Have you ever taken a break or permanently quit social media?

[Opal93]

If so, why? Did it help? Did you miss it? I have been feeling a bit down when comparing my lives to others on social media and last week on an outing with my kids I had a moment of realisation that I wasn’t actually enjoying the moment I was too busy trying to curate good pictures! I thought that has to stop.

I'd question why you compare your life to other. Social media isn't real, it's a snapshot of what people want you to see. I spent a lot of time working on seeing value in who I am and I stopped caring about others and their lives.

I’ve never used social media (facebook or instagram) because I know I would fall into the comparing my life trap.

I use them to look up businesses but never for anything personal.

I possibly miss out on some social contact as a result especially with friends who have moved away and keep in touch via FB. But if they’re really good friends I do keep in touch and chat with them via text/whatsapp or phone instead.

Although there are good points, for me personally these are outweighed by the bad ( comparision being the thief of joy, daft spats, closet racists revealing themselves, managing the "don't want to add you, don't want to reject you" minefield, privacy issues). I de-regged for a bit, and on returning deleted 2/3rds of my contacts. I no longer post, but keep an account and log in regularly as there are some groups and businesses I need who operate almost solely on facebook.

I remember life before social media. Up until I was around 35 I barely used email and hated carrying my mobile phone. Loved it!
I hardly use it now. I feel many women on here who judge their relationship health by social media use ("he liked 2 new women on insta" "he hasn't read my message or been online for 2 hours"...)
I do like discussions on MN though.

Yep, I came off Facebook about 7 years ago and haven't missed it in the slightest. Don't use Instagram or Twitter either.

I'm 35 so a core age group for all but the fake perfect lives people projected did absolutely nothing for me and added nothing to my life.

The only very slight irritation I find is local businesses which now only operate through Facebook.

I came off it during lockdown as I found people were posting pic of their child's work and it was making me anxious about my child's level. I have an account where I just have places like our local zoo and farm so I can keep up to date. I've never posted pic though, I think it's just an easy way to make others feel down.

Yep I stopped using FB and insta completely. Insta much faster than FB as it's so OTT, but I honestly don't miss either of them. If I 'need' to see something on FB (community info etc) I have an account with a made up name that I can use. I'm very happy not being on there anymore.

I haven't logged into facebook to post or read feeds for years now. It was turning me into a lazy friend having nothing to catch up on when meeting in person. I just use messenger to get in contact with people if I don't have their number.

I dont compare with others. I have my own goals to measure up to. I hide annoying people and favourite people i actually care about.

Yup did a digital detox of my social media when I went on hols three years ago and deleted my insta and Twitter. Also flooded my Facebook with interest groups (so I rarely see updates or anything from fb friends)

So much better and I’ve never reinstalled or looked back!

I found myself feeling bad about not much and it just contributed to unwanted ‘noise’ in my head

I did during the first lockdown. I was so sick of all the little hitlers on power trips calling people out for not wearing a mask or being too close in Asda or not clapping at 2pm on sundays which was apparently the clap for children.

i sometimes leave my phone out of the room to stop me looking at it so much. But i'm a take it or leave it SM user. I do post pics of what we get up to, but i don't curate them!! I just take snapshots. Choose the best 5 or so and upload. I love the timehop memories.

I don't care what other people get up to. I enjoy seeing their pics but i certainly don't feel inadequate because they go on more paid days out than us (we almost never go to the zoo, petting farm, theme park etc. We go for walks or to beach. Maybe buy an ice cream. We can't afford fancy days out).

They say comparision is the thief of joy....

@minipie

I’ve never used social media (facebook or instagram) because I know I would fall into the comparing my life trap.

I use them to look up businesses but never for anything personal.

I possibly miss out on some social contact as a result especially with friends who have moved away and keep in touch via FB. But if they’re really good friends I do keep in touch and chat with them via text/whatsapp or phone instead.

Exactly the same here.

I have a lovely life, family and friends and a job I enjoy, but Instagram and Facebook make me anxious. Even though I’m genuinely happy for friends who post the ‘look at my lovely life’ type stuff, it makes me feel shitty and worthless. I wish it didn’t, but it does. And I’d rather not feel shitty and worthless so I don’t do it.

Comparison is the thief of joy, as they say.

I used to do Facebook but no longer and I really do feel much better for it. I do have insta and Twitter - but a cast iron rule that I only look at posts by famous people I admire (I enjoy accounts run by various comedians, sports people, actors, dancers etc etc, but not the ‘influencer’ wannabes). Never people I know in real life.

I am sure I do miss out on some social media camaraderie amongst friends but I can live with that.

I only use Facebook and have deliberately never bothered to set up any others. I find it useful for following brands and events, but that's all I really use it for. I never post on my profile.

I regularly used Instagram up until about a year ago.

I found myself getting really upset seeing other people's updates and feeling jealous and inadequate, even though I have a perfectly lovely life myself. Instagram just always made me feel behind no matter what stage I got to ("everyone else is travelling the world/buying cars/houses/getting engaged/having babies"). I'd see someone from school posting pics of their new house with captions like "now we're real adults!" and feel like complete crap.

I now only look at the stories of a select few friends whose lives I would know about without Instagram, and my feed is generally curated so it's just accounts related to books and home decor.

I also found I wasn't living in the moment so I completely stopped posting my own pics on Instagram. I'm enjoying life way more - now most things I do/places I go most people never find out about, and I've found it to be a really nice way to live.