When it comes to social media many of us are, for want of a better word, addicted.
The average person has roughly five social media accounts and spends around one hour and 40 minutes browsing them every day, according to a report from GWI. That’s more than 11 hours of social media screen time every week.
People who ditched social media in favour of the simple life have now revealed on Reddit why they deleted their accounts in the first place.
Could this be the start of a social media revolution?
“I suck at taking selfies, and I never post anything. Even post-worthy events or ideas/situations I’ll pass up. You’re posting to show others the best of your life. Imagine a shit load of people you barely know anymore doing that...”
“My nephew - now six - says he never wants to use Facebook because it’s full of ‘boring old people like mommy and daddy.’”
“I don’t care what other people do.”
“The only people that matter to me have my phone number and address so that they can reach me. I used to have a whole plethora of social media accounts, and I just started feeling so fatigued by it. One by one, I started deleting them all. I just got so tired of seeing people using Instagram as a tool to gauge their self worth. Twitter was a breeding ground for fights and arguments. Facebook just sucks, period. Nothing constructive comes from these websites.”
“I have no friends to be social with.”
- Zediac
“I used AIM and ICQ back when I was in school, but then went through a pretty antisocial phase. Got on Facebook in 2004ish, but didn’t use it much until 2009. Skipped Myspace entirely. Used Facebook pretty regularly for a couple of years, but felt kinda overwhelmed by being expected to keep up with things like that. Finally gave it up when I kept getting devastatingly bad news via Facebook. Haven’t really looked back - I have a few people I text and that’s good enough for me.”
- nnuts
“I’m 23 and only use a chat app (my boyfriend is my only contact) and Reddit. If someone needs me, they can just call me. Social media just lets people you barely know show off the good parts of their lives.”
“I concluded a few years back that I invested too much time checking up on what everyone else was up to, and that it wasn’t good for my mental health. Quit cold turkey, and I’m in a far better place today because of it.”
“The day I realised social media might be an issue was on the 4th of July when I was out watching a fireworks show with friends. I was so invested in snapping a good video of it, that I basically ended up watching the whole show through my camera phone.
“So despite being there in person, I experienced just as much of the show as my Instagram followers, who are sitting at home. This is when I realised social media is causing me to miss out on life...”
- cR_MeRk
“A couple of reasons for me. One, I was too dependent on it for validation. Getting likes on Instagram or screenshots on my Snapchat story were like a drug to me, and I was very addicted.
“Two, I went through a pretty rough breakup and it wasn’t healthy for me to keep seeing reminders of my ex.
“Both of these stem from the highly addictive nature of social media, which is not accidental of course. I don’t know about others, but I’m highly susceptible to that sort of addiction.”
“I just straight up don’t care about other people’s lives. My friend got married and acted surprised I didn’t know. If it’s important to you, tell me yourself. I’m more about the personal aspect of a relationship and want to, you know, see you in person. Social media just takes away from that.”
“I became a really judgmental person with social media so I deleted it.”
“I got tired of that constant feed and the constant want to share content. I felt embarrassed by how I expressed myself and used Facebook to express myself. I deleted it and don’t miss it.”
“I realised that for every good Facebook post I saw, there were at least 10 others that would put me in a bad mood.”