Hello Chaitra,

I deleted my Facebook account about 2 years ago. About a week ago I deleted my online dating profile, Instagram account, snapchat and any other social networking account. I still use Youtube though. There are definitely times where I have missed out on things because I didn’t have a Facebook account. It wasn’t that big of deal and I don’t miss it. Honestly, social media can make you depressed and create a false sense of popularity or closeness. I met a couple people on the internet through a dating website, but it seemed like a lot of those people were lying. Of course, it was easier to lie because they were sitting behind a screen. However, in real life the moment you meet a person you can get a sense of what they are like. I feel much happier and in touch with myself leaving social media. When I’m bored I just read, come to tinybuddha, meditate, or text friends. I feel like my personal relationships have become stronger because I’m not wasting time talking online.

Annie

• This reply was modified 9 years, 4 months ago by Annie.

I know that for myself, Facebook was turning into a very poisonous thing for me. I recall countless times I’d see a girl I liked post her relationship status and I’d think, “oh god, she’s dating that guy, that must mean that I’m a total peice of crap and no one will ever love me like that.” I’ve been so much happier since I parted ways with social media about a year ago. Now I feel like that’s one less opportunity to judge someone or think I know something about someone. I still love the rest of the Internet and it’s culture will always be a part of me I think, but I know that for a guy like me social media is actually pretty unhealthy.

BlueButterfly

I think for the most part, the internet has been a HUGE resource for me and I think it’s great having the world at your fingertips – I’ve learned so much about art and drawing, music, spirituality and psychology. Without it I wouldn’t have found out about all the cool illustrators that I follow, I wouldn’t have discovered anime or many of the bands that I listen to and I wouldn’t have found TinyBuddha.

On the other side of the coin, however – I’m not really a huge fan of social media. It’s useful for promoting my art but I’m just not at all keen on the idea of everything about a persons life ending up on an instant feed. My impression is that people are just too concerned about likes or follows, and that they need to seek validation from other people constantly about everything in their life. This also perpetuates the idea that we all need to “be perfect” and project the idea of having a perfect life – we are able to filter, edit and touch up our lives for other people to see through posts and it’s to the point where it all feels artificial.

People aren’t living in the present moment – when they are at concerts, when they are at restaurants, when they are doing something – they are just taking photos or recording it through a smartphone just to upload it and tell everybody what they were doing, just to score likes. What’s the point? I admit, I used to be a junkie for getting likes when I had Facebook but the feeling is short-lived. Afterwards, you start to crave it even more. You try and make another interesting post about something seemingly interesting that you did.

It really irked me when I was watching Adele perform at Glastonbury last summer on the television (or any TV recording of any concert for that matter) – most people were just recording the concert on their smartphones and that’s how they were viewing the concert. Just to prove that they saw Adele live? If they really enjoyed the concert and they were present then the experience should have been valid enough. Why do you need to let your followers know you were at a concert? If I go to a concert, I want to be present and to actually engage with the music and performance. I don’t want to view it as I am recording through a smartphone screen.

Just my two pence on the subject 😀

Joe

Internet takes a lot of time from me but I am not able to without him!

I have deleted my facebook.. I still have instagram and snapchat, but nothing else!  And honestly I don’t miss facebook AT ALL… I had over 800 “friends” and one day realized… I don’t need this extra drama in my life.. the people who over share and put their dirty laundry out there.. no thanks!

I hate going out and going to restaurant and seeing looking at their phones instead of having a face to face conversation!