My Journey In Deleting Facebook and Instagram Accounts

In April I made a decision that I wanted to make for a very long time. Delete my Facebook and Instagram accounts. I wanted to delete my Facebook and IG accounts for a while. I have even applied to delete my account several times in the past, only to reactivate it within few days. However, this time it was different. I was committed.

Why I wanted to delete my account?

Well, the number one reason was time, I realized that I have been spending too much time on Facebook and Instagram, and I can put the time I’m on Facebook and IG to something more productive, invest it in myself. The main counter argument that I hear is that it’s not Facebook’s fault that you spend too much time on the platform, you should learn to manage your time. However, Facebook is deigned to make you come back to the platform. It’s the greatest game ever engineered to play with human psychology.

Reason number two, Facebook and Instagram was designed to connect with your friends and family. See their updates and what is happening in their lives. However, my Facebook feed was different, all I was getting was political agendas, posts by pages shared by my friends which has nothing to do with being connected with them. And countless number of ads. For me Facebook was not serving the propose it designed to serve.

Again the counter argument people can make is that it’s not Facebook’s fault that people are not sharing their life updates. Well that’s again because by design Facebook wants to give brands as much reach as possible, not to share your life updates.

Finally privacy.

Filled the deletion request

I filled the deletion request in early April, however, unlike previous times I was committed to never reactivate my account.

For the first few days I was happy. But later in the week I started missing Facebook, maybe I was missing the dopamine rush. I was craving for the feed, the images, memes, fights, comments.

It was as I was experiencing a withdrawal period. And I’m sure that is how a withdrawal feels like. However, I was committed never to reactivate my account.

I will resist the temptation of the feed as much as I can, until I was unable to hold it any longer. I borrowed a phone from a friend and just scrolled though his Facebook feed. I was never interested about the content, all I wanted was to have the feeling of being on Facebook which I was missing for a while.

The first week or two was the most difficult period, and I now realize this was time where I reactivated my Facebook account during my previous deletion requests.

Finally after the first 2 weeks I slowly lost the urge to return to Facebook, and the last two weeks has been fairy easy.

And just like that after one month, both my Facebook and Instagram accounts were successfully deleted.

Do I miss Facebook and Instagram?

Well, absolutely, positively not. I have never been better, and I looking back I wonder why I was on Facebook and Instagram on the first place.

And whenever I see someone on Facebook scrolling though all the garbage content, the only thing that I think to myself is why do people still enjoy being on Facebook?

Luckily for me all my friends have moved their communications to chat services, so everything from work, course work and fun happens on these IM apps, outside of Facebook.

No more pages, brands trying to sell me something, just my friends sharing what they find interesting, or an update about work or course work.

Now I’ve become much more productive. I use the time to work on my projects and studies. I can virtually feel the difference.

Do I use Facebook?

Well yes, I have several Facebook pages I manage. Since people still use Facebook I don’t have any other ways to provide updates to the followers who only follow my Facebook pages.

But there is a difference, I login to the the Pages App only to post an update. That is also not associated with my account. Now I don’t consume content on Facebook.

So if you plan on deleting Facebook, remember it’s the first two weeks is the hardest, and if you find a way to wither the urge to return during the first two weeks, you will be able to successfully delete your Facebook and IG accounts.

Wish you luck.