I left Facebook! What's on my mind? 6 months later

I broke it off with Facebook because I was starting my postgraduate degree and decided that it was just another distraction that I didn’t need. FB didn’t want me to leave; even though I’d specifically hunted down the delete rather than the deactivate button, Mr Zuckerberg and his mates still gave me a two week window to come crawling back. I didn’t. So, without further ado, here are some thoughts that I’ve been thinking since I went cold turkey:

1. I’ve been on Facebook since I was 14 (I’m now 21) and was accessing the website and app three times a day on average. As such I considered myself mildly addicted. But, there were no withdrawal symptoms! I felt oddly detached from social media at first, having no Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram or other accounts. Despite this I haven’t missed it in the slightest.

2. It’s forced me to keep in touch (via text and email generally) with friends who don’t live in my town. It’s funny how posting a video link to a friend’s wall can almost feel like ‘Hey, we’ve been in contact now, thanks for the like’. Or even scrolling past on another friends timeline feels like you’ve caught up on their life and you’ve done your ‘catching up’ duty for at least a month.

3. Leading on from the above, all my friends are still on Facebook. And for a lot of them, it’s their primary mode of contact. So I don’t hear from my out-of-town friends very often. It’s made me feel a bit lonely, and sad that some of said friends just can’t make the effort to send a ‘hey, how are you?’ text. I wonder what would happen if everyone left FB.

4. I'm sorry to say that a grand total of three of my friends wished me a happy birthday. Though the important friends did show up to my party, it made me feel rather discounted and alone.

5. I finally understand how integrated social media is in every-day life, and I now feel like an outsider, in a minority. According to Google, ‘how many people are on Facebook?’ is searched more than ‘how many people are on earth? Go on, search it.

6. There is a heck of a lot less drama in my life. Facebook is one big source of your daily bullshit.

7. I HAVE SO MUCH MORE TIME. Granted, some of that time is spent on YouTube, but despite this I am so much more focused on study without annoying notifications or wondering if the guy I like will respond to or ignore my private message. That damn ‘seen’ popup message!

8. I am happier, and am more concerned about real lives rather than the façades I see online.

I encourage you all to leave Facebook, even if it’s just for a little while, and see what kind of difference it makes. Lock your online life in a box and text that friend you haven’t seen/heard from in a while. I promise you, they’ll appreciate it.