I Deleted the Facebook App and Replaced it With Medium. Now I’m Happier, (Feel) Smarter and Growing. 6 Changes I’ve Noticed in Myself.
I feel like I’ve finally hit that blue wall and found the Exit Door from my own Truman Show echo chamber of a bubble, that is the Facebook Feed. And I’m all the better for it.
I’m not going to talk about how I so easily gamed Facebook into changing what it shows me by simply searching for something else and liking a bunch of that sort of content. Or how Facebook must be reading my other phone content to show me related ads and pieces (and get into the whole privacy thing).
But knowing for a while that Facebook just shows you more of the same stuff you like, I just accepted that I’m not getting anything new out of the feed. Yet I came back to it tens of times daily. Like checking the fridge every 10 minutes to see if anything new appeared.
I wasn’t getting any smarter. But who really goes to Facebook to enrich their lives. LOL.
But what got me was that I was starting to feel dumber.
Less patient.
Nothing more than a headline reader (what’s that, 20 words at a time?!).
Having gotten used to consuming bite-sized pieces of information, even when Facebook would show me a piece that was more interesting and in depth, I’d simply ‘save’ it with the idea that I’ll come back to it later to read it.
Ha! The number of unread articles in there to this day.
It’s not that I don’t like reading.
It’s just that being inside that environment stimulates and encourages a different sort of action:
Scrolling incessantly.
I could almost feel my brain glaze over itself as my thumb would continue scrolling on autopilot.
I can’t say exactly what flipped in me…
I can’t pinpoint the exact thought process that made me decide to delete the app. I don’t recall it was some huge epiphanic moment.
Perhaps I finally opened an article from my feed and read it for longer than 3.5 seconds and it was about someone who gave up Facebook and didn’t die.
Upon reflection, I think it was a culmination of things. A frustration with the app itself. Knowing it’s sucking the hours of of my day without giving anything in return.
Whatever it was, I’m here today: reading in-depth, 5 to 10 minute, thought-provoking pieces.
And I’m loving it.
Here’s what I’ve noticed in myself and my behaviour since making the switch.
I feel happier.
I’m consuming more rewarding content.
I feel smarter.
I’m filling my brain with new ideas and concepts.
I feel a lesser desire to consume material things.
I’m on a journey to becoming somewhat of a minimalist and because I’m seeing less tempting, material things, my desire to buy more things I don’t need is diminishing.
I’m becoming more driven.
Deep sharing moment. For the last several months I’ve been stuck in a lull, lacking motivation and drive. Being in here on Medium reading success story after story has reignited that flame inside.
I’ve started writing.
I’ve wanted to do this for a long time. And being in good company is rubbing off. I’m making the switch from consumer to creator and it’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve done recently.
So I encourage you: delete the Facebook App off your phone.
You don’t need go all nuts and delete your whole account. But if you want to try ‘cool it’ with Facebook, getting rid of the app will make it possible.
Kill the constant barrage of notifications. Kill the temptation to open the app every spare moment you have.
And I’m here to tell you it’s okay!
Don’t worry. You won’t become a recluse. I’m sure of that.
I won’t judge you if you ignore this and keep the app on your phone.
But you may thank yourself later for having tried this.
