Why I Deleted Facebook From My Phone

Last Updated on July 24, 2017 by lydiaf1963

I deleted Facebook from my mobile devices and I love it. It’s been almost six months and I haven’t looked back.

I lived for the notification ping

Don’t get me wrong, I like Facebook. It allows me to keep up with friends and family, plus I use it quite a bit for my blogs. I’m a member of several groups for my various interests. I prefer Facebook over other types of social media but it was taking over my life. With every notification ping my phone would come out and I’d check to see what happened.

There for awhile every photo of me when we were out and about featured the phone in my hand. What’s the point in going out if I’m not going to “be” with my companions? I’m sure you’ve seen a tableful of young people with phones in hand, not talking to each other except to show a post or photo from someone not physically with them.

If I'm not going to 'be' with my companions, why go out? I deleted FB from my phone & I love it.Click To Tweet

When your face is buried in your phone, you miss the connection with the people around you.

The kicker for me was when Rick and I were in a cafe chatting with another friend and we saw a pair of women in their 40s come in. They ordered a drink and one woman took out her phone and spent the rest of the time on her phone. The other woman for whatever reason didn’t have a phone. She looked very uncomfortable sitting there while her companion ignored her completely. I felt sorry for her and a little angry at her friend’s rudeness.

I painfully realized I’d done the same thing to Rick at times and decided then and there that Facebook had to go.

There were other reasons. The app is a huge power drain. It’s nice to have a charge last an entire day now. Facebook on any device can be a time suck, too. I’m sure I’m not the only one to sit in front of the TV mindlessly flipping through my feed. Then I wonder why I don’t accomplish as much as I’d like during the day.

It took less than 30 seconds to delete the Facebook app from my phone.

At first it was like when I quit smoking. I needed something to do with my hands.

Now I limit my Facebook usage to my laptop and I’ve installed a Chrome extension called Social Fixer which allows me to do some filtering (So long inane posts from my brother in law!…Love him and his dogs…not his politics, or his sports teams, hahaha). I can also as mark posts as “read” so I don’t have to scroll through the same posts over and over. It takes a little tweaking, but I have a much nicer Facebook experience now.

Social Fixer also limits the number of posts that can be viewed at one time. The default limit is 50 but you can change it. I find it’s a great way to avoid getting too caught up in browsing the feed. The extension is available for free but the creator asks for a modest $10 donation. So far it’s only available for browsers. Click here to see if your browser is supported. 

As mentioned, I like Facebook and other mobile apps in general. It allows me to communicate with my family and friends in the United States. I’d be very isolated in Spain without this technology. I’m not a fan of the way mobile technology has taken over our lives and has become the filter through which we view the world, but it is what it is.

We can set limits and it’s part of the reason why I deleted Facebook from my mobile devices.

If you asked your friends and family would they say you were always on social media instead of “with” them? Can you imagine deleting your favorite app from your phone?

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Photo credits:

Couple at table: © Andrey Popov | Dreamstime.com

Woman with two phones: © Martincp | Dreamstime.com