After 10 years using Facebook as one of my main social media platforms, I have decided to take a step away from the platform. Some of the reasons include:
- Bad sources of content, including misinformation, reposts, and clickbait.
- Privacy concerns, especially with data being sold to third parties.
- The addictive nature of the platform, leading to wasted time and reduced productivity.
- The lack of meaningful interactions and the prevalence of superficial connections.
- Toxicity is still a thing, at least in my country.
The user base of Facebook has been declining since 2018 among most countries, yet it's still the most used platform in SEA, as people do not have many alternatives that offer the same level of connectivity and features like Twitter (X) and Reddit (until the recent release of Threads).
Here are some of the alternatives that I use:
- For messaging: Discord
- For news: traditional RSS feeds
- For image posting: Instagram
- For entertaining/learning: YouTube
As for me, I do not fully "quit" Facebook, as I still use it reluctantly because of my work on some Facebook pages at the university and my usage of Messenger (this sucks). I stopped using it as my mainstream platform for the media, as also one step of reducing my time on social media. It's been a month since I stopped using Facebook and made this post, and it is one of my best decisions so far to start 2025.
