Zero Facebook For 3 Months

This week I realized that it’s been 3 months since I signed out of Facebook. The thing is, I haven’t thought much about it until now. So here’s some fresh thoughts about life without social media of late.

There hasn’t been a need to be on Facebook, and I don’t think or feel I’ve missed out. Yet my account remains intact…just in case I guess. I think I would feel more alienated from Facebook if I had deleted my account. Since I have one (though I don’t use it), I don’t feel like I need one, if that makes sense.

The only FOMO I’ve had has been for Twitter. While I wasn’t active on Facebook, I was quite addicted to Twitter. Since logging off in April, I’ve encountered Twitter news and tweets on other sites, mostly as quotes or examples for news articles. On one hand, it made me feel like I was missing out on the tweets, but at the same time I wasn’t because the newsworthy ones that might matter were still being surfaced.

Though somewhat attractive, Twitter is still a site to be avoided, at least for me. My life certainly hasn’t degraded from lack of Twitter; I’m better off really. There isn’t utility I need from Twitter, and there’s little time to be checking tweets, that’s for sure.

So no change is necessary. I plan to keep cruising along free of social media, keeping life simple in that regard. That should let me make time for better pursuits like, oh I don’t know, how about blogging? Or maybe video gaming hundreds of backlogged hours of exquisite RPGs? And I might also enjoy reading more books and watching new movies! Imagine that.

Oh, I guess I should mention that I have started getting sucked back into…YouTube. But that may be for another blog post. Well, that said, while some consider YouTube a form of social media, I don’t use it that way at all. It’s pure entertainment or information for me.

And doesn’t it seem that social media, for those who still use it, is now more tailored towards entertainment? More people seem to flock to Tik-Tok or similar video-based entertainment now rather than to sites made for online socializing. These days, I think more people gravitate to niche or focused group/chat apps (Slack, Discord, Signal…) or just plain instant messaging for their telecommunication needs.

Well, times change. Facebook has certainly dwindled or degraded through the years, so I think the point has finally arrived where disconnecting from social media is easier than ever before. Social media simply isn’t as big a deal as it once was. Let me see if another 3 months glide by without it.

Are you avoiding Facebook or other social media? How's that going for you?