http://www.mensjournal.com/gear/collection/why-were-getting-off-facebook-in-2015-20141231

Matthew Kitchen

Ten years ago Facebook was just cresting as the cool new social media site that helped you keep in touch with the people you didn’t actually like in high school. We fed it our thoughts and feelings, shared our meals and locations and our top ten movie lists, kept it up-to-date on our relationship status, political views, favorite links, and personal information — all in the name of staying connected, and all without a thought to our security. But with a decade of questions regarding how Facebook makes money now answered, and a general understanding of how sharing information online can be dangerous (while the platform constantly updates its security protocol), we continue to use it anyway, even though many of us are just checking in as ritual and have threatened our exit from Facebook for years.

Of course, screen time in moderation is, for the most part, perfectly acceptable, and social media can offer a few genuinely beneficial uses. But before you log in or tap that app on your smartphone again, here are a few reasons to quit Facebook in 2015.

It Wastes Your Time
It's estimated that the average casual user (17 minutes per day on Facebook) who has been active on the site for 10 years has wasted upwards of 40 entire days of their lives scrolling and liking and commenting on pictures and posts. And more engaged users, who spend at least an hour a day on the site, have clocked 150 days feeding the Facebook beast during the same time. Think about how long you spend on the site each day, and what else could be a more productive use of your time.

Facebook Uses You to Sell Stuff...
In 2012, the site manipulated posts from 689,000 accounts without consent in an experiment that examined whether or not it could affect your emotions by making a few edits on your page. The study was done, according to Facebook, to "improve our services and to make the content people see on Facebook as relevant and engaging as possible." Skeptics think it was really used to discover the monetary benefit of a Like. COO Sheryl Sandberg later apologized, adding that they "never meant to upset you."

And Targets You with Advertisements
One time you wanted to buy a thing, and then you searched for that thing, and six months later Facebook is still reminding you that you should think about buying that thing, even if you already bought the thing. Yes, most sites do this thanks to embedded cookies, but only Facebook seamlessly posts these ads in your timeline with enough regularity that you can only assume your friend has an odd obsession with the latest Norelco razor.

It's Bad for Your Health
Facebook isn't just a harmless website dedicated to cataloging your vacations, poor wardrobe choices, and myopic thoughts on sporting events (which can both define or destroy relationships), it can actually do you harm. Studies hint that it can impact your immune system and inhibit the release of growth hormones, impair digestion and vision, limit thinking and kill creativity, and affect sleep patterns and happiness.

"Who Are These People, Anyway?"
The average adult has 338 friends on Facebook and probably doesn't know more than 10 percent of them anymore, or at all. Many of them likely have new lives, some have new last names, new passions, new facial hair, and new humans they're now responsible for keeping alive (read: babies). These are not the friends you knew, and semi-casually keeping up with them is a waste of time that could be better spent with new, real friends. Or on Twitter.

"But I Don't Care About Privacy"
Fair. That's your right. But the problem is that we're setting precedent for the future without yet understanding how it will affect the free and open Web, and simultaneously creating an internet that relies on you having a Facebook account to access sites that are not Facebook. As one of nearly 1.2 billion users to date, odds are decent that your account won't be hacked by someone with ill-will toward your family. That doesn't mean that permitting easy access to your information goes without consequence, both immediately and decades from now.

Nothing You Post Actually Matters
Very few people care what you're doing, whom you're with, where you're eating, or what you just bought, and the people who do were probably right next to you when you did it. We all saw that funny Ice Bucket Challenge video, and if we didn’t see it, it's fine. We're all fine. You'll sleep well without knowing which childhood toys you owned are now worth a fortune, and you will absolutely "believe what happened next" on Upworthy, because someone took time to write about it. These articles only exist because you share them on Facebook, and you only share them because they exist. So, instead, just invite a friend over to talk about how much you both loved Save By the Bell. The internet can only take so much nostalgia

Pretty much...........

SuperSoulFighter said:

Facebook users should realize (but I think they don't) that they're not the customer. They are the product. The advertising companies are fb's customers. The users are the product. Plus is saddens me that for a lot of people, facebook is the only book they ever read.

Brilliant.

Seemed so vain. I quit this year because I never really saw the point in it and didn't post anything much anyway, just responded to things people posted to me. I won't miss it.

Things like Facebook dont have to be used in traditional ways..

I have NO FRIENDS on there..

I've been using it for various groups/pages that i like,

& for news & photo's for almost a decade!

Ego101 said:

Things like Facebook dont have to be used in traditional ways..

I have NO FRIENDS on there..

I've been using it for various groups/pages that i like,

& for news & photo's for almost a decade!

And your habits are still being monitored, analyzed and targeted for other's monetary gain with absolutely no benefit for you, the user.

Thats fine with me...

Im oldschool, i used to spend a LOT of $ on Magazines...

Now i have new pictures delivered to me daily...

Like my man Bill said...

Cerebus said:

Ego101 said:

Things like Facebook dont have to be used in traditional ways..

I have NO FRIENDS on there..

I've been using it for various groups/pages that i like,

& for news & photo's for almost a decade!

And your habits are still being monitored, analyzed and targeted for other's monetary gain with absolutely no benefit for you, the user.

till you use me up..Damn it!

Slave2daGroove said:

THE BIGGEST REASON TO QUIT FACEBOOK IS BECAUSE I WILL BE MAKING MY OWN ALTERNATIVE TO IT VERY SOON!

Which Y'all will damn well GO TO, you hear me, Org?

Reason 8

Teen killed, 2 others shot after Facebook quarrel moves to Alabama park

I could see it coming ten million miles away!

Never used it. never will.

"Microchip, in yo' neck", anyone?

Reason 9: Facebook has THE same database as the CIA! Every information that is being posted by FB user are also collected and saved by the CIA.

THAT^ reason by itself is the main reason why I closed my FB account more than 2 years ago. And thank goodness I never posted any pictures of myself or my friends & asssociates on there.

I find it pretty good for finding about events (music, film, art) in my area. The links I get are pretty well selected and it's just the best thing out there for that purpose, imo.

I think the page might look a bit ridiculous in 10-15 years of time when most of the people there have added their "friends" from their school days, or whatever, ages ago and haven't been in any contact with them since.

TonyVanDam said:

Reason 9: Facebook has THE same database as the CIA! Every information that is being posted by FB user are also collected and saved by the CIA.

THAT^ reason by itself is the main reason why I closed my FB account more than 2 years ago. And thank goodness I never posted any pictures of myself or my friends & asssociates on there.

Proof?

novabrkr said:

I find it pretty good for finding about events (music, film, art) in my area. The links I get are pretty well selected and it's just the best thing out there for that purpose, imo.

yep, that's it, Facebook is for culture-close family

for friends, casual or close, I'd rather use Twitter

ppl do a lot of stupid shit they shouldnt be doing but they do it anyway dont they. Like spending 3grand to see an artist hmm .. or 1200 a ticket price to see a vegas show hmm.. Hang out in an internet site that you cant do a lot in except get vicarious news n photos hmm .. Of course the ppl you have as "friends" may not be the ppl you knew but for some reason theyre there. Is it odd, very, no odder than anything else. I know on sunday stop fantasizing theres some invisible being who cares about things on earth n does nothing as evil keeps happening on the earth it created.

JoeTyler said:

novabrkr said:

I find it pretty good for finding about events (music, film, art) in my area. The links I get are pretty well selected and it's just the best thing out there for that purpose, imo.

yep, that's it, Facebook is for culture-close family

for friends, casual or close, I'd rather use Twitter

Is your phone broken? I mean, if you don't want to call, text. Or get crazy and send an email. Social media is evil. It does nothing but feed into the false belief that we are all somehow important beyond our own mundane lives. It strokes the ego by making its users believe other people actually care about what they're doing and removes individual, relationship building contact from our lives entirely. A letter, sent via the post office, could be an intensely personal interaction. A tweet is about as impersonal as you can get. It's like driving down the street using a loud speaker to announce you plans and talk about your life. Anybody who wants to listen can do so. Facebook is barely any better, like one baby step, at most. And when you add how Facebook uses your personal information back into the equation, it's worse.

Not meaning to pick on YOU, btw. Just have some pretty strong feelings about "social" media.

A lot of y'all sound paranoid as fuck.

Cerebus said:

JoeTyler said:

yep, that's it, Facebook is for culture-close family

for friends, casual or close, I'd rather use Twitter

Is your phone broken? I mean, if you don't want to call, text. Or get crazy and send an email. Social media is evil. It does nothing but feed into the false belief that we are all somehow important beyond our own mundane lives. It strokes the ego by making its users believe other people actually care about what they're doing and removes individual, relationship building contact from our lives entirely. A letter, sent via the post office, could be an intensely personal interaction. A tweet is about as impersonal as you can get. It's like driving down the street using a loud speaker to announce you plans and talk about your life. Anybody who wants to listen can do so. Facebook is barely any better, like one baby step, at most. And when you add how Facebook uses your personal information back into the equation, it's worse.

Not meaning to pick on YOU, btw. Just have some pretty strong feelings about "social" media.

don't give a damn in hell about the media implications I use twitter and whatsapp because I'm a cheap ass bitch who doesnt want to spend $$$$ for the EVIL-GREEDY mobile corporations...

and, as I said, facebook for f-a-m-i-l-y is quite useful, or for getting the latest intel about your fav bands-artists...

JoeTyler said:

Cerebus said:

Is your phone broken? I mean, if you don't want to call, text. Or get crazy and send an email. Social media is evil. It does nothing but feed into the false belief that we are all somehow important beyond our own mundane lives. It strokes the ego by making its users believe other people actually care about what they're doing and removes individual, relationship building contact from our lives entirely. A letter, sent via the post office, could be an intensely personal interaction. A tweet is about as impersonal as you can get. It's like driving down the street using a loud speaker to announce you plans and talk about your life. Anybody who wants to listen can do so. Facebook is barely any better, like one baby step, at most. And when you add how Facebook uses your personal information back into the equation, it's worse.

Not meaning to pick on YOU, btw. Just have some pretty strong feelings about "social" media.

don't give a damn in hell about the media implications I use twitter and whatsapp because I'm a cheap ass bitch who doesnt want to spend $$$$ for the EVIL-GREEDY mobile corporations...

and, as I said, facebook for f-a-m-i-l-y is quite useful, or for getting the latest intel about your fav bands-artists...

You're still missing or ignoring pretty much every point I made as well as those made in the article I started the thread with. *shrug* To each their own.

Cerebus said:

JoeTyler said:

don't give a damn in hell about the media implications I use twitter and whatsapp because I'm a cheap ass bitch who doesnt want to spend $$$$ for the EVIL-GREEDY mobile corporations...

and, as I said, facebook for f-a-m-i-l-y is quite useful, or for getting the latest intel about your fav bands-artists...

You're still missing or ignoring pretty much every point I made as well as those made in the article I started the thread with. *shrug* To each their own.

oh I've read the OP...I'm WAY ABOVE all those 7 points...

[Edited 3/2/15 18:16pm]

dannyd5050 said:

A lot of y'all sound paranoid as fuck.

CORRECTION: Some of you are naive as sheeps.

Facebook is no good. How many times do I have to say this?!

Yet...

Facebook isn't even the tip of the icebreg for data mining: Apps, Amazon, Apple, eBay, Cable / Interent providers, Google, Microsoft, Modems / Routers, and the upteem "free" Cloud companies can and do get more info about you.

'7 Reasons Why You Should Quit Using the Internet This Year'

=======================

[Edited 3/3/15 4:14am]

OK, I’ll bite. I’m a regular user of the facebook.

There’s merit to most of the above, but, eh, none of it concerns me all that much. Is it a time-waster? Sure, but so are all kinds of things that a lot of people enjoy. Like the org, for example. And “waste” is in the eye of the beholder.

As for ads or selling stuff, we’re bombarded with that everywhere, from tv to walking down the street to riding the bus to nearly every other website you visit anywhere ever. If that’s a justification for leaving you’ll need to nearly drop out of society to avoid it.

Health? There are far worse things for your health than participating in one website. And many of us participate in those activities responsibly and with proper moderation as well. We take the risk because the benefit we see is worth it. If you don’t, then fair enough.

As for whether the people are your “friends” or not, each person’s user experience is unique. If you hate scrolling through your feed it’s your own fault for choosing your “friends” poorly. I personally regularly cull my list. And enjoy keeping up with enough of the folks that are there.

Does what I post matter? Well, then you’re getting into philosophical questions. Matter to who? My mom and aunt love seeing my facebook posts and tell me so all the time. I enjoy looking at pictures of my friends vacations. I enjoy giggling at the funny things my friends write and reading some thoughtful articles or blog posts I likely wouldn’t have found otherwise. Many of my friends aren’t people I can readily invite over for dinner any old time I want and, being an introvert, sometimes I prefer communicating in print/typing form anyway. It’s interesting to me that someone who participated in a community like the org doesn’t see the value of the cultivation of your own personal online community. It’s really not that different from what we once had here, only now you’re not focusing that community around one shared hobby/like.

You can control chunks of the privacy piece but this is where I do find some reason to pause with concern. So I’ll give ya that one.

Like everything else, facebook is what you make of it. Eh.

[Edited 3/3/15 6:49am]

TonyVanDam said:

dannyd5050 said:

A lot of y'all sound paranoid as fuck.

CORRECTION: Some of you are naive as sheeps.

You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, Tony. I still love you!

Cerebus said:

JoeTyler said:

yep, that's it, Facebook is for culture-close family

for friends, casual or close, I'd rather use Twitter

Is your phone broken? I mean, if you don't want to call, text. Or get crazy and send an email. Social media is evil. It does nothing but feed into the false belief that we are all somehow important beyond our own mundane lives. It strokes the ego by making its users believe other people actually care about what they're doing and removes individual, relationship building contact from our lives entirely. A letter, sent via the post office, could be an intensely personal interaction. A tweet is about as impersonal as you can get. It's like driving down the street using a loud speaker to announce you plans and talk about your life. Anybody who wants to listen can do so. Facebook is barely any better, like one baby step, at most. And when you add how Facebook uses your personal information back into the equation, it's worse.

Not meaning to pick on YOU, btw. Just have some pretty strong feelings about "social" media.

If somebody sent me a letter still in 2015 it'd creep the hell out of me.

Christmas card, invitations to weddings etc. are a different thing of course.

dannyd5050 said:

A lot of y'all sound paranoid as fuck.