I’ve been debating doing this a while… but have never done it. Wanting to know what’s everyone’s pros and cons of doing so?
What are the pros and cons of deleting social media and staying off the internet?
r/Advice
I’ve been debating doing this a while… but have never done it. Wanting to know what’s everyone’s pros and cons of doing so?
Comments
WELL, IDK IF THIS COUNTS AS SOCIAL MEDIA, BUT RN I AM PROCRASTINATING MY STUDIES FOR FINALS BY RESPONDING TO PEOPLE’S STUPID QUESTIONS.
Peace of mind
I did it for 8 months. It was definitely peaceful. It’s a little hard at first because we’re so used to being on Social Media 24/7 but after a while you’ll forget about it.
Pros: Peaceful and You can be more productive with your time.
Cons: You won’t see your classmates just had their 6th kid 😂
Pros, less anxiety and less exposure to the general negativity online. Cons, would be feeling less connected and maybe behind on pop culture. If you’re hesitant to delete all socials, I would delete the stuff you feel the most negative toward. As of rn, I’m mostly just on Reddit and IG. IG I trained my algorithm so I very rarely see anything that upsets me on there. Reddit I go in and out of phases with. Everything else I don’t use and it’s pretty great.
Not seeing people drama more time to read books but I wouldn’t disconnected from the internet just social media
You’ll find out how much of a crutch it is for entertainment, all the sudden you’ll be searching for anything to get out of the house and do something. I always want to interact with people more when I put it down instead of rushing to crawl back into my hole. And depending on involved you are politically, putting it down and living in your small bubble without those distractions can be super healthy.
Not having a constant feed to your friends and families’ insanity is a plus. I haven’t been on facebook for almost a decade, and while I have lost contact with quite a few people because of that, I’m not super upset about most of them. After enough time people reveal things about themselves that shape your opinions of them, I’m happy being mostly unaware of the super embarrassing shit people have allegedly been posting since my exodus.
Pros: More peace, better focus, less comparison. You start living more in your life, not just online.
Cons: Missing out on some news, events, or connections — especially if your social life is online.
It really depends on why you’re leaving. If it’s for your mental health or clarity, it can be life-changing. 💭✨
Peace of mind.
Cons: you would miss out on some stuff but its okay.
I’ve stopped watching the news and anything political.
It’s info-tainment these days and not real journalism, sadly.
Go watch some old Dan Rathers interviews. Or Walter Cronkite. Barbara Walter’s. I’m that old. 🤣 I’ll be 49 this year, and so I’ve been around long enough to see real journalists grilling politicians. Actors. President’s etc etc.
There was a time when you sat down for an interview and didn’t know the questions in advance. Journalist weren’t told what they could and couldn’t ask.
Real information was getting distributed to the citizens. Now. Now its all fucking scripted shit.
Anything political online I scroll by. I have also been reducing my time online.
It’s a challenge, but it absolutely will give you more peace!!
Deactivated FB. Months ago. Nobody noticed. So that’s validated.
I did it for a month straight while my partner and I took some time apart to figure out if we wanted to continue our relationship. In that time there was a lot of grief, so I wanted to be away from any triggers while I healed. I spent more time outside and enjoying the things I loved than I ever had in my life. I’ve considered doing it again, but I can say social media is incredibly helpful in a lot of ways. I’ve learned a lot from social media that is within reason like beauty and hair tips or asking questions about my job on Reddit lol. I think it’s important to be cautious of what you expose yourself to on social media and whether or not you let a device control your life. It’s easy to do, but very dangerous emotionally and physically. Breaks are healthy, but completely removing it from your life in modern day society where we nearly depend on technology and social media I would keep it around just to be educated and aware of advancements. Unless you don’t care, I would delete it if that’s the case 🤣
Boobs
I recently had deleted my social media but have it again. Cons of having social media include how much time you spend on it. I struggled with what to do without it. Pros of deleting is it took away my desire to compare my life to others
It’s a cathartic feeling of absolute peace.
It’s fine for keeping in contact now and then with close friends and relatives who live far away. It’s otherwise a waste of time.
I only have Reddit, and Instagram for photography. Nothing else.
I find my life is much less “angsty”.
cannot think of any cons really
if someone wants to reach you they’d always find a way to
pros keep out of too much irrelevant info & peer pressure
being less anxious and focusing more on myself
I need the internet for work, study, banking, paying bills, tax returns, have a bunch of sports apps I use daily etc etc I do like the idea of going offline, but the pros of doing that are far outweighed by the inconvenience of not having access. I have mused with the idea of getting a dumb, but iPhones are just so useful,
Pros: Ass holes aren’t able to reach out to you to rob you of your energy. Cons: none
I’ve never deleted mine. I’ll just fade away for a few months. I’ll have random people reach out and ask if everything is okay occasionally, but I just won’t check it or look at it. My anxiety goes down when I’m not on it. But I like being able to contact someone if the need arises. I have a friend who will delete her pages and then reinstate them at the last minute, frequently. And no one takes her seriously anymore for anything. She’s doing it for attention, and we’ve all learned, like everything else she does in life. And she’s almost 50.
I deleted all social media, except reddit, a long time ago.. I have my reasons 😅
Pros:
•Sooooo InTune with yourself
• Don’t take as much for granite in the daily rituals
• Connections to others feel stronger + more real
• Not having device on you every single second, you can actually leave it in the other room for awhile and forget about it
•More privacy
• Not partially distracted ALL the time; more mental space for own life events; high life enrichment
• Dopamine rebalances / brain resets from former dopamine overdose; affecting mood, addiction, stress, etc.
Cons:
•Feeling left out in some social aspects
•probably won’t be first response in group chats
•too happy with own life to care about all the latest scary news stories.
*EDIT- Con: Getting mad that everyone else is wasting their life on their phones
As i write you this hypocrisy from social media,
hope you at least try a little detox, get the taste for yourself.
I’m thinking of doing the same. Pros: staying informed depending on your social circle, having access to communicate (depending on your current methods) with said social circle, staying up to date on certain world events that pick up traction on social media (albeit a con is it may be biased social media news reporting). It’s entertaining. It’s distracting. May be inspired to be better or do more things. Creativity comes from seeing others doing things. It keeps you company. Informative content.
Cons: it’s distracting lol. With access to social circle and certain news, it becomes doom and gloom very quickly. May keep you up at night, may prevent you from getting out of bed. Possible shortening of attention span via short form entertainment needs. May get jealous of others living better. You get addicted. It’s hard to live without silence. Misinformation and brain rot.
That’s essentially it for me lol. I feel like I constantly need to look at my phone and be listening to something on YouTube. It’s hard for me to just be in the moment and focus on whatever I’m doing. I scroll before bed and when I wake up. I scroll when I should be doing something productive.
Before social media boomed, I was writing, reading and drawing. Now I feel like I’m just on my phone 24/7–I don’t even want to look at my screen time.
I think social media is a good thing used in a bad way. I wish I could have it in moderation and maybe one day I’ll find the strength to. As of now I think I really just need to purge. I miss the novelty of social media. It was something I used on occasion, not something I NEEDED.
My advice would be: do the purge and see how you feel. Just make sure if you have any platform-only friends you wish to stay in touch with, exchange other contact info if you somehow haven’t already. If you’re just deleting apps and not accounts—note down passwords and protect your accounts to avoid hackers.
I’m working towards doing the same myself.
I deleted all social but Reddit a while back.
Pros: everything
Cons: nothing
Okay I won’t lie I miss Facebook marketplace & I miss knowing about what’s happening in the community without doing extensive research but I will say my mental health has gotten so much better. I am way more focused on my hobbies, self-care & my academics.
How about pretending you don’t have social media and just don’t use it for a month? See how that goes before actually deleting it <mind blown>
Expanding on this, honestly if you can’t do the above, don’t expect to be able to resist the temptation of creating a new account and getting your fix.
I gave up facebook and Instagram for lent about 7 years ago and never looked back. It’s nice not having the constant feed of drama and bullshit assaulting your brain 24/7. The best part is if someone asks you about said drama, you have no choice but to stay out of it. I married the one girl I used Snapchat with soe I got rid of that. This is the only social media I use
The pros is that you won’t be easily bothered by some annoying things. The cons is that you might become lonely.
Tbh I deleted my entire instagram account and have not logged onto Facebook since 2022…. I feel more confident in myself and my mind is more at peace. Don’t miss it at all, surprisingly!
Pros: Peace of Mind
Cons: Out of the loop