I used to fear being a nobody, then I left social media

Re:I used to fear being a nobody, then I left social media by biddit on Tuesday October 01, 2019 @12:10PM (#21127064)

I quit completely for several months and came back to it because of your exact line of reasoning - keeping in touch with those at the outskirts of my social circles is valuable to me.

However, I'm on the edge of leaving again because moderation is very difficult.

The problem with social media is that using it in moderation is an uphill battle against our own nature. It is designed to be addictive. Much like an alcoholic that keeps a bottle of vodka in the freezer and the dieter who keeps chips in the cupboard, you will constantly have to exercise restraint to keep yourself in check.

If you've woken up to the downsides of social media, and are trying to moderate, is that struggle worth the upside? I'm not so sure any more.

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Re:I used to fear being a nobody, then I left social media by alteria on Tuesday October 01, 2019 @12:40PM (#21127483)

I don't have a solution for Facebook, since it feels like there's a bit too much garbage on the platform. But for Instagram, I've started fresh following a limited set of close friends and interests.

Few enough that I can still participate and get updates about friends and interests without feeling the urge to check multiple times per day. If anything "important" happens to someone I'm not following, my friends are kind enough to fill me in if it's interesting.

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Re:I used to fear being a nobody, then I left social media by biddit on Tuesday October 01, 2019 @02:09PM (#21128696)

That is a great approach. I'll take a stab at pruning who I'm connected with and see if the experience improves!

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Re:I used to fear being a nobody, then I left social media by alteria on Tuesday October 01, 2019 @07:24PM (#21131981)

Yep. I started with a new account to make things easier. Pruning from hundreds down to 10-50 is much harder than just thinking about who/what you actually care about.

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