The argument for only using Social Media on your home computer
About 3-4 months ago, I stopped using Facebook on my smart phone. I had heard a podcast or read an article about how much data Facebook mines from users through the app and decided I didn't want to be a part of that anymore.
But I couldn't fully walk away, so I gave myself a guard rail. I was only able to use it on my home computer and for only 10 minutes a day.
I don't use my home computer very often. Maybe 2-3 times a week, but I use my work computer and my smart phone more than anything else. This immediately had a drastic reduction in the amount of time I spent on Facebook. I went from checking it 15-20 times a day for moments at a time (looking for that little serotonin hit) to checking it an average of 0.33 times a day. Funny enough, I haven't lost any friends, my parents aren't concerned for my wellbeing and I still keep up with invitations and conversations that are important to me.
As a matter of fact, I just checked Facebook to see how long it took me. It had been 3 days since my last check based upon the notifications. I had 1 Facebook Messenger message and 38 notifications. I read the message which was a group conversation about an upcoming trip. No response needed and I'm 100% in the loop as to the travel plans. I clicked on the 38 notifications and then right clicked on the specific notifications that I wanted to see directly so I could open the link in a new tab. I ended up opening about 8-10 new tabs to see comments, events, likes, etc. I quickly clicked through the tabs, returning comments as needed, and it was all said and done in 7 minutes. (Most of the notifications were suggestions about groups I might like, events friends are attending and popular posts in groups that I belong to. None of those got a special click.) I didn't give my newsfeed a scroll this time because it just didn't occur to me since I was in the middle of writing this post, but on other occasions I will.
So I'm not disengaged from my network of friends and family, I just have very specific parameters by which I deliberately use the particular platform of Facebook. Same goes for Twitter and Instagram (although my relationship with Instagram needs some more attention).
xo
Chase
But I couldn't fully walk away, so I gave myself a guard rail. I was only able to use it on my home computer and for only 10 minutes a day.
I don't use my home computer very often. Maybe 2-3 times a week, but I use my work computer and my smart phone more than anything else. This immediately had a drastic reduction in the amount of time I spent on Facebook. I went from checking it 15-20 times a day for moments at a time (looking for that little serotonin hit) to checking it an average of 0.33 times a day. Funny enough, I haven't lost any friends, my parents aren't concerned for my wellbeing and I still keep up with invitations and conversations that are important to me.
As a matter of fact, I just checked Facebook to see how long it took me. It had been 3 days since my last check based upon the notifications. I had 1 Facebook Messenger message and 38 notifications. I read the message which was a group conversation about an upcoming trip. No response needed and I'm 100% in the loop as to the travel plans. I clicked on the 38 notifications and then right clicked on the specific notifications that I wanted to see directly so I could open the link in a new tab. I ended up opening about 8-10 new tabs to see comments, events, likes, etc. I quickly clicked through the tabs, returning comments as needed, and it was all said and done in 7 minutes. (Most of the notifications were suggestions about groups I might like, events friends are attending and popular posts in groups that I belong to. None of those got a special click.) I didn't give my newsfeed a scroll this time because it just didn't occur to me since I was in the middle of writing this post, but on other occasions I will.
So I'm not disengaged from my network of friends and family, I just have very specific parameters by which I deliberately use the particular platform of Facebook. Same goes for Twitter and Instagram (although my relationship with Instagram needs some more attention).
xo
Chase
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