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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To just not really want to post on Social media anymore

123 replies

Alliwantforchristmasisjewels · 25/12/2022 23:28

Not sure why?

I always have done in the past, not excessively, but fairly regularly-Fb & Instagram…it was mainly as a sort of photo diary of Dd and things we’ve done as a family with dates etc…but now I just feel so meh about it 🤷🏻‍♀️
I would’ve normally put some Christmas bits up by now, but haven’t and don’t really feel the need/want to. It feels liberating and is making me question why I don’t want to and why I did before.
Have to say I feel a bit down at present so I am a person who probably posts more when happy.
But looking at endless Christmas pics and videos, I just feel a bit ‘Why?’ 🤷🏻‍♀️
I’m becoming so bored by it all, is anyone else?

OP posts:
Aphidsandhoneybees · 26/12/2022 08:36

I very rarely post anything now. I don’t think a single photo was taken this Christmas, and it really didn’t feel like the world was going to end. I’ve noticed most of my friends don’t bother posting much either anymore.

garlickypotatoes · 26/12/2022 08:37

I understand this OP. I think FB and Insta have changed a lot in the last few years. For me at the beginning it was a way of sharing things with international friends and family but it seems to have shifted and quite a lot of people use it to blatantly show off/virtue signal. I skim through those posts and roll my eyes and so I don't want to share much either in case it's perceived I'm doing the same thing, if that makes sense.

HaggisWurst · 26/12/2022 08:38

I feel similar. I did post one picture on Christmas Eve to wish everyone a merry Christmas but that's it. I live abroad and have a small private group for family and very close friends that I use to update them with DS so that got a video and some pictures yesterday but I don't feel the need to share these kind of things with my 300+ friends and am perfectly happy to just keep it to my 27 member private group. Instagram has had two posts in 6 months. I'd actually quite like to stop using Facebook but the private group is what keeps my family feeling close to DS so for that reason, I wouldn't.

mincepiepie · 26/12/2022 08:39

I think they have changed though.

FB is basically a local directory services of useful information and groups. Also seems it's for notices of hatches matches and Dispatches! Replaces the local paper.

Instagram is a an advert for things.

I stopped posting A few years ago.

I'm in a few groups and most people don't post on FB or they are are older people (55 +). I comment sometimes but rarely.

On insta I'm just follow influencers or content creators.

HaggisWurst · 26/12/2022 08:41

HaggisWurst · 26/12/2022 08:38

I feel similar. I did post one picture on Christmas Eve to wish everyone a merry Christmas but that's it. I live abroad and have a small private group for family and very close friends that I use to update them with DS so that got a video and some pictures yesterday but I don't feel the need to share these kind of things with my 300+ friends and am perfectly happy to just keep it to my 27 member private group. Instagram has had two posts in 6 months. I'd actually quite like to stop using Facebook but the private group is what keeps my family feeling close to DS so for that reason, I wouldn't.

To add, I scaled back majorly too. Unliked all the news pages and every other page which had comments filled with idiots, so it's not such a negative place when I do log on now

blossomtree323 · 26/12/2022 08:51

I feel the same as you OP. It started recently, I think a lot of my friend now post mindless shite; memes, funny videos on Facebook which is fine when there’s one or two but not 20 in one go! I’ve also had issues with some friends this year and it’s made me more wary about what I want to share and I’ve also been asking myself why I need the validation from others.

megletthesecond · 26/12/2022 08:55

FB was ok until they stopped putting posts in chronological order. Now it's all over the place and I lose patience with it.
I'm naturally nosy so I do enjoy seeing what everyone has been up to though.

Bulbstarglitterball · 26/12/2022 08:57

I feel the same. I recently gave up Twitter and I’m planning on giving up instagram too because I spend way too scrolling and it’s so dull. My New Year’s resolution is to spend much less time on my phone, problem is I’m so addicted!

pamplemoussee · 26/12/2022 08:59

I've never really posted as just don't see the point

I share pictures of my DC with close family and friends, I don't want or need to share them with anyone else and I don't like posting my DC pics on the internet anyway

astarsheis · 26/12/2022 09:01

I also post quite a lot to SM but mainly instagram. I also do a sport that I like to give exposure to. I enjoy putting a group of photos together and writing a little paragraph on the experience.
However, I took loads of photos this weekend but could not be bothered to share.
I have now decided to do a dry January on SM ...rather than wine 😉

JennyForeigner · 26/12/2022 09:05

I'm the same, and I hope we'll just get societally bored of sm in the same way we picked it up. To the extent that I had a slightly challenging consulting meeting recently where someone told me pointedly that they had been checking me out on social media and I was able to say that I didn't think so, because I don't really have it. I feel happier and safer without what has started to feel like that kind of constant little vulnerability.

marmaladepop · 26/12/2022 09:08

I got extremely irritated at seeing attention seeing behaviour, and children being exposed without their consent. By the age of 30 most people have had a nice meal, a cocktail and a holiday, and it's not the place for politics.

Penguinsaregreat · 26/12/2022 09:09

I don’t post anything either. I have phots which I save and share with immediate family & friends but only those which have meaning to them.
Quite frankly, and I don’t mean this to sound smug, but I don’t need to see photos of gifts from Mother’s Day/Valentines day/Christmas Day/birthdays etc I get my own presents. I also have many friends and am very close to the people I want to be so I never splash this all over social media. I am aware that there are lonely people and people who are not as happy or fortunate as I am so I’m not going to rub their nose in it.

CloseYourEyesAndSee · 26/12/2022 09:15

The only thing I like about my past Facebook posts is memories but I never post on there anymore. I have adopted a social media style like the yoof and use stories occasionally but don't post any permanent posts. Social media is dying really, at least the way we millennials/gen xers used to use it when it started and many still do - it's seen as a bit cringe by young people and I totally get that!

sobeyondthehills · 26/12/2022 09:31

I think I stopped posting photos once my son was 4 or 5 (he is 10 now) and more or less completely stopped posting during one of the lockdowns.

Butitsnotfunnyisititsserious · 26/12/2022 09:31

I very rarely post on Instagram/Facebook nowadays. I still take photos/videos etc but they're just kept on my phone. I do love seeing the old videos of my son pop up on Facebook though, it's lovely to see. And pictures/videos of my relatives who are no longer with us.

Witchofthedales · 26/12/2022 09:59

Me! I left Facebook 7 yes ago and felt much better for it but now I'm trying to wean myself off instagram, ( which, ironically, is becoming just like Facebook) 😕
It's getting boring and repetitive, I'd much rather read a book to be honest! 🤷‍♀️

Witchofthedales · 26/12/2022 10:00

Yrs that should say.

PinkyFlamingo · 26/12/2022 10:19

This is one of those "I'm so much better than people who use Facebook" posts. It's boring. Fb isn't compulsory, use it dont use it who cares

Mercy1968 · 26/12/2022 10:55

I used to use fb a lot more than I do now.
I have deleted a good few people who I no longer have anything in common with.

I only keep it because I have nice groups on there like my local cat owners group which is full of posts with beautiful cats and lovely people and a few nature pages (adult ds has his own photography one) and some Finnish pages and ones from Scotland (where I m originally from).

Can't be doing with the pouty self obsessed tell me I m gorgeous types and never comment (friends but I have muted them) or the self pity ones. If you need help you won't get it on fb.

The older I get the less I care.

honeylulu · 26/12/2022 10:55

Like a PP I use the posting function like a photo diary. It's a good way to organise my photos. My kids really love looking back through the albums at our holidays and Christmases over the years, just like me and my sister loved looking at our dad's hard copy photo diary. I rarely print any photos now and I like having it as a record.

I don't really post for others to look at. I don't flatter myself that much of it would particularly interest anyone outside my family/immediate circle of friends. If I feel I've posted regularly and might be tedious viewing I'll restrict the posts to "only me" for a few days.

It's also useful for keeping in touch and finding out and booking/responding to events.

If you don't want to look or post then don't, it's not the law and we can choose our own ways of keeping a record of our lives - or not at all.

Mercy1968 · 26/12/2022 10:58

Also dd used to be a prolific poster but now at 28 has deleted all social media and says she s so much happier so it's not just me being over 50 and grumpy 😂

notacooldad · 26/12/2022 11:06

I love SM but I keep it to things I'm interested in. I like having all my interests in one place. Eg All my skiing, walking, mountaineering and cycling groups post regularly with events. The venues I go to gigs keep me updated whose performing, the record labels I follow are always intersting.
I make SM work for me rather than seeing people's random check in at a Miller and Carter or similar which I'm honestly not bothered about.

MiniHouse · 26/12/2022 11:10

Yes I often don't post on social media. Lots of people don't. I don't like it because I'm either going to show off about my life and potentially upset people who don't have what I have, or make myself look rubbish. On top of that it's not good for mental health as it encourages over production of dopamine and dopamine dependency.

In 50 years this thread will look like one that says 'for some reason I don't feel like smoking'.

watchfulwishes · 26/12/2022 11:13

MiniHouse · 26/12/2022 11:10

Yes I often don't post on social media. Lots of people don't. I don't like it because I'm either going to show off about my life and potentially upset people who don't have what I have, or make myself look rubbish. On top of that it's not good for mental health as it encourages over production of dopamine and dopamine dependency.

In 50 years this thread will look like one that says 'for some reason I don't feel like smoking'.

I agree it is a societal phase.