Quitting Facebook (For A Week)

I decided to quit Facebook for a week. My quittance might go longer if I actually succeed. I decided I was up for the challenge after the past month’s absolute onslaught of distressing news from everywhere. My decision to step back from the Meta based social media platform began after traditionally news outlets offered really shady reporting of the ill-fated Freedom Trucker’s convoy.

I began to realize that controversy itself was making many of us addicted. It was also reinforcing our addiction to reading and making Facebook posts. All so the huge Meta corporation could collect algorithmic data to make us more addicted. After analysing our posts and reactions to other user posts, Meta literally sells us to marketing companies.

Too Much Information

Meta tries to keep us feeling that if we miss out on some digital trinket of other people’s lives or censored but constant news updates, our lives will be less. I’ve long known that in spite of it’s purported advantages, Facebook (or any Meta social media platform) is not good for anyone except Meta. The news posts regarding Russia’s attempted annex of Ukraine really kicked me over the edge to not seeing any more from Facebook (for at least a week).

What would the difference in my life be if I missed out on world news and informed opinions of friends? Where could this possibly lead? There are definite benefits to knowing what’s going on in the world. Especially when a megalomaniac murderer like Vladimir Putin is given access to nuclear weapons. There is, however, no benefit in spending the last months, weeks or even days before a potential nuclear holocaust wasting time on Facebook.

Why Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t want us to quit Facebook

Real Life Effects of Quitting Facebook

There is a beautiful world all around us. When we quit social media, we get to go out and enjoy it without feeling compelled to share our experiences. Our interactions with our environment and the people in it become a gift for us, not window dressing for the public eye. There is no reason we need to share our experiences in it on any social media data collection machinery. We can take advantage of modern amenities like email or messaging to send photos, videos or other updates to everyone who would care about them.

I quit Facebook 3 days ago as an experiment to see if I could make it through a week without my digital vice. When I was planning this digital detox, I initially bought into Facebook’s warnings about my friends missing me. I worried about the effect of taking a break from Facebook’ on my busy dog training business. It took me years to step away. But I left the app on my phone, just in case.

My fingertips are the body part that has always sown the seeds of my Facebook addiction for the last 15 years. For 3 days they’ve flown to that Facebook app button more times than I can count. I miss the interaction with people, but there is no part of the superficiality of Facebook interactions that I miss.

I am not going to pretend walking away from Facebook was easy. But here is how it’s affected my life so far: