Who isn’t on Facebook/Instagram/Etc. and why?

SVsick50

Well-known member
Every year for Lent, I remove myself from all social media, and this year I did so earlier. I really don’t have any desire to go back on, it was headed that way for sometime. I have a Facebook account, but I never log in. I was pretty addicted to Instagram for awhile and happy I haven’t logged in for awhile, too. People actually think I blocked them, and I have to tell them I didn’t - like they get offended and I feel bad. Ultimately, I’m just not a fan of how those platforms are run.

My wife kinda challenged with my activity on BARF, but I told her it’s different because it’s local, and more of a message/chat board, otherwise, I just live out in the sticks, work from home and don’t really have community so it’s nice to check in and interact on BARF from a motorcycle community standpoint.

All in all, I feel “relieved” to be off those major Social Media platforms. How about you? What made you step away? Did you ever get on them and why?
 

HappyHighwayman

Warning: Do Not Engage
I quit Facebook because the only real "value" it had was birthday reminders and time-wasting. Also, I recognized if there were friends I only interacted with on FB they weren't real friends. Glad to be off of it

I still use Instagram just to post food photos but that's just attention seeking on my part.
 

Agent Orange

The b0y ninja
I have FB and IG. Although I've drastically cut down my usage on both and really only peruse Reddit as my main form of social media content. Of the 3, IG did the worse to my mental health and so now I only use it if Im posting photos of my BBQ or I need to dig some info on people. Same goes for FB.
 

GAJ

Well-known member
Never used Facebook or any of the other popular platforms.

My wife made a FB account using our cat's name just to keep up with our daughter who is big time on FB for "normal" stuff like photos and whatnot.
 

stangmx13

not Stan
I deleted the FB app from my phone. I was struggling to find content on there that wasn't toxic - too many people posting "articles" about everything. I want to see cool things that my friends do, not some unsubstantiated thing they are raging about. I probably won't delete my account cuz of racing, BrotoGP, and the like.

Im still on IG and Reddit. IG is exactly what I want to see from my friends. With Reddit, I subscribe to things I want to see and unsubscribe from garbage.
 

SVsick50

Well-known member
I had a fairly large following and gained a bit of popularity because of my BMX trick riding. I felt I had to keep coming with BMX content to keep my account “normalized” and riding BMX felt more like obligation than anything which got weird because although I’ve performed in shows and been a guest on podcasts and stuff I never got paid a cent for riding BMX.
 

Climber

Well-known member
I limited my friend count on Facebook to 45. I can't understand those people who have over 1k friends, it seems far more ego driven than anything else. For me, it's a way to keep up with family and close friends on events in their life. You will likely miss most of the events of family and close friends if you have over 200 friends unless you make it a full time habit.

I don't have a need to be on others, Twitter is just a bunch of (look at me!) Twits.
 

stangmx13

not Stan
My family is some of the worst offenders when it comes to posting toxic garbage. It's so much worse than getting a silly chain email from grandma. I don't even follow half of them on any social media platform :laughing
 

Map8

I want nothing
Staff member
Have essentially quit facebook except for some business contacts. I use Instagram to follow artists, motorsports (racers, teams, series), some cycling accounts a very small handful of friends who have similar interests. As a result I don't encounter any of the toxic posts from casual acquaintances or distant family members, which is great. Keeping to this system actually makes Instagram fun.
 

Abacinator

Unholy Blasphemies
Never used fartbook. I did a brief stint on myspace before fartbook became popular, but I realized the whole thing was idiotic.
 

Eldritch

is insensitive
Every year for Lent, I remove myself from all social media, and this year I did so earlier. I really don’t have any desire to go back on, it was headed that way for sometime. I have a Facebook account, but I never log in. I was pretty addicted to Instagram for awhile and happy I haven’t logged in for awhile, too. People actually think I blocked them, and I have to tell them I didn’t - like they get offended and I feel bad. Ultimately, I’m just not a fan of how those platforms are run.

My wife kinda challenged with my activity on BARF, but I told her it’s different because it’s local, and more of a message/chat board, otherwise, I just live out in the sticks, work from home and don’t really have community so it’s nice to check in and interact on BARF from a motorcycle community standpoint.

All in all, I feel “relieved” to be off those major Social Media platforms. How about you? What made you step away? Did you ever get on them and why?

DION! How you doing? :D

So, I hate all Social Media as a general rule. I'm hostile to the term, "Activist," but I am damn near a privacy rights activist. I very strongly believe in, Mind Your Own Business. I never had a MySpace, never had a twitter or instagram account. I do have a facebook account that I got roped into creating by a BARFette over a decade ago in order to get access to the pics album she created from hanging out.

For me, there is a fundamentally histrionic trait to Social Media that I just find distasteful. I don't like celebrating my own Birthday, let alone creating a digital media platform to celebrate my identity.

I believe in being yourself only for yourself. Validation comes only from within as does the path to self improvement.

I like that The Bookface has allowed me to keep some tabs on so many friends that over the years have moved away, but the concentrated hostility it creates towards diversity is very concerning, as is the weaponized social engineering and commercialized surveillance state the platform provides.

By and large, the social impact is certainly a net negative, but the cat is out of the bag, and really one for younger generations than mine to figure out for themselves.

I shall never not mourn the death of personal privacy.
 
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justanotherg20

Well-known member
I still have FB but basically never post ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Like others, it's a way to loosely keep in touch with old coworkers and friends/family across the world.

Sometimes an old college buddy will post "I'll be up in SF first two weeks of June if anyone's around" and that's how they tell everyone. If I refused to ever open FB on the grounds of 'well she'd reach out to every single person including ME personally if she really cared :x' I'd miss a lot of meetups.

I scroll right past like 80% of everyone's postings because they're all political outrage posts or endless memes. If I never see another woman yelling at cat for the rest of my life I'll be just fine. (RIP my inbox/this thread in advance)
 

HappyHighwayman

Warning: Do Not Engage
100% of the time I pointed out false information the person never responded or even apologized for spreading false info. You'd think after the 10th time they'd think to google shit before posting it.
 

wazzuFreddo

WuTang is 4 the children
I deleted my Facebook account for two reasons. The first was that the environment cultivated in the Facebook feed was super toxic. Yes, I know there were things I could have done to change around what it showed me, but that is work and I am not going to work for FB for free.

Second, I have some philosophical issues with how they run their company, my values are not aligned with theirs and I figured I would vote with my feet.

I deleted my instagram account because a few months after I deleted my facebook account I got a notice in instagram asking me if I wanted to restore my facebook account. F-that, so I deleted instagram too.
 

Climber

Well-known member
Why don't people just simply unfriend people who (repeatedly) post up stupid shit? Before long you don't have to deal with it. :x
 

rodr

Well-known member
FB is useful when living thousands of miles away from friends and family. I never understood why so many people use Instagram and Twitter... have accounts on those but hardly ever use them. For close family we have a mailing list.
 

wazzuFreddo

WuTang is 4 the children
Why don't people just simply unfriend people who (repeatedly) post up stupid shit? Before long you don't have to deal with it. :x

because some of those people are relatives :nchantr

also, I come from a small town, the reason I like the Bay Area is I am one in 7 million, relatively anonymous. I left small town USA because I was tired of everyone being up in my business and I realized why the hell am I broadcasting my business to everyone so billionaires who I disagree with on a philosophical level can make obscene amounts of money off me.
 

mikev

»»───knee───►
Yeah, I don't get it. Social media can be used to curate your own feed.
 
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