people that I know on Facebook, (which includes family, lose friends and acquaintances that I like to keep up with) but I haven't even told my own mum that I have had a difficult time health-wise over the last year because it's simply not for public consumption.

Of course people are more keen to share things like the fact that they are going on holiday (which I would probably tell a stranger in Tesco if we got chatting) more than they are likely to bare their soul about their battle with depression or the worrying results of their latest smear test. I haven't told my best friend that I am currently awaiting the results of a test which could affect the rest of my life - why should I have to declare it on Facebook just to balance out the fact that my life is otherwise happy. I resent the idea that it is somehow deceitful or boastful not to air my problems in public just to ensure that other people don't feel misled because they don't know that my overall happiness has an undercurrent of terror about whether I will have bad news in the not too distant future.

I regularly take facebook breaks, i'm due one soon.

Sorry - that turned into a bit of a rant, which was not really directed at you OP (as I'm sure you can guess by the content!). I just think that people who are trying to put a positive spin on their lives, even when times are difficult, probably need support rather than condemnation.

YANBU and I think that social media in general is going to suffer a BIG drop in users soon. Well...over the next 5 years. My DD is 11 and she and some of her mates are already done with it. Having dabbled and found that it's not a very nice place at times, they're making a conscious choice to stay away. I know that could change...but I still think it indicates a change in thought process for younger generations.

These are kids who have grown up with it always being there...it's not new and shiny. I hope that it does fall out of favour.

I have a cull every now and again. I remove people I don't know that well who are just annoying. I'm sure they're perfectly nice if you know them but yes I do think sometimes it comes across as braggy, especially when they have 400 friends or so.

If I see a picture of a close friend's holiday or their kids, it doesn't come across as smug or braggy. It's nice. I think it definitely is that line between friends and acquaintances. Plus, I am not friends with smug people.

Anyone who sends me videos of cats or nauseating "if you hate cancer, share this post" would be blocked immediately.