Why I Quit Facebook and Pinterest

I don’t know if some of you have considered doing the same and just haven’t done it. I believe you have at least thought about it being an idea because so many people have told me they think it is a good idea but just cannot bring themselves to do the same. A few people have said, “Good for you. I wish I could do that.”

I just quit pinterest last night. I just added it to my web block app and I just deleted the app. Here are the reasons.

1) I love pinterest too much. Last night I spent 1.5 hours on it. These were sleep hours and for me, sleep is more important than pinning. I would not have planned in my day planner, “1.5 hours for pinning.” Pinning on pinterest is not one of my missions, goals, values or priorities.

2) Last night, looking to pin ideas for clothing for myself (and even adding in “modest” or “modesty”) I could not stop finding nudity and near-nudity plastered on the page with my search. I woke up this morning with images in my head that I never wanted there and a prompting from th holy ghost to quit cold turkey. I did. I know I can do this because I quit facebook cold turkey.

3) Because I have experience quitting something I loved and having the empty hole filled quickly, I know the empty hole for this will fill quickly, too. I know I have missed facebook but my life has been enhanced so much since quitting that it was worth it and my “cup runneth over.” The blessings have been immense and innumerable. I will never go back (except to get a new way to stay in contact with people from my mission) even though now and then, I realize that some advantages of facebook are missed. 

I quit facebook on aroung February 1st of 2016. It was gradual.

1) At the end of the year last year, one of my New Year’s Resolutions was to put less of my life records onto my blog, onto facebook and into chat groups and more of it into my personal journal. I started doing this January 1st and it changed the way I did things. I realized that not only did I not at all miss posting about my life on facebook but I also realized that the people who want to know the most about me (myself, my family, my descendents) had been getting less of the “scoop” because I was sending it to the people who cared less.

2) I gradually came to realize how much time I spent on facebook, but the big thing was when my daughter drew a portrait of me by having me holding an i-Pad. It was complete with speech bubbles. She was in the comic, too. Her speech bubble said something similar to, “Mom, I have a question.” Mine said something like, “In a minute.” In every box, she said something similar snd I repeated something similar, for about seven boxes. There were captions for the hour of the day from first thing in the morning until late at night. In truth it would be 5 or six months from seeing that until I quit facebook, but that was a real eye opener.

3) I became aware of where I spent the most time on facebook and first eliminated notifications for many groups. I only kept on the notifications about the most important groups. One realization was that much of my time was spent educating huge groups of 300 people about what was going on politically. At the same time, my siblings, parents, close friends and next door neighbors were unaware of the same political things. I decided to focus on informing those people instead.

4) One of the ways I was spending time on facebook was sometimes spending maybe up to an hour or two per day giving advice to strangers in groups. At first, my excuse was that I was truly making a difference in their lives and in the world. However, I began to realize that if I was confirming what they already thought was true, they would thank me profusely and agree. However, if they were of a diffent opinion, I did not change their opinion. In other words, I was not influencing anyone to change their views and was not helping anyone, on facebook.

5) One day I felt prompted by the holy ghost that I did not need facebook anymore. I began pondering it.

6) I thought of and listed all the things facebook did for me. It helped me connect with people from my mission. It helped me connect with family and friends locally. That was about it now that I realized the things above.

7) I thought of other ways to connect with people by remembering the time before 2008 when I joined facebook. I also thought about my late Uncle Steven and how skilled he’d been about being social with no computer and no internet connection. I thought about how much each of his visits had meant to me and how little the facebook “likes” and comments had affected my life in comparison. I realized I wanted to at least try to be like him. I know that neighbors, family and friends need visits face to face more than E-visits and E-contact. I decided upon these ways to stay in touch. One was face to face visits. Another was the telephone. Another was e-mail. If I run into someone from, say, high school, at the store now, I have a good 1 to 20 minute catch up and don’t even ask if they are on facebook. It works for me fine. I will go to my school reunions. That will help, too. I also decided that with my blog, I would have a voice for my opinions and strong political thoughts. 

What has happened since I quit facebook:

1) I do not have as much contact (or even any at all) with people from my mission and wish to remedy that someday. I shall get back on facebook sometime, message some people my address and phone and email, then get off again.

2) I spend more time chatting it up with my actual physical neighbors. I feel silly having to re-learn this, but I can promise you, it is way better! Pretend you are back in the nineties. It rocks!

3) I spend more time talking to my kids, reading to my kids, noticing my kids, playing with my kids, homeschooling my kids, talking to my husband, listening to my husband, noticing my husband, having a better relationship with my husband, organizing, decluttering, learning, volunteering, reading, cooking, writing my books, housecleaning and much more. (I wish I could say I spend more time on my church calling, on visiting teaching, on exercising and doing artwork. However, I have not had time for those yet). 

4) I spend LOTS more time gardening and on yardwork. I also started volunteering 3 hours per week with my kids at the wildlife rehabilitation center. I originally did it to help them learn (for homeschooling). Now I have that reason, and the fact that I love it myself. I feed hospitalized injured birds. It is so wonderful! I feel like I have always had a hole in my heart that needed this to fill it!

5) I accomplish more of my goals. I plan more. Much of my time is spent on creating do-list items and checking off the items on my do lists (because there are 2 extra hours in each day).

6) I E-mail and call my parents and siblings a lot more now. My dad, who never joined facebook, said to me last night, “I read all your emails!” (That was great to hear. He never did say, “I joined facebook and I read all your posts.” As a matter of fact, most people who did read my posts just looked and did not comment.) Now to get sibling updates, I call them on the phone and chat for about an hour a week. It is crazy awesome and way better than facebook.

7) One day in the future, I will get on facebook and do what is mentioned in number one of this list.  I have been too busy to do it lately, but I will eventualy do it. I really miss being in contact with Chileans and former the return missionaries who served with me.