Why I deleted the Facebook app from my iPhone

I work in marketing. In fact, I’ve made a great career out of it – helping organizations evangelize their products and services in a honest and transparent manner. Part of my success is predicated on social media, and specifically, Facebook. In prior roles, I was a very large Facebook advertiser, spending millions per year on ads and content to reach potential customers.

Don’t get me wrong, I do like Facebook. Love would be too strong of a word. I love my wife and son, not Facebook.

I’ve spent the majority of many speaking engagements and presentations at conferences helping all types of organizations understand how to best use Facebook, engage with their audiences and succeed on the platform.

So why did I delete the Facebook app from my iPhone?

It’s simple… the time I was spending on Facebook was being wasted. Or rather, it was being misdirected. I found that Facebook was entertaining, but when I dug in to it, I was misdirecting my time… I should have been spending that time with my friends, family or personal enrichment.

Facebook provides a filtered view of the universe. I’m not talking about Russian manipulation of your crazy’s uncle’s political views, either. I’m talking about what most people post to their feeds. They post a filtered view of their life – things they want you to see. Mitch Joel wrote one of my favorite articles on the subject, what you see vs. what is happening.  You need to read this article because it makes my point – that what people post on Facebook is not reality. It may be true, but it is a filtered view – it’s only the stuff people want you to see – it’s an airbrushed view of themselves. It’s how they want the world to see them.

The end result is that staring at unrealistic filtered views of peoples lives can make you believe they are {insert whatever you want} than you. They are {better, smarter, prettier thinner, richer, cooler, and so on.} That is just not healthy. You are you and you should strive to be the best you you can be each day. (I know I used “you” five times in the prior sentence, but it helped me make a point.) But, you should not fall to false comparisons of filtered lives. Instead of being inspired, you can become envious or jealous.

Then I became somewhat voyeuristic. Not in a creepy way… in a waste-of-time way. I spent time looking at what happened to people I used to be acquainted with… past classmates and co-workers. I spent time looking at other people’s photos and reading their posts. I got angry when I read their opinions if I disagreed with them, I felt myself being judgmental.

So I gave it up. I deleted the Facebook app and I haven’t really looked back. I still log on to Facebook to catch up with family and friends that I don’t normally get to see, but I spend a lot less time going down those destructive rabbit holes of filtered realities. I now spend my time interacting with people, spending time with my family and friends, having real conversations and working on personal enrichment. I have focused my energy on positive things, not comparisons to the unreality.