A couple of months ago I started minimizing my online life. I decided about a month later to continue sharing personal posts on this blog. However, I do try to keep my family and friends’ identities protected and I haven’t stopped scaling back on social media, particularly Facebook.
Besides deleting my YouTube, Google+, and two Twitter accounts, I mentioned that I have unfriended more than five hundred people on Facebook over the past few years. Now almost six hundred, in fact. I wasn’t a popularity queen in high school or college either. When I look back at some the names of people I’ve deleted in my Facebook data, I don’t even know who they are.
Why So Many Friends?
A question I’ve asked myself repeatedly is: why did I have so many Facebook friends to begin with? My “in real life” friends list has hardly changed over the past few years. I have less than ten people who I would truly call very close friends, a few friends I speak with less frequently and then some friendly acquaintances from my high school days. Then I’m quite close with my family. I have a small social circle, but I’m very introverted so that’s how I like my life.
When I was in high school and early on in college, everybody friended everyone before they’d even met each other. The point wasn’t quality but quantity. The more Facebook friends you had, the better known you must be, right? I bought into that mindset too for a while when I was a teenager. I thought being well-known was something to aspire to. Even though it completely clashed with who I am as a person.
I think it was also partly FOMO (fear of missing out). You couldn’t miss watching the first couple in your HS class get engaged or when so-and-so got that fantastic internship at a tech startup. You wouldn’t want to fall behind and be out of the know at a party.
I’m glad that I have rejected those reasons for keeping tabs on so many people from my past who I never really knew. Reducing my consumption of useless information has been extremely refreshing. Of course, everyone has their own reasons for staying connected on social media. So if you have 800 friends and it works for you that’s great! It doesn’t work for me, though.
Social Media Can Broaden Your Mind… or Not
I feel that social media can either broaden or narrow your mind and creativity depending on how you use it. On the one hand, you can be exposed to many more perspectives than you might otherwise be in your offline life. This is particularly true if you live in a rural area. Or, if you live far away from most friends and family.
On the other hand, there is a such thing as too much input, in my opinion. I hated having to scroll and scroll, absorbing so much useless knowledge about people’s lives I barely knew, just to find updates from people I did care about.
Relatedly, did you know that there is a Chrome extension available that allows you to hide the “Trending” Facebook feature? I just downloaded it the other day and I love it. I like to read the news on my own time, through sources of my own choosing.
Also, for me personally, I am less inclined to share my creative work, like blog posts and photos, via social media if there are many sets of eyes of people I’ve previously known (but am not close with) watching. That’s why I created a separate Instagram account for my blog. I wanted to be able to share freely. If you’re Facebook friends with me, you’ll also notice that I never share anything about my blog on my personal account. That is why, although I think I am almost down to only my closest friends and family. So I might start 🙂
What’s Next?
I am still struggling with whether or not to delete Facebook entirely. It often feels like it would be such a load off of my mind! However, I do use it to communicate with some people who I have no other way of communicating with. I also know that our extended families living all over the country and world enjoy getting to keep up with our lives. And, of course, I use it for this blog and to keep up with my favorite blogs. Hmmm. I definitely have more thinking to do about it.
What are your thoughts on Facebook though? Do you use it? Have you ever thought about “purging” your friends list or getting rid of it entirely?