blogging / Confessions / Personal / Social media

On Deleting Social Media

Cheila48 Comments

Good morning everyone!

I know I haven’t written in the longest time. Some of you might not even remember or follow me anymore. I want you to know that I miss you and think about blogging every single day. So much has happened. I’ve changed jobs again, not by choice, but it ended up being a blessing in disguise. We have set a wedding date too. I want to tell you all about it, all of it. But there’s just so much to say and I’m both busy and lazy and overwhelmed by how long it has been and all the changes. I’m also embarrassed because I haven’t been following your blogs at all, shame on me.

Anyway, I’m off topic here. I came to tell you about a decision I made yesterday, while in bed, before I fell asleep. I currently work in a PCI environment, meaning no phones or paper or anything that could potentially mean an information leak. Being without my phone for 8 hours feels extremely liberating. Honestly. I know some people can’t do it or get anxiety over it but I love it. I find myself not even bothering to check it at breaks or paying that much attention to it during lunchtime. When I do, however, there’s a ton of Facebook and Instagram scrolling to be done. I’ve realized I am spending a lot of my downtime just lurking around social media, because I don’t even post that much anymore. That is precious time I could spend reading blogs or books or news or doing anything but looking at pictures I even forget to like. Also, I’m no longer particularly fond of the attention nor do I need the validation of likes or selfies or filters. That’s not how I want to live my life.

I’ve only temporarily deactivated Facebook and Instagram because there’s memories there and I could change my mind eventually. I’ve permanently deleting Snapchat. As for Twitter, I’ve just realized I forgot about it. I haven’t gone there in a long time but I might just temporarily deactivate it as well. Do I want people to remember my birthday because Facebook tells them to? No. Those who matter, know my birthday. As for events, I told my friends and coworkers that they have to invite me personally or through messenger or WhatsApp (which I’m obviously keeping).

Keep in mind I’m not saying this is the right way to live. This is what’s right for me, right now. It feels awesome. But I might learn that I cannot live without social media or miss it terribly. I know for sure I’ll learn something.

Rui says I’m now on some list because it looks like I’m trying to disappear so my FBI agent and Mark Zuckerberg are now trying to understand what I might have done haha.

I would love for you to share your thoughts on social media. What’s your relationship with it right now?

Do you have any posts on this topic? If so, please leave your links in the comment section so we can all read it and discuss different views and opinions.

Thank you so much for stopping by.

Love, Cheila.

48 thoughts on “On Deleting Social Media”

  4. I hardly use social media and I’ll be deleting most of my accounts soon. Nice to hear from you, Cheila. 😄

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  5. Girl, I’m pretty addicted to Insta haha but need to cut back on social media as well. It’s nice to just stay away from social media to just focus on yourself. Glad to see you back on WP ❤️

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  6. First of all, congratulations to the two of you. I’m so happy for you, Chey! ♥️😀🤗 My job prevents me from taking my phone to work too. So I can totally relate to what you’re saying. It’s hard at first but once you get used to staying away from social media, it doesn’t take much of an effort to stay away! Speaking from experience. Or, errrr, maybe it’s just me. Take your time, darling. Sometimes it can be difficult to balance everything. But I sure do hope that you don’t have plans to quit WordPress. Now that would be a tremendous loss for us.

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  7. Cheeeeeey! I see you sometimes on Instagram but I’ve missed you in the blogging world – my, my, you have been bussssssy!

    I’m glad the change of jobs has turned out to be a blessing, and amazing news that you’ve set the wedding date. I guess that’s equal amounts excitement and stress with organising everything.

    I think it’s a good idea to get a step back from social media if it negatively affects you, even if that’s in terms of mindlessly scrolling and spending too much down time doing that when it could be spend doing something more enjoyable. I don’t use social media anywhere near as much as I used to, which used to be Facebook. I scroll to see what’s new with people and use the messaging on there. I don’t really ‘do’ Twitter, never seen the point of it. I do Insta for my blog every now and then, but I don’t go on often otherwise. I’m very much take-it-or-leave it, not too bothered with social media but there will always be parts that get to me and remind me that nobody particularly gives a crap about me unless they want something! I do think it has it’s perks in other ways though, like sharing blog posts, contacting brands for customer service help or finding out about events etc.

    Take care lovely, get some rest and I look forward to hearing more about things with you soon! 🙂
    Caz xx

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    • So good to hear from you! I’ve been loving not having it, honestly. It did nothing for me. I kept Facebook and Instagram messenger because I might need to reach someone but I don’t need to know what everyone is doing 😂 I really want to focus on my blog again. A few minutes here and there might add up to an hour per day, maybe more. There so much I can and want to do with that time. Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you’re doing great ❤️

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  8. Yesss we don’t realize how much social media consumes us until we take a step back and think about it. I completely deleted snapchat and wanted to do the same with Instagram but since I had long distant friends, I decided to keep it but watch my time on it. Social media was something that brought me anxiety but now I know when I need to take a step back. I hope others can realize that too. Love the quote and congrats on the wedding date!

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    • I kept both Instagram and Facebook messengers, which you I didn’t know I could do. I want to focus on other thinks. If I have a 10 minute break, I’d rather read a blog post or text a friend.

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  9. I know a lot of people who’ve taken breaks from social media and even sworn it off altogether, but I honestly never thought of doing it. There’s some apps I don’t use as much as I used to (Snapchat, Tumblr, and Facebook), but there’s others I use more now (like Twitter) so I feel like I might shift in my frequency of use again 🤷🏻‍♀️ I guess everybody’s habits are different and the effects depend on who you follow too!

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    • True. I’m all for it if it works for you and if it’s something positive in your life. I am loving not having it so far, but some people tell me that wouldn’t be able to live without it, which I understand.

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  10. I have never liked Snapchat and when I cottoned on to the fact guys like to use it to ask girls for nude pictures I despise it even more. I’ve been spending less time on Facebook recently and I’ve liked it, I have deleted and deactivated in the past though. Twitter I use pretty casually but I don’t stress over it and Instagram I use to share my life, I don’t have a themed account or just want loads of followers, I use it to see behind the scenes of people and bloggers I follow and get to know them better 🙂 Good on you for having a cull and freeing up your time x

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    • Hi Chanelle. I definitely think it can be either good or bad, depending on how you use it and how it impacts your life. I’m not against social media. Some people use it to make a living, which is great. It’s a wonderful way to communicate and make friends too. But if you choose not to use it, I’m okay with that too. That’s where I’m at right now and I love the freedom. As for Snapchat, I used it mainly for the filters so I could cute pictures lol

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  11. Hi Cheila! So nice to hear from you! Tell us all about your wedding plans, please!!

    I don’t really like or even use social media. I always upload photos to Facebook though because you can never lose them there! & I also need to keep up with my family since they live in a different state than me.

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  12. Good for you Cheila! I’m never on facebook which works well for me when people invite me to events on FB and then I never see it. I might have to deactivate mine as well or at least look into it. I have my blog “business” page tied to it so I can have a “business” Instagram account so we shall see. Glad you’re back!

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  13. I’ve deleted everything and joined Vero – which I love. There’s no endless scrolling because you only see the people you follow, and in chronological order. So when you’re up to date, you put your phone down. That’s it. I find that really liberating. In just a few minutes I know I’ve seen everything I want to see – I’m up to date. Vero made me realise how addicted I was to keep checking other sites to see if there was anything new, and of course there always is on those ones!
    I’ve written a blog about it too if you’re interested!

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  14. my dear darling Cheila….I miss your posts so much…Is that crazy? I do understand the no phones…I was in a job like that…some people sneaked their phones onto their desk. Yet if they got caught…well is it worth it. I scroll on Facebook but rarely post. I am admin in some groups but my input is little. I post pictures on Instagram and do some blog posts. I do hope you can continue on here. Even if its a post a month. I still so want to catch up with you both when Im in Portugal.

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  16. I probably use social media way too much, but living overseas, it helps me feel closer to friends and family. I don’t think I could quit it altogether, but I do try to limit it because it is such a time-suck.

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    • I don’t think it’s bad for you if you use it to connect to family and friends. Even if you use it just to scroll and kill time, it’s not something negative if you like it. I think it’s only bad if you know, deep down that you’re addicted or using it more than you should

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  17. I agree!! I just recently did a “detox” from social media because it was directly related to my anxiety https://alohandie.wordpress.com/2018/10/29/i-hope-you-understand/ & I mentioned some of the same things! I didn’t feel the need to constantly scroll, I felt that I was wasting time. I also was realllly annoyed at people portraying an always perfect life.

    I haven’t permanently deleted. I think just every now and then, it’s good to have a break or a detox. I turned off all notifications and I only check it if I have nothing else to do (which is usually never).

    Thank you for your post!!! 😍💕

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  18. Just stumbled on this post. I do understand what you mean about having memories on some social media outlets that can be hard to just effectively obliterate but as someone who deleted Facebook six years ago and hasn’t looked back (just posted about this!) I can say it is one of the best personal decisions I have ever made. How have you gotten on? I’m following you now and looking forward to reading more 🙂

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  19. Great post! I agree, I recently decided to limit my social media account. I no longer use my personal IG page but I maintain my business IG page and I have cut down my FB usage drastically. I find social media useful especially useful to connect with some friends and family abroad but I too like you find that I have spent too much time scrolling. Thanks for sharing 🙂

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  20. I often find myself deleting and recreating my social media accounts. For me, I’m torn between sharing my writing, the gospel, my art, yoga journey, and also following my favorite celebrities, which are from The Walking Dead but also makeup artists, and then just deleting what seems like a endless scroll of irrelevant posts. Maybe I will use Instagram to blog later on again? Who knows? All I know is I am trying to see how my perception of life evolves without social media. I do have to say, I noticed some amazing improvements such as not being pressured to compete for the best picture of the year. In other words, in some ways, social media is relevant, but is it really relevant more so than not?

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  21. I just quit social media for the thousandth time. Lol. I am through with it now for good. While I was sicker, it was the best option for communication with friends. Now, I am looking out to meeting new people, actually face to face! I wrote a post about leaving social media on my site, EverythingBrendenMartel.Com, today, actually.

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  22. I totally feel you, have been thinking a lot lately about quitting social media. I have studied this topic a little bit and how social media affects our happiness level along with other things, you can check if out if you want: dariasnotes.home.blog/2018/12/08/why-are-we-making-our-lives-difficult/. The more posts I see on Instagram, the more I want to delete it, it scares me that people lost any sense of privacy and ready to share literally anything they do: from showering and eating to “look what’s in my bag”.
    I truly believe we will feel much better about ourselves if we quit or at least lower the usage of social media.
    Cheers

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  23. I only use twitter, to see whats trending and for some news. I have forgotten about facebook and instagram. Could never get into snapchat or tiktok or anything. Leaving social media is truly liberating. The only reason I havent deactivated anything is because of photos and memories like you said. But yeah, I can easily go without using my phone for several days during a vacation or such. Glad to see one more join the team.

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  24. Deleting my social media accounts is one of the best decisions I have ever mad, and I couldn’t be happier!

    I deleted Facebook in 2012, as I was entering grade 12. A year later, I deleted Tumblr, Snapchat and Instagram. I remember when Snapchat became public with a newsfeed and I deleted right away. It just felt wrong to video stream my day-to-day life to ‘followers’. Twitter was a tough one for me since I really enjoyed the platform. After a couple stints, I finally deleted it in 2017. Very happy with my choices!

    I wrote more about it here: https://mehretbiruk.com/2018/12/05/minimizing-the-noise-why-i-deleted-my-linkedin-account/

    Good luck in your journey, no matter where it takes you! 😊

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  25. I have to congratulate you on successfully unplugging yourself as that is definitely not an easy one to go cold turkey on. While I’ve practically brought my posting on Instagram and Facebook to a full-stop since my son was born I still am an avid lurker during my downtime. With regards to my posts, upon some reflection I realized that I was internally placing far too much value on validating the worth of my posts through likes and viewer engagement to the point that I was filtering what content I was willing to post versus just being myself. That isn’t a healthy way to live but I imagine for a lot of people that like and subsequent dopamine release is a hard addiction to quench. Toeing the line between the utilizing social media as an effective and quick means of communication professionally versus the need to always be connected and validated through engagement and likes isn’t a simple one. On one end I would like to disconnect completely as that would be healthier for me to disengage; however, in the working world it has practically become a necessity to have, as it enables potential employers to background check you and is viable marketing tool for businesses.

    Cheers,
    Sean

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  26. Truthfully I believe Social Media should be called Anti Social Media.
    People become very antisocial because of it. Or they stop having any restraint from saying things in person that they wouldn’t normally. I see this all the time on FB where people I have known will be timid in real life, but then be blasting people on FB. It’s not that I don’t believe FB, twitter, or insta cannot be used for good. I believe they have good uses but just like any technology it is abused. I personally mostly use FB for my blog or for messenging, but outside of that I only scroll the feed once in a blue moon.

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