A small but growing number of people are giving up on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
When Gayle Macdonald climbed to the top of Spain’s Sierra Nevada earlier this year, she didn’t stop just enjoying the scenery.
Instead, the 45-year-old did what many would do: she looked for the best place to take a selfie and post it on social media. She even admits that she came dangerously close to the precipice because of it.
It was after that moment, when she was scolded by her husband, that she decided to leave social media.
“It was as if [alguém dissesse] ‘this has to stop’ “, remembers Macdonald, a British citizen living near Granada, Spain.
“Taking a picture was the first thing I thought about when I got out of the car,” she says. “Thinking all the time about creating content and worrying about what to say took up too much space in my head and made me depressed.”
A week later, he posted on Facebook and Instagram that he was leaving the platforms.
“It was amazing to see that it was my most liked post on Instagram. Everyone was commenting ‘I wish I could do the same’ and ‘you are so brave’.”
Macdonald is a personal coach who specializes in helping people stop drinking. She realized that she spent, on average, about 11 hours a week on social media.
And he claims that the idea of quitting apps was much scarier than the actual action of quitting.
“After I left, I didn’t want to go back,” she says. “It was quite liberating. I’ve been off social media for over six months and regained some of that sense of peace and freedom I felt when I stopped drinking.”
Many of us spend a great deal of time on social media. A global study from July 2022 estimated that an average person spends an average of two hours and 29 minutes per day on these apps and websites, five minutes more than last year.
Some people may feel this is a bad habit that should be eliminated. But for others, it is a true form of addiction that they need help to overcome.
The UK Addiction Treatment (UKAT) organization, which runs addiction treatment centers on social media, says there has been a 5% increase in the number of people seeking help with their problem over the past three years.
“Undoubtedly, the company developed a strong reliance on social networks and the Internet in general during the pandemic,” says UKAT consultant Nuno Albuquerque.
The growing awareness of these concerns has led more people like Macdonald to abandon social media or at least reduce the time devoted to it. And suppliers are watching the trend.
Earlier this year, Facebook-owner Meta reported that the daily number of active users dropped for the first time in its history.
And an internal Twitter report leaked in October said its most active users now tweet less. Twitter did not deny the authenticity of the leak.
Even the new owner of Twitter, billionaire Elon Musk, speculated earlier this year: “Is Twitter dying?”
And recently, its acquisition saw Hollywood celebrities declare that they will leave Twitter, as they are dissatisfied with Musk’s views on free speech and his plans for the service.
But, back in the real world, what are the other reasons that keep people away from social media?
“Less and less privacy”
Business woman Urvashi Agarwal left Instagram in 2014, but her absence lasted only a year.
Until, in August 2022, he canceled his personal account for the second time and categorically states that this time there will be no return.
“I left forever,” says the founder of British tea brand JP’s Originals, who lives in London.
“One hundred percent. Not only is this a huge waste of time, but there seems to be less and less privacy in the world. Everything you do is constantly being posted.”
Furthermore, Agarwal no longer uses Twitter or Facebook. He finds it liberating: “I love it. Now I read 15 pages of a book every night.”
London-based psychotherapist Hilda Burke, author of the book The Phone Addiction Workbook (“Telephone Addiction Workbook”) says there is now a greater awareness of the amount of time people “waste” on social media platforms.
“Now this can be easily quantified, as most phones show you in detail how you spend your time online,” he says.
“Seeing the sum of it all can be a powerful wake-up call,” says Burke. “Many of my clients have expressed a correlation between heavy use of social media, poor sleep quality and increased anxiety.”
Advise people leaving social media to let all their friends know so they don’t keep trying to connect through platforms.
“Offer other forms of contact. Perhaps an old-fashioned phone call might serve the relationship better in the absence of direct messages,” advises Burke.
The Kashmiri public relations executive, who prefers not to give her surname, is 27 and lives in Rochester, UK. She left Instagram 10 months ago, and before that, she also left Snapchat.
“The main factor was my mental health,” he says. “There’s a lot of pressure to keep up with what other people are doing, which isn’t really representative of that person’s reality.”
“I kept scrolling the screen at night so that I could sleep badly at night and not feel rested when I woke up,” Kashmir says.
“Now, I’m not making comparisons in my daily life and I don’t really know what celebrities are doing.”
“It allows me to be more grounded and present, committed to the decisions I make, rather than being influenced,” she says.
Kashmir adds that not being on Instagram or Snapchat didn’t affect her PR work and that she still uses LinkedIn every time she looks for a new job.
UKAT’s Nuno Albuquerque says social media can be addictive for many reasons. The main one is that networks serve as a form of escape, especially for the younger generation.
“It is simply a way to connect without a connection, a comfort available at all times to keep many people company,” he explains.
“But addiction breeds isolation and if someone spends more time online than they do in the real world, they will naturally be isolated, which can lead to more addiction.”
He approves of the fact that more and more people are leaving social media. “It is likely that at some point we will begin to realize the damage they can do to our relationships, our mental health and our experience of real-life moments.”
Back in Spain, Gayle Macdonald says she is happier without social media.
“It’s so liberating to sit down and have a cup of tea without worrying about the image, the caption and whether or not it has to be a story, a reel or a post. Really, there are other things in life besides that.”
– This text was published in https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/salasocial-63567891
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Benjamin Smith is a fashion journalist and author at Gossipify, known for his coverage of the latest fashion trends and industry insights. He writes about clothing, shoes, accessories, and runway shows, providing in-depth analysis and unique perspectives. He’s respected for his ability to spot emerging designers and trends, and for providing practical fashion advice to readers.
