Recently, I decided to delete Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok from my phone. It was a conscious choice I had to make after experiencing an anxious meltdown last week. Reddit wasn’t any better for me, and we all know where that place is headed. I haven’t deleted my accounts yet, but prioritizing the loss of easy access to those sites was important.
As usual, I feel better now. A lot of the content on those platforms brings me hateful and unpleasant feelings. It’s addicting, like a mess you just can’t seem to take your eyes off of. I had to be honest with myself and accept the truth that profit-driven social media has a net-negative impact on my life.
I’m glad I’m here now. I’ll never stop repeating this until it becomes untrue (hopefully not), but I enjoy being here. I don’t see this place as an alternative to anywhere else. It’s helping me break the habit of skipping long paragraphs of text and only relying on article titles at face value. The nuance present in several discussions feels more human.
Anyway, enough about me. How have your experiences been with other social media platforms? How do they compare to Beehaw?
Getting rid of Reddit saved so much of my time.
I’m currently more in love with Mastodon to be honest. It’s a bit more polished experience and with more active users. But i’m sticking around, hoping that lemmy and kbin can close the gap.
I really enjoy other social medias like tiktok and instagram but I’m really intentional about how I use them. I only consume and interact with content that brings me joy. I use it to stay in touch with friends so that means making sure I talk with them, interact with their posts, and show them some love. I don’t engage with trolls or haters but i will try and have a discussion with people who seem genuinely curious, confused, or open to other view points and not hostile. I try not to spend more than an hour on the both of the consuming content a day (usually spread out while i wait for the sun, at lunch, and before bed.) I love to create silly videos about crafts, gardening, and baking so I like to post those but I find I will get sucked into scrolling and not do all the things I love if I don’t set limits.
Beehaw is great because it’s not so busy I have to spend a long time catching up and I have already ran into so many friendly people with similar, positive interests. I really want this space to be something that adds to my life and so far it has. I’ve got a new kombucha guide to try, more info on how to organise community projects, crafty friends to share projects with, and even some info on how to fix my oven! Beehaw is different than the other social medias as it’s a place that’s very conversation focused. Its smaller than reddit making it feel more accessible as comments don’t get drowned out in busy threads. Tiktok has character limits that doesn’t allow for real conversations and instagrams feed is usually outdated and full of sponsored or irrelevant content so I really just stick to stories. This is my new favourite space but I still enjoy the others for different reasons
Your self control with Tiktok is admirable. I tried setting 30 minute limits for the apps but it just doesn’t work for me. I’m glad Beehaw is giving you so much fulfillment too c:
I just have one of those times for andriod that tells me I’m done for the day. I can click add 10 minutes if I’m in the middle of something like making a post or messaging a friend but I generally just accept it and tune in again the next day. Things are more fun when they’re finite
I only follow the limit when my mental health is great. Otherwise, I’m stuck in an endless hole of doom-scrolling. Your self control is stronger than mine lol
I’m glad you feel better here.
I only have Instagram as a form of social media, though I don’t post anything there. It definitely tears at my self-esteem at times, but I haven’t the heart to delete it because I consume other healthy content there. Only got FB to use Messenger with my parents. I don’t get all this social media hype, I guess; TikTok, Snapchat, etc… not my thing.
I like Lemmy. Like some others said, conversations feel more organic and refreshing. The website is pretty ok, I like the new icons here on Beehaw. I’m looking forward for more niche communities to grow, especially those catered towards specific shows or movies. I think I’ll grow to like this site even more as time progresses, honestly.
More and more people are realizing that these apps have a super unhealthy, poisonous hold on them and they are breaking free, finally. Huge congrats!
Im writing this as someone who never signed up for facebook or instagram, and ive only tried twitter a few times without getting hooked at all.
It just didnt have any interest to me, but i think thats because im into tech, and social media seems to be more focused on drama.
I’m glad you feel better about it. I deactivated Facebook about a week ago on a whim, and days later the Reddit fiasco came about so I deleted my account there. I watch TikTok and this is the only other social platform I use. I’m unsure about how I feel about it. It feels isolating in a way. But you’re right. Doomscrolling on social media brings about mostly negative feelings. So far, this place has been positive, although some of the content I don’t care about, but at least I’m not looking through it mindlessly.
