What social media presence/internet experience are you looking to quit?

[RNotteLovesOwls]

i’ve already deleted my facebook and twitter accounts, and i’ve abandoned reddit. i barely even scratched the surface of tik tok before deciding it wasn’t for me. if it weren’t for the fact that some of my friends and clients still use instagram and discord, i would have deleted my accounts from them a LONG time ago

it’s not just because of political content. modern social media has a venting problem. there’s a lot of complaining and not a lot of looking for solutions to what you’re complaining about. and being frustrated and angry all the time just sucks the life out of you; i don’t understand why so many people believe that a barrage of negativity is worthwhile

[deoxysacid]

i would LOVE to quit twitter, but unfortunately i need to be constantly active on it as commissions are my only source of income and it's my largest audience. itd be amazing to never have to set foot there again but its a necessary evil for me. 

[goat]

i waved goodbye to the metaverse, with exception to whatsapp

(it's kinda useful for irl stuff like family & work ig)

insta, snap & kik - got rid of them a while ago (still use discord tho)

i have a twitter but its not used that much tbh

everything else i use is small indie web stuff like this, spacehey & statuscafe

:3

[PossiblyAxolotl]

I recently went and listed all my social media accounts for reference, even those I don't actively use. I'm generally alright with most of em since I don't use many of them, though I would like to get off Instagram altogether at some point. I use it to communicate with a few people and it sucks me in, and it's harder to retain connection with a lot of people without it, but I also despise Meta and don't want to use their app. I also kinda wanna reduce microblogging a little (Bluesky and Mastodon) because I just want to spend less time on extra social apps and things. YouTube hasn't been as much of a problem since I got rid of the official app and replaced it with the iOS Unwatched app following only long stuff like VODs for background noise, but I still need to keep Google regardless because I make videos lol.

Reddit's also iffy, though I literally don't use it - I'm just worried to delete it in case I do need it at some point because they lock usernames forever once an account is gone (I love using usernames as the primary database key) and I've already lost the original u/PossiblyAxolotl to that lol

[sunnyp4rk]

I'm wanting to get rid of twitter at some point, but I enjoy using it, so I just haven't been able to pull the trigger yet.

That's the only service I could actually think of that would do me good to cut it.

Maybe Bluesky? I have an account I don't really use. I might go and delete that.

[Kiko!]

I have an embarrassing amount of goals if I'm being honest. These are habits that I should have quit months ago after "quitting" TikTok, and I haven't even fully done that...(¬_ ´¬ )

• Stop using my phone before bed, in the bathroom, and stay true to the screen time limits that I have in place. I already don't have major social media apps like TikTok or Instagram, so I pretty much spend my time doing nothing on my phone, just wasting precious time that I could be using doing my passions and hobbies.
• Stop using certain apps. It's embarrassing, I wont get into it too much but it's almost become debilitating to the point where I have like have to hide it's usage like an addict.
• Using YouTube on my television. Number one there's way too much ads and number 2, i use that secific account to watch slop. Its become my guilty pleasure but has caused me to prioritize watching YouTube than doing work that determines my future? If I were going to procrastinate I should at least watch movies or read books that required artistic development and an overarching plot. Yet I'd rather spend it on something useless like movie reaction videos lol.

Most of the other small, nit picky points are similar to yours but I can't remember them all at this very moment XD

[warlock]

Reporting back in from the front - I've all but excised my usage of Discord thanks to the new rules coming into place, and I've also stopped using Instagram. The second one is moreso a self-imposed challenge that I've framed as being for Lent, but I'm hoping it sticks. The people who use it to try and reach me are finding other ways of staying in contact!

[owlhari]

we're pretty happy with our current balance of social media presence. except.

1. reddit. made an account to make a few posts on a specific community and then kept getting sucked in whenever we got bored, because the homepage just feeds you posts that it knows you'll click on. which for us, turned into a stream of ragebait/am i the asshole or just emotionally taxing posts in general. removed the app from our phone and have been trying to curb the instinct to open the website whenever we're bored.

2. youtube, specifically youtube shorts. it started as a way to pass 10-15 minutes while we had a quick rest in bed. and it's turned into hour-long sessions of watching videos that don't give us any value, just something short & new for a dopamine hit. we're trying to replace it with longer videos of things we actually care about. or at least checking in with ourself after a few minutes about whether we're in an "animation and game development" feed or a "parents filming their children and peddling useless products" feed.

[ghostk.id]

definitely tiktok... that's the only major thing i'm struggling with. i don't rot much on my pc, but my phone is quite the temptress. especially when i'm laying in bed. my biggest excuse is the wealth of useful information and resources i get from the app. certainly doesn't warrant the screen time though!

[moeghost]

my biggest goal is to quit instagram. i began posting myself at a really young age and the pressure to look good or perfect in my posts eats away at me and really gets to my head. when i was a younger teenager, i was way too wrapped up in my appearance and how others viewed and perceived me. that gets insanneeeely tiring and mentally draining, so ive pretty much stopped posting myself and using the app altogether. physical appearance is only a small part of who i am and what people are, and i especially cant stand how MEAN people are on that app. i have a chronic fear of being made fun of but im learning to stop caring what others think of me as a whole, cutting back on social media usage has really helped with that. i pretty much only use instagram anymore to text my friends back and post photography dumps every few months or so.

id also like to quit watching so much youtube. ever since i got my hands on my first ipod, ive watched youtube videos for hours almost daily. i like watching film/tv analyses and a lot of gaming in general (mostly animal crossing content as of late, yay for new content!!!) but id like to consume more films and tv shows themselves. id like to quit consuming so much stuff generally some day too, but ive put off so many movies that ive wanted to watch for years because i prefer and have gotten too used to the specificity of youtube videos, if that makes sense. i also like to have a video in the background when i fall asleep, i get really uncomfortable when i have to sit in silence with my thoughts. i find ASMR to be a good alternative to some rambunctious gaming video especially since its low stimulation and something that actually helps me relax and fall asleep!

im pretty content with my internet usage and presence, otherwise. i still enjoy tumblr as thats where i get a lot of my graphics for my site from, but id also like to create my own graphics eventually so that i wont have to use that as much anymore either. i personally think its a great place for fanart and old web enthusiasts, or if you just like to repost cool images 

[caracalled]

Wow, this was a thread I started! I'm glad people are finding so much use and joy in marking out their own little goals! I wanted to report back a little on how things went for me since my first post heh
(take this with a grain of salt also! I am currently living in Japan so I'm spending a lot of time outside exploring, even after 6 months here. However I'm not sure about how things will go after I return home to Europe)

I have a habit of returning to Youtube to just watch random stuff, and I'm hoping to fully stop with this. I've been able to get it down quite a bit, and on average I now spend around 1 hr and 40 minutes per day on there and I really really want to get that number to be below 30 minutes.

This one worked surprisingly well, I deleted the extension that tracks individual website activity, but my overall activity on my browser is under 2 hours a day, and most of that is not spent on Youtube, so I'm happy with where I am! I still follow some Youtube channels on my RSS reader, but it's maybe five of them that actually upload more than once a month.
What helped with watching video essays was realising that it's still content and still views the topic it covers through an algorithm/content lens, and that I'm much better off reading the actual books and texts those videos are derivative of anyways. They don't really feel worth watching now, and I can tell when I meet someone who is into them irl based on the way they speak about things and their talking points.
I stopped watching tournaments for now as I broke up with the ex who was into it, BUT!! I not have a criterion subscription and watch movies on their 24 hour livestream and cathode tv sort of like how I would with cable tv sometimes. Overall really happy with this! It's not mindless consumption, and I don't use it to drone out my thoughts.

I still have a Tumblr account! And I recently realised I don't really like it!

Deleted Tumblr sometime last year, I think shortly after I wrote this. It has done really well for my mental health to delete it I think, and for me being not so chronically online. I don't think I feel any need to go back to it, as I don't really have many active friends on there anyways. I do have an archive of my blog that I like browsing sometimes, for memories :D

Unfortunately - and i do feel some shame around this - I still have a tiktok account. I don't use it most of the time, but around once a month I'll spend a day or two scrolling the app.

I have not been on tiktok for over six months!! I've been thinking about deleting my account to make sure it stays that way! The positive thing is that I've been getting sick with content-speak as a whole, and the way any topic gets algo-ified, so no content really feels worth watching at this point.
Again, I hope this won't return when I go back home, but I am hopeful.


Some other notes in both directions:
I started reading and knitting and they've been HUGE as replacement behaviors! Anyone here I recommend starting both of these things (or similar) as replacements.

• Reading is good, because it made me realise that content isn't the only avenue to knowledge, and that reading makes me retain things better and doesn't make me feel the dread. It's difficult in the beginning, but I think difficult things are worth doing, not just in spite but also precisely because they challenge me (big thing that has changed with my lower social media use: Being able to do things that are difficult and not very rewarding more easily).
• Knitting/crocheting/any sort of craft is good because it replaces the mindlessness part in scrolling. I don't have to have the brainpower I do for reading, but I don't sit alone with my thoughts because my brain somehow thinks wow :)) my hands are moving in a repetitive manner :)) no space for bad thoughts :))

I've just been more into offline hobbies in general. I'm back into print magazines and newspapers (a way to engage with whats happening without dread also!!) and I like hiking and plant identification. It makes me happier, but it also didn't fix everything in my life. It just makes it easier to deal with things when you're not perpetually overwhelmed I think.
As an experiment I also downloaded Instagram again. I use it to keep in touch with friends a bit better (unfortunately it is really where everyone else is) and to see if I can withstand the interface a bit better now, and to my happiness: YES! I have not looked at the reels really, and the little time I've spent on the explore page I've mainly been disappointed with how every topic covered is content-ified. I hope it stays this way and I don't fall back into it over time.

Some new goals for over time:

• I want to be able to fall asleep on my own with now other person there and no voice in the background. I still struggle with this, and when I'm awake I can knit to help it but I can't knit to fall asleep. Maybe background noise like campfires/rain sounds would help, and maybe talking to my little recorder device, examining my caffeine consumption and going for a run before bed? I think this is also a therapy issue, since the big problem is that I spiral when left alone with my thoughts.
• I want to create more of my own again. Not sure how I'm gonna do this, but I just want to get in the habit of creating things that I don't mind being bad. I was hoping this one would just come with not using social media but I will have to actively put in effort I think
• Discord is a big issue I think. I'd rather just hang out irl or call with my friends. I spend a lot of time on discord with an online friend group, and while I like them a lot, I don't want to spend over two hours (!!!) every day just chatting on discord. Whatsapp I'm a bit less concerned about but keeping an eye on.

So, this is my little (big ass) update. I will check in again in a few months I hope!