4 Big Reasons Why I’m leaving Facebook.

Many people tend to become confused as to why leaving Facebook would be a good thing.

I can tell you right now that the good things from leaving outweigh the bad immensely.

The “cost” of leaving Facebook is so minimal compared to the “cost” of staying.

Here are my 4 big reasons why I’m leaving Facebook :

1.  Facebook is using all of our information to make money. The worst part is, most people don’t even realize it.

That includes photographs and personal information I give them whether I type it in or not since they know where I send information from anyways.  All of that information I give them they use for monetizing Facebook either internally or with 3rd parties. By using Facebook the “cost” is our privacy.  Even if our account is set to private, they use everything they can get their hands on.

That’s just not right.

It’s not just the fact that they make money off of us, it is how they are doing it.

It doesn’t matter if you are 18 or older. If you are younger than 18 and use Facebook they still have rights to your information. It’s right in the service agreement. Read more about that here.

In business, there’s a well-worn line that could apply to the social-networking behemoth: If you’re not paying for it, you’re not the customer. You’re the product.

In this case, you’re a product worth, to Facebook, an average $4.84 a year.

– Doug Gross CNN

One thing that weirds me out is how good they are getting at analyzing images. Sure it helps us connect with each other, but I know their true motive is monetization.

Check out this picture above.

This recently happened to me on Facebook and it creeped me out even more. Facebook book thought it knew what I looked like based on the beard and glasses and facial structure in this TV screen shot, but its definitely not me. It’s damn close though. Close enough for me to get the hell out of Facebook before it get’s worse.

2.  Facebook is a huge distraction. Like big time. 

I can’t tell you how many times I see myself just scrolling infinitely down my feed looking for something to comment on, like, share, or just anything that will remove me from boredom.

The worst part of it is that Facebook seems to create an almost numb sense of boredom. I tend to just get tired of all the crap that is posted. Sure there is great stuff on there once in a while, but about 80% of it or more is just garbage. I’m tired of it.

Facebook is just added hours and hours of wasted time to my week. Sure, I might get distracted by other things, but it’s one less part of my equation. Less factors are easier to handle in my book. Thinking that I might lack self control because I can’t just use it less? Well, I think that deleting it is a great act of self control. Removing something from your life completely takes a ton of self control. Just my 2 cents on that aspect.

**April 2014 Update**

**Ever since I left Facebook I have been more productive with my days than any other time of my life. Quite honestly I should have left Facebook a long time ago. I can’t believe how much I am accomplishing now. My solution was self control through removal. Sometimes that is what it takes. I love life without Facebook. I have been keeping in touch with the people I care about more now than I ever did on Facebook because I actually make the effort to call them or email them. It’s much more meaningful when you go out of your way to connect with someone.**

3.  Facebook is not the only way to connect with people or do business.

Before Facebook happened I did not have over 1500 Facebook friends. Before Facebook, business was still possible.

Spending less time with over 1500 Facebook friends means more time with the friends that really matter to me. It also means investing in the people that I really want to connect with. I tend to find myself becoming spread very thin when I talk or plan with too many people on Facebook.

If you have a business, spend more time on your process or business model to make it better, rather than some inadequate engagement on your Facebook page (that never gets traffic). If you really want your business to take a giant leap, you can seek the expertise of professionals, such as Fractional CFOs.

Many professionals do not communicate about projects with clients via Facebook . They communicate over the phone, via email or in person. That’s how true business is done. Not on some Facebook message.

Facebook should not be the center of your business.

Also, if you are running a business or self employed and only use a Facebook page, not your own website, you are doing it wrong, you need to keep an expert opinion from https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2019/04/ai-quotes.html in order to have success, just using Facebook won’t do it for you . Facebook owns all of your content on their servers. If they shut down or make changes, you are stuck. Get a website or blog and start doing it right. It’s not only more professional, but it’s also comforting to know that you won’t lose it.

Not to mention, you should be more focused on doing work, not sharing it. If you put in the time and the effort, people will share it for you. Word of mouth still has a huge impact on our success. Put in the time to connect with few and success will come to you.

If I want to find people I will be able to contact them by phone or email. If people want to find me they will find me. I will still have my website and blog, which is so important to me. Creating my own vessel for communication was a dream I had for a long time and now it really exists.

The thing is that we can forget to invest time in others that are right around us, but instead we become enveloped in a newsfeed of emptiness and things that don’t matter.

4.  I want to accomplish more with better applications and communities.

There are many other communities out there that are worth my time way more than Facebook. And with more and more businesses flocking to Instagram to promote their brand. You might also be considering the switch to Instagram for your business. Well if you are, Here’s the best site I found so far, where you can buy followers to quickly boost your social engagement on Instagram. I’d also rather concentrate on the small passionate groups outside of Facebook include blogs, forums, and other applications. Pressgram and Pressgram.net will be my main squeeze this year.

**December 2014 Update**

**Pressgram is no longer around, but I am thankful for the experience I had with that community. I am happy to say the folks that I have met through Pressgram I still keep in touch with on a weekly basis and are still some of the most caring and positive folks I know. There support for me and what I do is awesome. This is why investing in smaller communities that matter is a big deal. Bigger isn’t always better. This is even true for business. Never sacrifice quality over quantity.**

So those are my big reasons among the other small ones that seem to randomly come up in discussion such as drama, a misconception of the perfect lives we think people live through Facebook and the depression that Facebook surfing can cause. Sure I am thankful for the connections and few strong friendships I made via Facebook, but the positives of leaving are much greater than the positives of staying…..which are very few.

Here are some articles about the negative effects of Facebook.

Facebook wants to own your very soul.

Why Facebook makes you feel bad about yourself.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Effects of Facebook

Facebook is making us miserable.

So that is that. This month I will be going through my contacts in Facebook and reaching out to the people I want to stay in touch with via email or phone. I know it won’t be easy psychologically after being addicted to it for the last 4 or 5 years, but it will be so worth it.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on all of this.

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