A Few of the Good Things That Will Happen When You Shut Down Your Personal Facebook Page
After three experiments starting in 2013, I may have shut down my personal Facebook page for good. Why? For many reasons, I have found that a personal page on Facebook has reached the point of diminishing returns for me, and like many close friends I highly respect, I have developed serious concerns about security on Facebook with respect to my personal information. And despite what they say and what you might think, the sad truth is we are not as connected on our personal pages as Facebook would have us believe; I post, and you don’t see it; you post, and I don’t see it. Facebook decides what we get to see from our “friends” and what they get to see from us. Yet, we all see the things Facebook wants us to see. And personal pages have also become cluttered with unwanted ads and solicitations.
This, in my view, is all strangely Orwellian.
Only time will tell if this is enduring. Whether it is or not, I am in dire need of a significant — if not permanent — break. So I have shut down my personal page (which I wasn’t really using much anyway except as a link to my writer page) and I have had some time to form a few preliminary observations and conclusions.
Facebook, like many other things, can form an addiction, and just like people who quit drinking or smoking, for instance, once you get over the initial withdrawal symptoms, things come into very quick focus about how much better your days and weeks become.
1. You won’t have to see those annoying political or social posts by “friends” who don’t share your political views. (Or those who do.) We have been acutely reminded of this over the last few weeks, as “friends” have cluttered our newsfeed with patronizing and self righteous posts about what we need to do during the coronavirus outbreak. Either way, no matter who they are or where they fall out, admit it; their constant posts about politics and social issues are incredibly annoying. Whether they are 2nd Amendment and guns rights aficionados or people who still just can’t get over the fact that Donald Trump is President, they’re all equally annoying. Get off Facebook and you don’t have to see this crap.
2. You avoid those people who constantly use Facebook for self-affirmation. The “like” function is maybe the worst thing Facebook ever did. At one point in the distant past, when Facebook was fresh and new, people just put themselves out there. They posted. Without any expectation. No one sought a like, a thumbs-up, or some type of response. The “like” function opened a can of worms, indeed, it unleashed a genie that can’t be put back in the bottle. The people seeking self-affirmation are now blatantly and — at times — embarrassingly obvious. And although they are still likable at times, sometimes you just want to grab them in a headlock and give them a noogie like you did to your little brother when you were kids: “Come here ya little knucklehead! I love ya! You don’t need to post 27 times a day for me to love ya!”
3. You don’t have to see posts by those people who feel the need to one-up or impress their “friends” by posting every time they eat at a swanky restaurant or go on yet another trip at totally random times of the year to that same place they go to every time they take a trip at that random time of year. “Holy shit. Does he/she actually do anything else,” you find yourself asking as you shake your head. Again.
4. You avoid the random, snarky comments made by “friends” who have nothing better to offer. Sometimes people are just oppositional or they’re going to feel the need to make stupid, non-sequitur, editorial comments. Like that guy who every time you post a photo you snapped with your iPhone of say, the Blue Ridge Mountains at sunset, feels the need to ask, “Did you really take this picture or did you get it off the internet? Because my iPhone doesn’t take pictures this cool.” Yeah. That guy. Get off Facebook and avoid that guy’s comments on your posts.
5. You won’t spend so much of your time reaching for your phone to check the Facebook app to see what’s going on with your “friends,” or whether they “liked” your most recent post. How many times a day do you do this? Come on, be honest now. Take count one day and you will shock yourself at how much time you waste doing this.
6. You will read more. (If you like to read. Or if you once liked to read before you got on Facebook.) Think about it again. Since you got on Facebook, how many books have you actually read? Count them up. There’s absolutely no way you have read close to as many books as you used to read before you got on Facebook. Why? Because you don’t have any time to read books anymore because you are constantly on Facebook. (Scary isn’t it?) Facebook is dumbing you down. Way down.
7. You will be happier. You will generally be happier because you will no longer be seeing the garbage that people spew on Facebook. (See points 1 — 3, above.) Facebook is like television “news” these days. They only put the most negative, controversial crap out there in an effort to get people all riled up. You don’t believe me? Turn on MSNBC, ABC, FOX, CBS, NBC, or CNN. All they do for the entire 24-hour “news” cycle is talk about why Republicans or Democrats suck and are evil people. Facebook is no different; they feed you unsolicited “news” nuggets based on how they have you pegged politically (from gathering your personal posting and clicking history). Get off Facebook and you will be more happy and less pissed off at Republicans/Democrats every day.
8. You will have a better attitude. (See point 7 above.) In the vacuum created by getting off Facebook, you will actually have time to look at other people and maybe even … drum roll … speak to them. You will be shocked at how normal and nice people are in person, and you don’t even know what their political beliefs are. You will arrive home at night and think to yourself, “Damn! Today was pretty neat. I actually came in contact with some people I don’t know and they were NICE!” Then you will smile. Then you will have a better attitude the next day. And this cycle will continue. Before you even realize it, you might have an improved outlook on life and people in general.
9. Did I say you won’t reach for your phone nearly so often? It’s a cool thing.
10. You will actually talk to people face to face. (See point 8, above.) And I’m not talking about the people in your insular echo chamber, some of whom feed your afflictions. I mean new people you’ve never met or spoken with before. (And things like politics and how bad the world sucks won’t even come up!)
Yes, these are just a few of the good things that will happen when you shut down your personal Facebook page.
Glen Hines is the author of three books that make up the Anthology Trilogy — Document, Cloudbreak, and Crossroads — available at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. His writing has appeared in Sports Illustrated, Task & Purpose, and the Human Development Project.
