15 Years on Facebook: I’m Done.
It's my birthday today! I'm 33.
I'm not big on birthdays every year. I think saying “I'm old” is not helpful. I believe I'm going to hit my peak at age 50, so I don't mind getting older. But there is always some reflection that goes along with each birthday.
This week I've been contemplating leaving Facebook.
If that sounds extreme, here's why. I've had Facebook since 2006, my first semester in college. I believed that I had to have it to get through college, make friends and network with people to get a job after college.
But this year marks 10 years out of college and I feel like I'm still in this mindset around Facebook. I have scarcity thinking when I attempt to de-friend anyone (maybe they can connect me to my dream job) and worrying about losing photos from years ago. I want to be more in control of my thoughts, my content, and what I see. I'd rather not be so overwhelmed and over-stimulated that I feel like taking a nap when I close out of the app.
So I'm taking steps to deactivate my Facebook account for a while. I want to see what life is like outside of Facebook. As I said, I got it right at the beginning of college, so I haven't experienced my adult life without it. I also want to be able to speak from experience - to see if life is better outside of social media, rather than tell people to use social media less - could it be better to live without it all together?
Of course, there's the great part of social media like sharing photos, life updates, and art. But are there other ways we can share art without fighting the algorithm to get attention?
These are the questions I want to answer for myself. I'll share my experiences as I go along.
Do you have any insight on getting rid of social media?
Did it work for you?
Do you think about getting rid of it but feel like you can't?