Should I delete it?

In a world of technology and social media, how easy is it to disconnect from the internet or delete the social media accounts?  I decided to take a closer look into whether or not a person should remove apps or delete their account all together. I chose this topic because I have long since thought about deleting Facebook and have held off on doing it for a number of reasons. 

Photo Credit: Sprout Social

Deleting Facebook Friends

I read the following article about why you should delete friends on Facebook and what is the ideal number of friends one should have as well. I decided not to check how many 'friends' I had until I finished the article, but also not until after I asked my husband how many he had. In real life a person can only sustain 150 relationships, anything beyond that is a strain on the cognitive capacity of the human brain, that is called Dunbar's Number. Thinking about myself in the real world and not in terms of social media, I thought about my work life, family, friends, and school. I could not even come close to 150 people that I would say I have a relationship with, unless calling them an acquaintance counts.

I asked my husband how many Facebook friends he had, and he told me 238, I was surprised because he is one of the most anti-social people I have ever met. I then read him off a snippet of the article, "As a rile, focus on old school chums, old work colleagues, people you met on vacation, and random mutual acquaintances from years gone by. You won't miss them, we promise (Price, 2020)." He started looking at his friends and almost immediately saw three names that he had no idea who they were and deleted them. I jokingly said, "you'll be able to get below 200 easily." I then looked at my own Facebook and I only have 85, which is perfect for me and what I use social media for. I also know about the privacy settings and use them to my advantage. I have no desire to re-connect with people from high school, so I set my settings in a way that I cannot be found on Facebook unless I am already friends with someone they are friends with. I also go through my friends list about once a year and do a purge, just to make sure I stay connected to the ones that I really want to see. 

Luddite Teens

Photo Credit: Giphy

I watched a video and read an article about a group of teens in New York City, who have gone "old school" and have done away with social media and smart phones. They all have flip phones for safety reasons and meet weekly to do things that do not involve technology. The video and article are about one year old, so it is relatively new. I find it inspiring. I wish others would watch the maybe three-minute video, to hear what these teens had to say about why they did it but also what they have gain from this. 

I did something similar about a year ago. I noticed I was spending too much time on TikTok just scrolling and watching videos. I decided to delete the app and instantly felt better. My screen time from a year ago to now has gone down by 30 minutes daily just from this one action. Do I think I could be like the teens in New York City and have a flip phone? No, I don't I am realistic and know I need some form of social media to keep up on a few things and also that is where some invites to activities and parties get sent. And because of the class I took that required me to do this blog, I know having some kind of social media presence is important and necessary so I could not get rid of everything, but I do plan to scale back my time using social media.