Quite ironically, you’ll know about it when someone quits Facebook.
They can’t help to tell you. They think they’re telling you for practical reasons- “you won’t be able to contact me through messenger, and you’ll have to find another way to invite me to events”. But, really, they’re doing it because they feel great.
The practical side of things will quickly give way to humble bragging.
“I don’t care about likes or curating my life into some sort of picture-perfect movie”. Then they will tell you they don’t know anything about Mary’s trip to Paris. That they’ll know more when they see her and have a conversation. (They’ll ask you if you’ve ever heard of chatting IRL?) Finally, they’ll tell you how grateful they are because they haven’t had to look at pictures of the Eiffel Tower while sitting in their office cubical and “is that some sort of strange, modern-day torture?”
Now, science is on their side.
Published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, Danish researcher Morten Tromholt studied 1,095 participants and found those that didn’t use Facebook for a week were happier at the end of the week than those that used it regularly.
The difference between the groups was only 0.37 on a scale of one to ten, but non-Facebook users also reported feeling less angry, less lonely, less depressed, more decisive and more enthusiastic. Their stress levels also reduced by 55 per cent.
Benefits of quitting social media
Less procrastination, which means faster work and more time outside of the office.
Less comparing myself to others, which means happier feelings about where I am in life and the travel I have done and the clothes I am wearing and the colour of my own hair, even though it doesn’t curl like my Facebook friend Annie’s.
Reduced phone bill.
Less worry about having a ‘bikini-ready’ body. (Also, not so much desire to go out and buy a crocheted one-piece because #trending.)
Reduced awareness around what is #trending, which means less time wasted on things that will be gone by next Thursday.
Less temptation to turn everything into a photograph. Greater mind-freedom to enjoy the moment.
No anxiety about the best image filter for teeth-whiteness.
No realisations about how many few friends I have.
No reality checks about the number of people who “like” my status. I can go on in ignorant bliss thinking I’m hilariously funny.
No secret stalking of my ex’s current girlfriend’s cousin, while persuading myself that it’s “okay to stalk” because I swear I’ve met her over tequila shots at a party three years ago.
The only drawback?
No dog memes.
Top Comments
Anecdotal evidence says so too!
My biggest thing was comparing myself to others. My husband always says, "If you're going to envy someone, you have to envy EVERYTHING they have" - i.e. they may travel a lot but they're single, they may have an amazing job but they're exhausted, etc. but on facebook people only post the good, not the bad so you aren't even aware of the drawbacks to their lives.
5 years without facebook and there's really not much I miss about it that I can't access elsewhere. I'd recommend quitting to anyone.
I stopped facebook about 3 years ago and don't miss it one bit.