The editor of Lifehacker, Slava Baransky, wrote an article more than six months ago "Why I stopped actively using social networks", which caused a very violent and ambiguous reaction. The article about the rejection of Twitter "Adam Bralt, creator of &yet: "What I realized when I gave up Twitter for a month" was also quite popular.
The topic of completely abandoning social networks or restricting access to them is gaining momentum. And another person decided to abandon Facebook*. In his article Leo Babauta shares his impressions after 17 months without this network.
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I left Facebook* because I wanted to live consciously.
Seventeen months ago I deleted my Facebook account*. Not just deactivated it, but completely deleted it and felt a huge relief.
No more checking for updates, dealing with friendship requests (will I be interested in this person's thoughts? And do I want him to read my feed?), write about everything that happens in my life, grimace at inappropriate posts, listen to those who want to promote their business or personal interests, see someone playing Farmville, read about who had lunch or what the party is going to go, view funny pictures and worry about how many people will like my photo or a new post... and so on ad infinitum.
This does not detract from what others are doing at all, but it makes you think about all this noise that accumulates during our full immersion in social networks.
Living in a world without Facebook* is a very interesting experience. Of course, I'm not the only one. Some have also completely left there, and some have never been there and will not be.
I am no longer in constant contact with relatives who are half a world away from me. I receive all important news by e-mail or by phone. Yes, some small interesting details will be lost, but along with them I will be spared from details in which I am not interested at all. And based on my experience, the noise from Facebook* drowns out these small details that are interesting to me in about a ratio of 10 to 1.
Now my day is calmer. I'm focusing on more thoughtful things. I still use Twitter and Google+ to post my posts, but I do it occasionally and don't check them more than once a day. Instead, I write. I read long articles or novels. I walk and do sports. I play with my kids and spend time with my wife. I'm learning new things.
Instagram Facebook*, Pinterest or Whatsapp (I've never used the last three) are still available to me to share my life without the help of Facebook*, Instagram*, Pinterest or Whatsapp. I express my thoughts through this blog, through random articles on my home site, which I created and posted myself. Hosting your own website is not so difficult, and for those who find it difficult to delve into all these technical difficulties, there are a large number of simple and free platforms for posting blogs and expressing their thoughts there.
I can still collaborate with others. I have several colleagues with whom I correspond and consult by email, and with whom I work on an ongoing basis (we are used to using collaboration tools such as Google Docs). I communicate with people one-on-one via Skype or Google+ hangouts. I am not alone without intensive use of social networks. I just use various tools to work with others and to express myself.
We are social beings, so it is not surprising that we are looking for communication online. But this is a very superficial communication, with comments "here" and "here", likes and maybe a few messages to those with whom we are close. This communication lacks the saturation of a joint tea party, or a workout, or a walk in the park.
We are talking. But are we afraid of loneliness?
Is there anything scary about an empty mailbox? Instagram Facebookers*, Twitter, Instagram*, Tumblr and other social sites are we bored to death without checking Facebook*, Twitter, Instagram*, Tumblr and other social sites?
Can we disconnect and find ourselves alone with the fear of being alone with ourselves, without distraction, with nothing but the things we want to create?
Try to live without it for at least one day. Try not to log in to Facebook* and other social sites that you visited on a regular basis for one day. A day without emails and messages. Disconnect and just create, think, take notes, sketches, think, walk, sit alone and meditate, read a book.
This solitude can be intimidating, but over time you will learn to be companions to yourself, realizing that there is no better company to find. This is a valuable lesson.
This is a difficult task. It's much easier to be an antelope that follows the herd. To move when everyone else is moving, instead of insisting on their own, finding their own way and being afraid of being eaten by a lion. And also, like antelopes, spend a little time in solitude and see what happens. Silence tends to tell you that noise was optional. And that other antelopes don't know what they're doing either. They all run in one, thoughtlessly led herd, which carries us away with it, without thinking or conscious direction.
It is very useful to learn to insist on your own. The realization that you can do this gives you strength. Knowing that you can disconnect from others even for one or two days, and find your own voice, choose your own path, listen to your ideas and your own adviser, and at the same time be completely fine, not feel any discomfort — this is the real strength.
The song "Cheers" says that following your own path in our world today takes everything away from us. Perhaps it will be too difficult and you will prefer to return to the familiar and comfortable checking of social networks. But the result is worth giving everything you have and building your own path. The path you follow on your own is worth it to sell your soul. You feel the earth with your feet, the fresh virgin air around you, and your own voice as a company. It's worth everything you have.
Instagram Facebook and social networks owned by Meta Platforms Inc. are prohibited from operating in the territory of the Russian Federation.I went into the forest because I wanted to live consciously, to see only the most important facts of life. And to see that I didn't learn what I should have learned. And not when it's time to die, and I realize that I didn't live.
Henry david Thoreau
*Activity of Meta Platforms Inc. and its social networks Facebook and Instagram is prohibited in the territory of the Russian Federation.
