Anna's Unicorns

Why I quit Facebook?

I’m living here for almost 8 months now. Whoah- time is flying by so fast.

I shouldn’t be surprised… but still I am.

I know we all can relate to each other that there are times when we wish that beautiful day will never end and also ironically mostly spending our time wishing days will go fast. Oh, the beauty of paradox.

But I’m here not to talk about time or days… although, it may be has a relation to the subject as well.

I’m here to talk about Facebook and why I chose to quit temporarily. You know be more offline… hehehe.

I deleted my Facebook app two weeks ago… it’s not permanent of course. I just realized how being addicted can mess up your life somehow without you really knowing it- why I call it silently deadly. Imagine people being doers and actually realizing their dreams in real life instead of choosing to be confined and living life behind a screen. I don’t think Facebook has the ability to make the quality of our lives better. It’s actually doing the opposite. It’s very harmful and no one is there to remind us. There’s no warning of dangers like you can see in the box of cigarettes (at least they are upfront).

I have been one (or still one) of its victims. The first thing I do in the morning was to be in it. Checking the latest posts or life updates from my friends. People- guiltily and honestly, I really don’t know that personally in real life. Everyone is doing it though, embarrassing if you only have 6 friends in it although in real life I may be only have 6 real friends.

I’m not blaming Facebook for this. Hey- we all feel good being there. It feels good if you post something and someone likes it. There is no denying with that. This is explained by the release of dopamine or happy hormones. I am a people-pleaser too and I know how it feels. I have been addicted to selfies and posting whatever and whenever I can. You know putting your best foot forward and letting people know you’re doing really well in life. You’re not missing anything, lacking something or definitely not left behind. If everyone is doing well- so are you.

The thing is we are all unsuspecting victims here. It’s so easy to be caught prey. With the advancement of technology and the human nature- no one really should take the blame. As someone, who have been a member of Facebook from Day 12, you know that time not everyone was there yet- just a few people and no one really cares of each other. I have seen it changed from a cute egg with good intentions to bring people together into this monstrous dinosaur who have consumed a lot of people in just one gulp. Eaten their time, productivity, relationships and life in general.

Couple in a moment of mutual disinterest

It seems that time goes fast whenever you start browsing in your news feed. You felt like you were just there for an hour but actual “earth time” it’s 3 hours. With WiFi now you’re always connected. You know the latest buzz in the neighborhood or in your circle of friends, or schoolmates. This makes the post more designed… more edited, filtered? Pretentious. It’s so easy to show off, to sell out yourself… you know be on the pedestal (you made for yourself). Logging on Facebook now feels like being in marketplace. People screaming “look at me” I need your attention and trying to sell you stuff.

Facebook has this ability to reveal the darker sides of our human nature. To delve into that of our ideal image. Someone who has money, cars, houses and other material things. Someone who is successful, who travels, eats in fancy restaurants and post selfies to show how good they look. Now… there’s always “me, myself and I” Facebook highlights that to unsuspecting preys. Who doesn’t want to express ourselves right?

Self-expression. It’s not so bad like this is why I have a blog in the first place. But once we abused it to make us look so good then what’s the point? Why are we afraid to get real. To be who we really are. To show our real colors. To show we are humans and we make mistakes and that we aren’t perfect and living imperfect lives. We are all flawed. Why is it so hard to accept that…

Facebook, did it really make us more connected? Lovers seating with each other are not really talking to each other anymore instead they are facing their phones ignoring each other. The same thing with friends and families. Facebook is a genius app but does it really improve human relationships? I don’t think so. It depends to the individual too but…

Having meaningful relationships is about spending quality time to each other, having the best time of their lives without a gadget to record the whole thing and to post it to share with everyone and to show how good life is treating them?

I’m that person who always say I want to record this beautiful moment so I can keep it forever until I obsess over it and want it to be “picture perfect” until it finally ruins the whole moment and that beautiful moment finally has passed. So instead of experiencing it, I chose to record it, post it and share it… does that make me feel good? Yes but only temporary. Did it enrich my life and improve my relationships? NO.

I miss the old times when we can swim straight ahead without thinking of gadgets and batteries. Obsessing about pictorials and getting that beach perfect picture. I know, time is changing… there is no way we can go backwards. We should move on… but is this really how we want to go forward? For me, we shouldn’t let technology define our lives or how we live it. Social medias shouldn’t control us. We should have the power over them.

It’s always up to you. Let the technology blind you and make you their robot or you step up, see it for yourself and be your own boss. You can’t make your dreams happen when you are living inside a rectangular box.

Don’t forget you have a life waiting for you outside. Live beautifully and fiercely. Living in the moment. Be there, connect offline and you will see how it heals your life in strange ways that it just makes you so happy inside. Look at the world and praise it, don’t just look the world in pictures. Isn’t it beautiful in person? Now, breathe. Be grateful that you are alive and know that you’re in control.

Real life is always sweeter. Sometimes, we don’t have to capture everything to remember. Sometimes, the memory is best kept inside our hearts not in the “memory cards” or hard drives.

The real world now needs us. Earth is calling…

Signing off…

-Anna

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13 Comments

  • Reply
    karraminah
    March 10, 2017 at 2:23 pm

    great read. keep doing you, Anna. This sums up what I really feel now. Thanks for writing this up.

    • Reply
      Anna
      March 10, 2017 at 11:27 pm

      Thanks Karraminah… 🙂

  • Reply
    sara
    April 5, 2017 at 2:26 pm

    Great post and I really enjoy reading it. I couldn’t agree more ☺☺☺

    • Reply
      Anna
      April 5, 2017 at 2:35 pm

      Thanks Sara!

  • Reply
    liza
    April 5, 2017 at 2:31 pm

    This is such a good post, good job!

    • Reply
      Anna
      April 5, 2017 at 2:36 pm

      Thanks Liza! 🙂

  • Reply
    Read. Write. Mom!
    April 10, 2017 at 11:41 pm

    This is how I found your blog…looking for posts on what happened when other people quit Facebook. Ha! I’ve been off Facebook for 24 hours now and already my head feels much lighter! I enjoyed reading your post and could definitely relate. Great blog!

    • Reply
      Anna
      April 11, 2017 at 2:42 am

      Thank you so much. ? Your comment means so much to me. And yes, trust me.. it will just get better. You will be surprise on how much you can accomplish without it. ?

  • Reply
    Satori
    June 18, 2017 at 3:52 am

    Very true. It’s great to “sign off” once in a while to reconnect with the world outside and embrace the present. (Don’t forget the online friends though, hehe) Love ya Anna!

    • Reply
      Anna
      June 21, 2017 at 7:51 pm

      Forgetting you guys, I can never do that haha. Love ya too, Ate Satori! <3 <3 <3

  • Reply
    Eta
    December 2, 2019 at 4:55 pm

    Thank you for sharing your experience. Recently… I mean 30 minutes go I tried to logged out from facebook and uninstall the apps. I realized that nobody cares when I’m off/online, even in groupchat.

    And recently become too much offended to many people posting like “Did you being left by your friend or you were actually left them because they cannot meet your standards” / “Do you ever that you are alone because you’re just being toxic”. And when someone confront those mind-provocator

  • Reply
    Eta
    December 2, 2019 at 5:01 pm

    -mind provocator, they will defend by saying that they just dropped their opinion. This tires me slowly, too. And makes me overthink anything that the mind-provocator said, back to phase of unforgiving my pasts.
    I’m still in progress to release myself from instagram. The algorithm gave me cat pics which I can’t resist…
    And deeply apologize to write two comments in this blog. I accidentally press ‘post comment’ when scrolling this x(

    • Reply
      Anna
      December 21, 2019 at 6:51 am

      Oh, it’s totally fine commenting twice. Don’t worry about that! 🙂 It’s still a constant struggle for me, sometimes I can disconnect but other times is more difficult. What is relieving is the feeling that because I disconnected before I know I can do it again. The feeling is freeing. Thank you for sharing and I wish you good luck.

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