Do you have social media?

Question

Why or why not? I’ve always wanted to delete everything (FB and Instagram), but due to having my son I feel especially obligated to keep it now. I have family from all over that world who would never see/know about him if I didn’t share his pictures. I want to delete it because I’ve had these accounts since I was 12 years old (so almost 12 years total I’ve looked at these apps everyday), and I’m definitely addicted to it. I know it’s easy to just say “delete it”, but I honestly don’t know if I can. If you don’t have social media, how do you keep in touch with people? Do you feel lonely? How do you stay engaged? I can’t leave the house much with a baby and I’m not working, so I’m afraid of feeling extra lonely. I’ve tried setting screen time limits and deleting the apps off my phone, but these never work for me and I go past the limits or redownload.

Answer

I have learned from my own experiences with family that if anyone wants to be in your child's life or see pictures and get updates, then they will make the effort. Phones exist and if you delete your socials then they can stay in touch with you about your son with your phone number. If you feel the need to delete your socials then do it. It's not your job to keep everyone updated on your child, and you shouldn't keep your accounts just because you feel obligated to keep them updated about your child. They can call or FaceTime you if they want updates.

Answer

I deleted MySpace and Facebook when I was 18, so pre-instagram lol. My husband wasn’t a fan of social media and looking at it from his pov it made sense to delete it. I realized I didn’t give a shit if someone had tacos on Tuesday that I otherwise wouldn’t talk to. Even though I had family on there I also had a lot of people from high school who I really didn’t care about and they didn’t need to know my business. All my real friends and I are still close because we text or call each other regularly. I think constantly comparing your entire life with the highlights of someone else isn’t healthy. It’s also a huge waste of time you could be so much more productive not scrolling for hours. The family members who care about your child will still see and or ask about how life is going.

Answer

I’d argue that this app is social media, so every single person who responded to this poll does use social media. It’s no different from Reddit or other forum based social media. I do have Facebook, instagram, tiktok, and Snapchat as well. I definitely use tiktok the most. I never really post on anything, but I like scrolling tiktok. I learn something new every day on there.

Answer

I don’t have fb , Twitter, til tok , Instagram. This period app is the closest I have to social media. I deleted everything years ago. I was addicted, I was so into my pictures looking perfect , I was photoshopping my pics …white teeth, smooth those fine lines 🤦‍♀️ and bc everyone does it I thought this is normal. I finally got fed up with it especially after all the politics and covid crap overtook everything. It was a source of stress wether I realized it or not. Now that I’ve been off it for so long when I see all these edited photos and filters I just can’t believe I used to do that😆 it looks so fake. Everything is for show, I think half the time people only do stuff so they can post for likes. It’s a very superficial thing.

Answer

I deleted my Facebook 4 years ago. I deleted my Instagram a year and a half ago. I have Pinterest, YouTube & this app. I don’t really do much on YouTube other than watch hair videos (I don’t interact w anyone) and I use Pinterest mainly for nail, home & recipe inspo lol. I realized how toxic social media was. I was addicted to it for a long time. Endless scrolling all the time, I wasn’t living in the moment.. definitely spend wayyyyy too much time just staring at a screen & ignoring the real world. I also realized how toxic it was.. & fake. Do I feel lonely? Not at all. The people who are in my day to day life keep in contact with me. You get this idea that you’re “connected” but tbh half the people you feel “connected” to on there, are only on there.. they don’t see you or communicate w you outside of platforms and I personally don’t see the reason to keep those people in my life. After I quit social media it inspired my SO to do the same.. he actually just randomly told me one day he got off Facebook & Instagram because he realized how negative it was to his life as well. I have to say as someone who was addicted to it, it took a while to “get over it”. I definitely had withdrawals… lol. 😬 ultimately, it’s up to you.. but it made me more present for my children & family & it helped a lot w my insecurities because I’m not constantly comparing my life/appearance to other people. I also find it weird how people need to share intimate details of their life online now. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I have nothing against people who use social media but i recognized how bad it was for me & made the choice to do better for myself mentally.

Answer

I don’t have the big social media platforms my husband has TikTok which is really it, he doesn’t post on there just watches videos on there and sends me funny ones and a lot of couple funny things but I don’t have it.

Answer

Why not? It’s pointless. It’s junk for your brain. People act like it’s the most important thing.

Answer

I never have and never will. I have enough real life stuff to keep up on, I certainly don’t need to engage in online stuff too. I enjoy an old fashioned phone call or I send a text if I’m thinking of someone. I’m 43 so I didn’t grow up with the internet or cell phones though, so it’s easy to not be interested

Answer

Delete it, it will be the best, most freeing thing you will do. You will realise how much time you waste each day either posting, scrolling or reading about other people’s lives…instead of actually being emotionally engaged and living your life. You don’t have to document your life or daily activities on social media. You need to reconnect with your family and true friends in a real way. Send them a text of the cute pic you got with your son while on an outing or activity, pick up the phone and call your friends and family for a chat. Social media is actually allows you to disengage from real life and true human connection. I stopped using social media 4yrs ago, after finally realising how much time I wasted on it and how bad it was for my mental health. It was one of the best decisions I ever made, I’m less anxious, I have loads of extra time to actually live my life and I’m a much happier person.

Do you have social media?

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