Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Who is sick of Facebook

113 replies

MissSpock · 13/01/2018 22:56

and why?

OP posts:
nippey · 14/01/2018 07:34

I like it, only have people I want to keep in touch with and groups that I enjoy on my feed so it’s stuff I actually want to read!

Llangollen · 14/01/2018 07:37

I love Facebook. The younger ones have completely abandoned it, but people like my grand-mother and her friends are really heavy users and it's quite funny.
It still is a great way to keep in touch with people, and have a few updates on their lives. If you don't like your "friends", they can't win: negative posts and they are drama llama, positive posts and they are boasting. I do like to see what people I like are about. It's so much less intrusive than direct messages. There are only so many photos you can put on instagram.

mumpoints
You can save the posts you are interested in.

exLtEveDallas · 14/01/2018 07:44

Well I love FB. I only have people on there that I actually like and find interesting (except DH, but he'd be quite upset if I defriended him). My friends are a mixture of old school, old career, current friends, current career, friends from here and relatives.

If I add someone that turns out to be a twat, I defriend them. If they try to add me again I block them. If they ask me why, I tell them "Sorry Tony, but I found your rants racist and don't was to see them" "Sorry Aunty Ellie but I swear a lot on my FB and don't need you reporting that to my mum and upsetting her" "Sorry Jane, but I'm bored shitless of Brexit" "Sarah, you haven't changed since school, we weren't friends then and there is no point being friends now"

I like seeing pics of mates enjoying themselves. I have a lot of funny sarcastic friends who make me snort. It makes me happy to see how proud friends are of their children or themselves.

If you don't like your FB then you only have yourself to blame - the content is what you choose it to be.

RefuseTheLies · 14/01/2018 07:48

I like facebook, and I have genuine affection for everyone on my (short) friends list. I don’t do drama or jealousy, nor do the people I chose to interact with on my social media. I will continue to use it as it’s also an excellent way to find out about events and toddler classes in my local community.

Olikingcharles · 14/01/2018 07:58

Deactivated mine 7mths ago and haven't missed it at all.

BeansandSausages · 14/01/2018 08:02

I think it has had its peak. I only use it for posts from groups I need that I can't get anywhere else. I set a notification for them so I don't need to log in unless they post.

It's been so liberating leaving it well alone.

FFSenoughalready · 14/01/2018 08:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TheVeryHungryDieter · 14/01/2018 08:12

My friends are lovely people and I enjoy seeing their holidays, nights out, dinners and runs. Unfortunately since before Christmas, an algorithm change means I rarely see any of that. I used to use it a lot myself so I can filter fairly easily, and mute the odd Farage-loving grandfather of my acquaintance. I also used to post a lot of statuses until DS was a year or so old - about 2014.

These days I find the focus on news, external content and advertising too much. I don't see personal posts from my FB friends if they haven't got content attached, and it makes me less likely to post anything. I feel like my friends have left and I have got news pages and Hurrah for Gin instead, which isn't what I came for. I counted recently and every third post is promoted content, the top posts are usually the same thing for a week and other stuff isn't getting seen.

These days I open it to scan the memories section for anything embarrassing from years ago (vaguebooking, TMI posts, cringey stuff) and delete it as I'm very aware I'm not just connected to my closest friends and family anymore, but work contacts too.

And yy to whoever said that about posts disappearing. I like to look at some news articles on there because I like to check the comments, but when the news feed refreshes I have no hope of finding it again. I also have to search a friends name and a word they used if I want to see their post again.

I used to use it for news around the time of the referendum but I noticed very quickly that all the news I was seeing was articles that reflected my own view point and opinion. I was trapped in an echo chamber and it was frustrating. I now use twitter which is better for news - not only do people I follow share articles they like but they rebut articles they don't like. I use Snapchat for family where my siblings share pictures of their meals, nights out and runs. I've never liked messenger or how much data it uses us, and I already have WhatsApp which is the same but better imo.

Facebook is the last refuge of a few old friends who live across the world though. I'm planning to delete it soon, but for now I need to use it to get those friends to stay in touch.

Original poster
MissSpock · 14/01/2018 08:31

The younger ones have completely abandoned it, but people like my grand-mother and her friends are really heavy users and it's quite funny.

This is so true. lol

By the way I have deactivated my FB but messenger still works. I use the messenger app or the messenger web.

OP posts:
Original poster
MissSpock · 14/01/2018 08:31

I live overseas and I need the messenger so my mother etc can reach me - free.

OP posts:
Cyrilla · 14/01/2018 08:34

What do younger ones use now instead?

Eltonjohnssyrup · 14/01/2018 08:35

I'm not. I just have my friends on there and funnily enough I like them and I'm interested in their lives.

Eltonjohnssyrup · 14/01/2018 08:36

Snapchat Cyrilla

LifeBeginsNow · 14/01/2018 08:39

After a bout of illness I've suffered with anxiety. Since New Years I've deleted my app (still on there though) and not looked at it at all and my anxiety is improving. I'm sleeping better as a result and just spent the morning blitzing the kitchen and ready to go with more - this wouldn't have happened before as the anxiety caused me physical pain.

I didn't really think it was a problem but I was on there all the time refreshing and seemed stuck in a rut.

MrsExpo · 14/01/2018 08:49

I keep my account to keep in touch with family overseas and because a couple of hobby groups I’m involved with use it as a noticboard and to publicise meetings/events. I have severely reduced the number of friends I get stuff from for the reasons others have stated - the amount of rubbish people post.

So I like FB but with strict limits on what I see.

Am I right in thinking FB have just announced a change in the way newsfeeds work to reduce the amount of commercial stuff and ads you get?

Original poster
MissSpock · 14/01/2018 08:53

Am I right in thinking FB have just announced a change in the way newsfeeds work to reduce the amount of commercial stuff and ads you get?

Yeah they said they'd show more Friends and Family posts.

OP posts:
Bluesheep8 · 14/01/2018 09:00

Can't say I'm sick if it as I must be one of very few people to have never even seen it! I have an awful suspicion that it would make me very anxious. I am in touch with the people i choose to be in touch with in real life.People are often aghast when they ask to add me and I say I'm not on it.

MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig · 14/01/2018 10:59

Two years ago I sold a car on Auto Trader. They give you a fake phone number connected to your real one so you’re not giving your own number out. The guy I sold my car to, from the other side of the country, who absolutely none of my friends could possible know, popped up in my ‘people you may know’ list. Without being directly connected to me or my real phone number. Confused

Original poster
MissSpock · 14/01/2018 11:10

splinternews.com/facebook-recommended-that-this-psychiatrists-patients-f-1793861472

Facebook recommended that this psychiatrist's patients friend each other

OP posts:
AintNoOtherFan · 14/01/2018 11:16

Facebook has gone through so many phases hasn't it. I remember when it first come about and everyone's friends lists contained loads of old school friends because everyone nosily looked each other up. Then over the years they have dropped off people's friends lists through the odd "friend deleting cull" and the realisation that we aren't interested in what sarah from school had for her breakfast.

I remember when people wrote "statuses " all the time, then it was constant shares of a saying with a waterfall behind the words etc. Then it was constant bragging or whinging.

Now though I think people are becoming more private on there and sharing less and less. It's certainly had its peak and I wonder how many more years left it actually has before people give up on it altogether and it just becomes a platform for advertisement.

It's been a good and a bad thing for people connecting though. Whilst it's great for people to keep in touch who have friends/family abroad or further away around the country, it's damaged the way people connect in real life. Before Facebook people would keep in touch more I think and meet up/phone/even text. Now they can keep in touch with what you're up to via Facebook they don't actually bother in real life or make a lot less effort. Sad

x2boys · 14/01/2018 11:18

Tbh I am more sick of the smug boring threads of why people are sick of facebook if you don't like it don't go on them .

HuskyMcClusky · 14/01/2018 12:53

Tbh I am more sick of the smug boring threads of why people are sick of facebook if you don't like it don't go on them.

If you’re sick of threads about why people are sick of Facebook, don’t go on them.

See how that works? Wink

Llangollen · 14/01/2018 13:06

Facebook drama is the same as school gates drama, the ones complaining about it are usually the ones heavily involved in it.

maddiemookins16mum · 14/01/2018 13:16

I've counted my posts from 2017 - eleven! Hardly worth it really and two of them were cake related.
I'd miss it though, not the inane stuff but the odd post from people I don't see very much. It also reunited me with a dear friend last year and that makes up for all its nonsense at times.

Padstowonthames · 14/01/2018 13:18

By coincidence I've just stopped looking at it as it had become a bad habit. I'd unfollowed quite a few of the attention seeker posts. There is one woman locally who shares every tiny detail of her life. Her mum died a while back and she posted pucs of her dying frequently. She thrives on the validation that fb gives her...boring boring.