PF'ers who deleted their Facebook, please convince me to.

[Jamin2112]

I'll be open and honest about what's holding me back.

• Fear that I'll miss something if I leave (e.g. an unexpected friend or family member of mine joining Facebook)
• Fear that I'll miss a good opportunity to post a photo album down the road which may lead to lots of comments and subsequent "fame" amongst my Facebook community
• Fear that if friends see I've quit Facebook, they'll think I'm trying to be a rebel or that I'm a psychologically weak person who can't handle the popularity contest that is Facebook (The latter is true...)
• Feel an obligation to the people who kept responding to my stuff and who chatted with me
• To expand on the previous point, I'd say there's a general fear that if I left I'd be burning bridges with people. I've known some people who quit Facebook without any announcement, but then I felt kinda weird when I saw them in real life because I was never sure if they had really deleted their account or if they blocked me.
• This is the dumbest point of all: maybe some long-lust crush of mine will want to message me on Facebook. If I leave my Facebook account up, it can serve as a beacon for female acquaintances who might be interested in me.

I want to hear your story of quitting Facebook. What fears did you have? How did you convince yourself to take the plunge? What psychological changes happened once you did?

 

[phinds]

PF'ers who deleted their Facebook, please convince me to.

I've got one better ... never joined.

 

[russ_watters]

It is impossible to make such a decision without understanding both the why and the why not. Why do you think you should?

 

[Jamin2112]

I've got one better ... never joined.

You don't know what you're missing, dude. It's the ultimate way to humble-brag about yourself and build up a glorified persona. You also get to be bombarded with motivational Bible verses from your Christian friends.

 

[leroyjenkens]

If it's bothering you that much, why quit?

I never joined. But I also never had the desire to join. If you're going to be bugging out from lack of facebook time, then don't quit until you get like me; absolutely apathetic to the whole thing.

You don't know what you're missing, dude. It's the ultimate way to humble-brag about yourself and build up a glorified persona.

Don't have a desire to do that, nor see other people do it.

 

[Jamin2112]

It is impossible to make such a decision without understanding both the why and the why not. Why do you think you should?

It's started to have a terrible effect on my psyche.

 

[Jamin2112]

If it's bothering you that much, why quit?

I never joined. But I also never had the desire to join. If you're going to be bugging out from lack of facebook time, then don't quit until you get like me; absolutely apathetic to the whole thing.

I mean, I'm completely repulsed by it, but it's kinda like an addiction that makes me keep signing back in.

Don't have a desire to do that, nor see other people do it.

haha I was being facetious

 

[Julio R]

You don't have to. Just don't go online ever. That's what I did. I haven't logged in officially since last summer.

 

[Andre]

Could you just go passive on facebook? Make an entry on your wall, telling you that quit activities but you'll lurk only, while hiding your photos. That way unexpected admirers can still find you.

I'm passive on facebook and enjoy my friends activities. No need to quit.

 

[Jamin2112]

Could you just go passive on facebook? Make an entry on your wall, telling you that quit activities but you'll lurk only, while hiding your photos. That way unexpected admirers can still find you.

I'm passive on facebook and enjoy my friends activities. No need to quit.

You don't ever feel like you want to participate? For example, if you did an Ironman Triathlon and the race photographer captured you while you were running up the final hill and your veiny, tan, shaved, muscular physique was in full bloom, wouldn't you feel like you'd want to share that to impress your friends?

 

[Borek]

You don't ever feel like you want to participate? For example, if you did an Ironman Triathlon and the race photographer captured you while you were running up the final hill and your veiny, tan, shaved, muscular physique was in full bloom, wouldn't you feel like you'd want to share that to impress your friends?

You do it each day, or is it a once a year event? If the latter, no problem with posting it. If the former... well, congratulations.

 

[Jamin2112]

You do it each day, or is it a once a year event? If the latter, no problem with posting it. If the former... well, congratulations.

Haha I don't do it all. Was just giving a made-up example.

 

[WannabeNewton]

Is it physically possible to quit FB once you start? Am I forever imprisoned :[?

 

[Jamin2112]

Is it physically possible to quit FB once you start? Am I forever imprisoned :[?

It's like any other addiction: control it, or it will control you.

 

[ChiralWaltz]

Could you just go passive on facebook? Make an entry on your wall, telling you that quit activities but you'll lurk only, while hiding your photos. That way unexpected admirers can still find you.

I'm passive on facebook and enjoy my friends activities. No need to quit.

Great answer.

 

[Evo]

I signed up on FB for Physics Forums and hate "FB", so I don't use it. If people want to talk to me, they have many ways other than FB to do it. I should probably delete my account so people don't think I'm intentionally snubbing them.

 

[Andre]

I agree to a certain extend with Evo, however it makes me smile when I see my dad (age 87) talking to my daughter on facebook.

 

[lisab]

My 20-year-old daughter deleted her FB account. She was stunned by how many people contacted her with real concern -- "Is everything OK?" "Are you being stalked?" "Is there anything bothering you?"

She quit because she didn't want to hear any more about how cute and smart people think their kids are. And she was tired of seeing pictures of what everyone had for dinner last night.

 

[Evo]

My 20-year-old daughter deleted her FB account. She was stunned by how many people contacted her with real concern -- "Is everything OK?" "Are you being stalked?" "Is there anything bothering you?"

She quit because she didn't want to hear any more about how cute and smart people think their kids are. And she was tired of seeing pictures of what everyone had for dinner last night.

Sensible girl!

 

[fluidistic]

I mostly use facebook to post pictures of bugs that I find in my flat. I realize that I'm somehow a parasite to my "friends" just like the bugs are to my flat.
I wouldn't mind at all to delete my account. But it was nice to see what some friends of mine became after 10 years or more of separation.
I haven't been addicted to facebook so my opinion might be flawed but I don't see anything that you might lose, except an old friend wanting to contact you.

 

[Adyssa]

FB is what you make it. I have a few old high-school acquaintances and the like, that post up pictures of their kids ALL THE DAMN TIME, and what they had for breakfast, and chain-letters and stupid memes and OMG SAVE THE CUTE ANIMALS and stupid quotes attributed to Einstein and all that crap. I just hid posts by anyone who did it more than once, and after a while my feed was cleaned up. Now, I log in, I get a bunch of cool new music to check out, the odd update about something that's actually worth talking about, a few space pictures, sometimes an old friend appears. It's fine. :)

 

[OmCheeto]

You don't know what you're missing, dude. It's the ultimate way to humble-brag about yourself and build up a glorified persona. You also get to be bombarded with motivational Bible verses from your Christian friends.

Weird. I have the opposite problem.

One of my atheist friends attacked my "tolerance" post.

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/303758_513438825357490_1457177802_n.jpg
​

This was his response:

Disagree. Deity based religions are fantasies and adults who believe in them shouldn't be coddled and treated as if their beliefs were rational. Children who believe in them should be taught critical thinking skills. Some religious folks I know are some of my favorite people. I don't dislike people because they are religious. I just think their beliefs are sophomoric, and to the point that they intrude on the rights of others, I won't tolerate them.

I unfriended him a short while later, after I carpet f-bombed the hell out of him.

That's why I like Facebook. I can swear like a drunken sailor. Which I was for some years.

And then there's the satisfaction of banning trolls:

{regarding a humorous jpeg with the caption "Science. A bunch of *******s trying to prove ****"}
...
Atheist Friend #2; But the argument* falls flat. For any god you believe in you are potentially pissing off infinite other gods. Belief in any god that is unknowable cannot be shown to help more than it hurts. For instance, the Christian god claims that if you believe in any god other than him, you go to hell. So how is it logically helpful to believe in any god? Id doesn't matter how much of you life/brain it takes to do it, the risk vs reward is the exact same for belief in any god than for disbelief in any god.
3 March at 19:43 · Like

OmCheeto; You are wasting your brain cells on this drivel. Don't you have a y=x-sin(x) and solve for x, equation to solve. Jeez! You said you were going to re-invent math to figure it out.

Atheist Friend #2; I'm just pointing out that the assertion you made in the original post is actually a logical fallacy. I don't think its a waste of time or brainpower to try to encourage people to think critically about the ideals they hold and the assertions they make.

OmCheeto; I think it is a waste to use more than one brain cell to argue over something that is unprovable.
Atheist Friend #2; Then why did you argue it in the original post?
OmCheeto; Good bye.
Atheist Friend #2; *confused*
OmCheeto; Sometimes I lie.
Atheist Friend #2; Well yeah, everyone lies.
OmCheeto; Not if you're not my FB friend anymore. =8P
OmCheeto; 31! 31! 31!
3 March at 20:00

zero to banned, in 17 minutes.

*I've never seen a scientific paper on whether god does, or does not, exist. I did once though read a book called: "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea", which should not be confused with the movie: "The story of O", which is another thing altogether.
One of the chapters in the book describes how it is better to believe in god, then not. As, if there is a 0.000000000000000000000001% chance that god exists, and you believe in god, and will go to heaven because of that, then you have an infinite greater chance of going to heaven, compared to someone who doesn't.
I decided that since it required little effort on my part, to believe, then it was worth the risk.
Infinite returns, with only a binary brain cells worth of investment.
Namaste everyone!

 

[dodo]

Old hat, but on topic:

http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s14e04-you-have-0-friends

 

[Aero51]

I left Facebook because too many people posted too much stupid garbage. There was also lots of narcissism: for example the act of correcting spelling/grammar mistakes gives many people an overwhelming feeling of superiority...Not to mention fFacebook saves everything you post so you might as well forget privacy.

 

[Curious3141]

I held off on joining for the longest time. Then I joined because of some silly contest/promotion about a year or so ago. Made the mistake of using my real name. Immediately got flooded with friend requests. Played along for just about a month or so, then viciously hit delete on the whole thing.

Now I've created an FB page with a nom de guerre and alternate email address. No link (except IPs, to anyone who's probing that deeply) with my real identity. Useful to sign up for websites and promotions that accept an FB login.

 

[member 392791]

I deleted mine a couple months ago permanently. There was a withdrawal that happened for a little while, I would instinctively want to check my FB, but now it's not so bad. I am able to function, although I just lost networking opportunities with 600-700 people, I figure that they were mostly people from high school that I will never see again, I just want to kind of go under the radar. I don't feel a connection to my old classmates that I didn't keep in touch with.