Many Internet users cannot imagine their lives without visiting social networks. Live communication, filled with emotions, gradually fades into the background. It is much more convenient to write a message “In contact” or on “Facebook” than to find time for a personal meeting with the interlocutor. Is it now possible for a person to live a full life without visiting popular networks? Let's try to figure this out.
As an argument, users say that online services allow them to quickly exchange information with people from other cities and countries. You don't have to go anywhere, just open your profile and write a few lines. In addition, sometimes there are no funds to pay for the trip, and calling by phone is also expensive. AT this case The social network provides an excellent opportunity for operational communication.
You can also find online actual news and post new photos on your profile. This is also convenient, since you do not have to send files to each friend separately - they will be available to the entire contact list. Unless, of course, you restrict viewing with privacy settings. In addition, the user can find on the network interesting pictures, favorite music, watch a video - "Vkontakte" can easily find materials. For communication with like-minded people, such sites are also suitable - there are a large number of groups in which members share common hobbies.
AT online mode it's easier to find a classmate or old acquaintance with whom you've lost touch. If he has an online profile, you can renew the friendship.
Active participants post a lot of information on their page, among which personal information becomes available. There is no guarantee that published data will not be used outsiders. There are scammers on the Internet, and there is a risk of repercussions. There are also widespread reviews of people that communication on the site takes them a lot of time. Sometimes it is difficult to distract from correspondence, and a person spends several hours a day on a social network. As a result, he does not have time to complete other things from real life.
Rapid communication is one thing, but emotions and perception are quite another. Without seeing the interlocutor, you can misunderstand the meaning of his words. If users met, heard each other's intonation, saw gestures and facial expressions, the idea of a person would be the most complete. But not all the inhabitants of famous sites decide to continue their acquaintance.
Entertainment content on the web is widespread, and often the user begins to invest in online games and applications. And this brings some damage, because the funds run out, and the player spends them again. With this money, one could buy the necessary things for real life.
Having a page on a popular site brings both positive sides, as well as negative ones. Some people deliberately delete their pages because it is more important for them to realize themselves fully in the real world. Still, you can correspond with friends both by e-mail and by phone. Therefore, the main circle of acquaintances is not lost when leaving the social network. But communication with users who prefer to live only on this resource will be lost.
There will indeed be more free time, a person becomes more motivated for real goals and achievements. The quality of life will probably improve as well. Also, your personal information will not be visible to the public. And if there was an addiction to games and investments, then there will be a chance to get rid of it. But the main thing is not to register again on similar resources if the damage from them is obvious to you.
5“Imagine how much you could learn if you didn’t waste time consuming useless content on social media.”
The answer is not at all, bggg. A little over a year ago, on January 1, 2015, I retired from all social networks, it became interesting whether I really had an addiction or not. Deleted instagram, facebook, contact, twitter. There is also LiveJournal, but I haven’t been there for five years, I don’t remember the password, so I scored. I deleted all instant messengers to the heap, except for Telegram, where I have parents and several close friends. More than a year has passed and I can say that if a person wants to kill time, he will find something to kill it without any social networks.
As for me. As it turned out, there was little time left. That is, for the most part, I looked at the social network when it was impossible to do anything else anyway. For example, when I was driving in transport, when I was in a major traffic jam, when I was waiting for someone at a meeting, but in the same clinic. What have I been doing now? I play casual games and listen to the radio. I tried to read books, but it didn't work. As before, to read, I need to get comfortable and immerse myself completely in the process. So as I read before going to bed for an hour and a half, I read.
Real communication? It became an order of magnitude smaller. Why? Because all kinds of meetings in our time, as a rule, are organized online, and even if you drop out of online communication, people try not to pull you, they understand that they are busy with something serious, or maybe depression, so they don’t bother. If something official, for example, a meeting of graduates, then, of course, they contacted me, but, for example, they agreed on the New Year's Eve party online (we have a large company from two cities), I did not appear, they decided that it meant that I was not interested. With close friends, with whom communication is not only online, I continue to communicate in the same mode - 1-2 meetings a month in real life (we live on different parts of the city, study, work, there is no time for more frequent meetings, especially with a close friend the children were born recently, he has no time for real meetings at all) well, plus we communicate in telegram, we made a chat there for four, so at least we are aware of events in each other's life. For a long time it has not been customary for us to communicate by voice on the phone, it rarely happens that at least half an hour of time for this at the same time at least two people.
I can't say much about my personal life. I broke up with my girlfriend two years ago and have been missing since. Well, by abandoning social networks, the chances of finding someone, if you don’t specifically engage in searches, have decreased. Previously, I could, for example, get acquainted in the comments on Instagram, at a party of my favorite forum, and so on. Now there is only work and study, but somehow so far all the faces are familiar, and most of them are in relationships that have already developed. The option, of course, is on the street - but somehow I got used to the fact that at first you get to know a person at least a little, and then you roll up, but on the street this is impossible.
At school and work, the situation has not changed. As I worked and studied before, so now. Previously, if I wanted to calm down and unload the brain, I went to the social network, now I open some kind of Tetris. I don't feel any difference. I tried to load the brain with something useful at such moments - no, it doesn’t work. Because the brain wants to just downplay and reboot, and not to absorb new serious information.
In general, what are the disadvantages for myself:
1. Socialization has decreased significantly, I almost don’t communicate with my acquaintances, my social circle has folded to a few close friends (but still mostly online with them) and parents. Well, plus communication at work and at school, but there it is more professional, we don’t share personal things, we don’t talk about various abstract topics, we don’t discuss life. Plus almost dropped out of all companies. As a result, NG met with his parents (however, they were very happy, this had not happened for a long time).
2. I noticed that I was falling out of the context of my current life. Say, I don’t read the news on purpose, because I usually found out about everything significant through Facebook and other social networks, plus, during the discussions of these events, I managed to find out different points perspective on the question. Now there is no such thing. The radio helps a little (I don't like Russian, I listen only to English-language news podcasts like BBC Global News, etc.), but, of course, there is not enough opportunity to discuss something. Well, in general, I don’t really know “what they are wearing now, what they are talking about”, all sorts of memes and so on pass by.
3. Losing useful information. For example, I missed an announcement about a very useful study seminar (infa about it was only in social networks). I blew an interesting job offer - it was also only shared on FB, a friend even tagged me on purpose, he decided that since I didn’t answer, it means I’m not interested. Well, plus, for example, now I have to get some knowledge myself (I used to write to my group in VK, ask a question, they answered much faster than I myself would find information). It's a shame with hobbies too. Quite by accident I found out that the fans of a well-known series decided to bring the performance of the orchestra, which plays music from this series, to Moscow. But for the concert to take place, you need the consent of all future visitors, and for this you need to be noted in the group and all that - well, I can’t. Yes, and if it were not for the conversation practically overheard in the metro, I would never have known about this concert, which is a pity.
4. I began to photograph much less. Not because I used to be a fan of likes (which I still got a little, I'm not a very popular user on Instagram), but because I don't see the point. Before, the meaning for me was to share with other people the beauty that I see, well, or something interesting. And now? Of course, sometimes I click on something for memory, but there is no desire to process the photo, to try to make it really convey what I saw. In general, the hobby in this sense has shrunk significantly.
I don't see any benefits for myself. I have not received any benefits from the fact that social networks have disappeared from my life. Although, like the author, I thought that I would have a lot of free time, I would stop looking at the phone all the time, etc. And I can say that the opinion about addiction is greatly exaggerated. After a couple of days, you get used to poke into any application, after a month you don’t even really remember about Facebook or Twitter. You can, of course, attribute it to the fact that I did not have a strong addiction, but this is not so - every free minute I read, wrote, discussed something. Even in the toilet and immediately after waking up. And he constantly monitored all the tapes in fear of missing something.
Such is the experience. I wonder what experience the author has. Has his life really become as full after quitting social media as he promises in his article?
@Totoro One of the few really worthwhile comments here! Thank you, comrade, for your frankness and honesty with yourself.
All in all, I think you're partially right. Partially because, judging by the style of writing the comment, you have a mind, and in this case, social networks did not play a special role in your life. You can always understand when you can put your phone aside and surrender to reality, and when, if you have a minute, poke into the news of the world around you, and this is not a problem for you. Feel free to come back. Without instant messengers and networks, it’s hard now. We, too, have stopped calling our relatives, because we constantly write off.
And partly wrong because the rest of the vast majority is really dependent on networks. And this is a fact, unfortunately, and here the article hits the mark. This is not about you, friend. Come on, socialize back, so you can get used to the lack of communication)
I myself have not even tried to try to refuse. Because sometimes there is no time for social networks, and this is normal)
Sad as it may seem, but social networks replace real life with a surrogate for virtual communication, destroy families and steal work time. Millions of people spend more than 6 hours a day on social media. Users attack the profiles of classmates, army friends, look for their first love, etc., making up for the lack of communication, emotions and romance in everyday life.
Worldwide epidemic killing time
The audience of Odnoklassniki today is more than 30 million people, which is increasing by one and a half to two million new users every day. Mostly they are office workers. Virtual communication replaces all the joys of normal real meetings with friends and even families.
Every day, companies lose millions of dollars due to the fact that their employees spend working hours on social networks. It is almost impossible to fight this, because by prohibiting access to social network pages from work computers, it is impossible to prohibit visiting them through smartphones.
Why is virtual communication better than real?
The exchange of messages, videos, audio files and postcards resembles some kind of incessant children's game without a final meaning. From this we can conclude that people addicted to social networks, to some extent, remained children who did not finish playing in childhood.
Social networks are very attractive for losers who cannot achieve anything in life. Such people love to endlessly search social networks for their comrades. kindergarten, institute, classmates, and first (second, third) love. Sometimes such searches end with a real meeting with a corresponding continuation. Such thoughtless emotional "search for the lost" very often leads to even greater disappointments.
Why social networks destroy strong families?
Many do not advertise their marital status in the profile, and accidentally added friends from the gym and innocent comments and “likes” on photos instantly arouse suspicion.
Unlogged profiles on home computers or smartphones with personal correspondence forgotten in a conspicuous place cause the termination of thousands of marriages. Today, experts advise married people not to register on social networks.
How does social media affect physical health?
British scientists conducted a study that proved that adherents of many hours of communication in social networks have a weakened immune system and a downed hormonal balance. From many hours of sitting, the pumping of blood through the vessels worsens and the process of thinking is disturbed, which can often lead to dementia.
The illusion of communication
In fact, according to psychologists, communication in social networks does not contribute to development at all. real contacts between people. There is a replacement of real life, where each user turns into a battery that feeds the matrix. Living people, becoming "cogs" of the invented world, destroy their personalities in real life, actually betraying their relatives and friends.
Children deprived of live communication, who grew up with their parents sitting next to them, buried in monitors and smartphones, are already experiencing huge problems in building friendships and strong families.
Total surveillance of special services
It is known for certain, and it is no secret to anyone, that the special services collect a dossier on each person, analyzing his activity in social networks. In addition, Facebook has patented a system that allows you to follow a person by analyzing his actions outside the social network.
It is difficult to imagine what will follow, but it can be assumed that there will come a time when the user can be blackmailed by disclosing his personal information in exchange for receiving any services that are beneficial to the state, contrary to moral standards.
Therefore, you can not even think about the loudly promised preservation of the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Declaration of Human Rights. Most importantly, filling personal profile information, the person actually agrees to it.
Personal opinion is formed by virtual friends
According to research, about 80% of social media users trust the opinions of their virtual friends more than the opinions of real-life friends. The consequence of this depressing fact is the "viral" nature of the formation of public opinion, from which you can "blind" anything by correctly launching the desired thought to the masses.
A person learns to consciously think, “swallowing the bait” and digesting it, without thinking whether he needs it or not, turning into a puppet that is controlled powers of the world this.
offline trend
Once upon a time, the telephone was a stationary attribute that limited the possibility of communication to being at home. But, getting on the street, a person became truly free.
Today you can already observe the emerging culture of people who have gone offline and played enough virtual communication and realized the freedom and beauty of real life. These people don't want their day to start with browsing twenty websites, posting links to pictures they like, claiming what they ate for dinner and where they spent the evening, whether they like something or not. Therefore, they voluntarily delete their profiles from social networks.
The mass of freed time allows you to look at the world through the eyes of an awakened person who begins to notice the color of the sky and grass, the smells of the air and a lot of interesting things that you can do without causing psychological damage to yourself.
In fact, freed from imperceptibly imposed "violent" contact with virtual world, a person gets the opportunity to finally get to know himself, the real one. It can be concluded that mostly in social networks people “hide” from themselves, who are not yet ready for such a meeting with their own “I”.
Remember what life was like 10-15 years ago, when few people heard about social networks. You took photos for family albums, prepared for loved ones, used phones for their intended purpose - to write SMS or call back on business, bought music centers or players, went to the movies, bought discs with movies and games through the tenth hand ... Remember how you returned home, cooked dinner, watched TV, rested, walked, met friends in a cafe, arranged gatherings in the park? What about the reaction to newspaper or magazine advertisements with the text “I want to meet you”? Oh, and the sea ... You put on your swimsuit, pareo, swim, come off to the fullest, get acquainted with interesting people, go to discos! .. Mmmm ... Did you think at that time how to take a photo and put it on the net? What about lying on the beach, enjoying the air, the sun and making reposts on Vkontakte? Agree, it sounds pretty absurd. I’m sure you didn’t go to the ladies’ room with the aim of making “duck lips”, and the elevator was perceived only as a means of transportation ...
One day I started dating a young man about my age. He confessed his love to me on the wall, put in marital status"Dating with ..." and put likes under all the pictures. My guy friends immediately began to write in a personal message that he was not the right one, and the girls liked him (puffed up nice boy, why not). Naturally, I didn't like it. After we broke up, he deleted his comments and status. Again, everyone began to ask questions from the "Why", "How" series. I kind of cooled off.
I'm tired of these fake friends who write in PM, but when they meet, they rush to do business. I'm tired of photoshopped photos, because I often saw many girls on the way to work or university and the contrast was very striking. I even counted the time spent on social networks, and was horrified! It took me over 4 hours a day! And I know people who spend a lot more time.
World in colors: get out of the net
I decided to conduct an experiment - how long can I stand without "Hello, how are you!", "What a beauty", "Your photo was appreciated." It was at that time that I met the man I later married. He decided to say goodbye to his past, and I to mine. Honestly, it was easy to remove. But for the first few weeks, I constantly felt out of touch with reality. I took photos and realized that apart from a few people, no one sees and appreciates them. I traveled and there is no one to brag about places, beautiful clothes and impressions. I read the news of the world on the Internet, but not on social networks. I listened to music on my phone or, remembering my childhood, it thundered from the speakers music center. I started calling my friends on the phone, meeting friends from other cities and countries, and not asking them "What's new?", satisfied with a couple of lines. Yes, the feeling of loneliness haunted me for about 2.5 months.Photos from the wedding were seen only by my relatives. My husband and I are not watched from the screens of a PC or smartphone, but only when we walk, go shopping or travel. Nobody knows what, how and where I live. The real me is observed, in a dress or trousers, with or without makeup. I forgot what "Edit Photo" is.
And now I live without social networks for 3 years. I use skype and mail for work, I bought an expensive photo album, I print joint photos, I live real life. Recently, a friend, 13 years older than me, asked if I had Viber or WhatsApp to contact me. She was shocked to learn that I had no idea what it was about.
The main thing is to realize
I used to laugh at people like me. And not realizing how much I will love this lifestyle. I felt a real rhythm, a buzz with all its colors and imperfections. I started to take care of my relationship prying eyes, appearance from bad views, and personal correspondence from admins. Are you aware that even after deleting all your accounts, all your information is stored for at least 2 years on the server? Did you know that even after deleting your messages, the correspondence is still saved? I don't know about you, but it annoys me. There will be some strangers intervene in my interests and life.Remember, you make the choice yourself. You decide what is best for you and how you spend your time. But if you suddenly decide, know that you will not be alone.
Some of us voluntarily leave habitable social accounts. networks to live freely. It was even popular to delete your pages with the words “I can’t live and work in peace while there is a page with my name on the Internet.” What is she like life without social media?
About two years ago, one of my acquaintances deleted his page in contact and not only deactivated it, but completely deleted it by writing a corresponding letter to the administrators asking them to erase all personal information from their servers. And he seemed to be promised to fulfill the request by all means.
The effect of his stories was enormous. There was no longer a need to constantly check the news. And is it really the same news, the importance of which is so significant for us? You no longer need to bother with friend requests, approve or leave strange network characters as subscribers, constantly look at someone's pages, take pictures on your phone of everything that happens around and post everything that comes to mind. There is no more need to browse other people's publics and administer your groups, get upset if someone uploads not the most successful photos of you to albums or read endless spam from people promoting their interests and info-business. No need to worry about which of your friends is playing Farm and can collect all the carrots while you are not online, no need to be aware of what other people are planning to cook for dinner or who broke up with whom, fell in love, got married, etc. .d.
You no longer need to look through an endless stream of jokes, demotivators and "wise" sayings of philosophers, presidents and stars of all time, think about how many likes your new photo or how many comments received new album etc. definitely has its advantages.
This is really strong, and in the current conditions of the dominance of the social. networks in the schedule of the majority almost completely, unloads the head. You can forget everything at once and throw yourself off like a heavy burden that you no longer need. And never needed.
Deleting an account is not so much a teenage protest “to be different from everyone else” and not to do what everyone around is doing, but an attempt to protect oneself from the endless white noise that social networks constantly create. network, in the chaos and roar of which our lives and everything necessary and important are constantly buried. quite an interesting experience in the real world.
“I can’t live and work in peace while there is a page with my name on the Internet.” What is life like without social media?
If you look closely, you can find quite a lot of people around, in fact, who, for one reason or another and beliefs, social. networks are not used at all - either they deliberately abandoned some time ago, or they never even started. Which is very similar to other bad habits, such as smoking. Mostly those who never started, plus a small layer of especially strong-willed people who were able to quit, do not smoke. Buzz on social networks is a bad habit?
People who have left the networks are no longer in touch with their distant relatives familiar from elementary grades high school and colleagues from the first place of work. And at the same time, not in touch with all those who have the habit of unrestrainedly and constantly posting, commenting and liking. No, well, not completely without an Internet connection, of course. For important messages there is still a box Email and the phone, all the rest, less important, simply do not fall into the field of view or are filtered out by spam filters. Ideal if you are not interested in less important details. It is their number in news feed dozens, and maybe already hundreds of times more than the number information messages that carry meaning.
Of course, you can express yourself without Contact, Instagram and Facebook. There are many free hosts for photos, sometimes even with the opportunity to listen to constructive criticism from other users, amateurs or professionals, which is much more useful than sugary comments in their albums from unfamiliar people who understand little about photography. Well, this is if you want to continue to grow and develop in photography, of course.
Of course, by weeding out so much unnecessary, life becomes calmer and more relaxed. In such conditions, you can build your information flow with the help of Twitter and personal blog on some free platform and post there from time to time. Somehow, historically, it so happened that in the blogosphere there is no special need to check the updates of your friend feed seven times a day.
It is even better to concentrate your attention on something big and serious. Instead of short notes of 160 characters with hashtags, it is better to read author's columns and detailed analytical articles. Attention does not jump from one subject to another every two minutes, the brain is not overloaded with informational fast food. And most importantly, the feeling of fuss and division of time into short intervals disappears, which does not allow you to relax and concentrate properly on any one meaningful subject.
For online collaboration, you can keep useful tools such as Google Docs, conferences or Skype personal calls, in difficult situations, look for advice in closed forums or participate in discussions in closed groups in the same google. Without social networks, life still goes on and on, thanks to many useful tools, not in complete isolation from the world, as one might imagine at first. You can write, as I said, in blogs, or even better, make your own website. Moreover, now it has become very simple to do this on the same Word Press.
Why can't everyone start life without social networks? Man is a social being, which is why buzzing on social media is accepted by many as a natural need to be satisfied, and therefore it becomes a habit so easily. However, this buzz can develop into an information tsunami, which is no longer easy to deal with.
People unnecessarily buzz on the Internet because they are simply afraid to be alone with themselves. A typical escape from freedom of the weak in spirit.
Is there something terrible about an empty inbox or a lack of new comments, views, and likes? Is it possible to avoid boredom without constantly checking Contact, Facebook and Twitter?
It is not easy to take and disconnect from the matrix, left alone with yourself, especially since at the same time uncomfortable thoughts about who you are in this world, why you are here and what you are on really want, etc. These are frightening thoughts, because every day, following updates and drowning in a continuous stream of unnecessary news, none of us seem to have time to find answers. And there are still no answers. Is not it?
A person who does not have answers to such important questions for himself is much more frightened than a schoolboy who has not learned his lesson at the blackboard. This is clear. Hence the need to create a kind of employment. Overwhelm yourself with rubbish of unnecessary news, overload your mind with useless information, just not to let yourself wake up and again face the most terrible questions.
But that doesn't solve the problem. The problem remains. Still, it’s worth sometime to muster up the courage and disconnect from the social network for at least a day. Just just one day. For a start, this will be enough. Spend the day walking in the park fresh air, making plans for the future, drawing, reading a book or even just thinking about something. It is important to catch yourself thinking, to realize that nothing terrible happened in isolation from the network. Rather, the opposite is true. In the future, these experiments can be continued, lengthening the intervals, and in the end it may even get out of the social. networks forever?
In itself, the idea to get out of the social. networking forever can seem very intimidating at first. Life without social networks seems to many simply impossible. That is why various justifications and excuses will immediately come to mind, why this cannot be done, why there is no point in deleting your account, why it can even be more harmful than useful. But in this case, the time and energy that can be saved by giving up the meaningless buzzing can be spent on something more worthwhile.
We really miss so much social connections, news and events from our friends and acquaintances, which they generously share in the news feed? It seems that you are no longer on the same wavelength with the rest of the world. There seems to be so much going on on the internet this moment and that you might be missing out on so much. It only seems that way, it's an illusion. There is nothing to miss or lose, except for yourself, of course. Yes, albeit not on the same wavelength with the rest of the world. But there is nothing wrong with that. Maybe it's time to start your independent sailing on your own wave? Do not miss the great opportunity to become the conductor of your own orchestra, play by your own rules and on your own field, because you win only on your own field and by your own rules. Even if it sounds unsportsmanlike, it is much more adequate to reality. There is always a choice between a lathered hamster on a wheel and a free flight of a bird.
Falling out of the flow is a rather difficult task, especially if all the other people around are constantly in this flow and are highly dependent on it. It is even more difficult not just to fall out, but to find the strength in oneself to stay outside this flow, outside the matrix forever, when all the other people around are constantly in it. You have to look for support within yourself. Time spent in silence and solitude, alone with oneself, will give exactly the right strong feeling of all the blatant senselessness and uselessness of the information tsunami, which people thoughtlessly and unnecessarily generate and multiply. This feeling is what you need to rely on. There is no point in being aware of news that does not make sense.
It is better to create meaning by yourself, meaningfully choosing the direction of your movement and your thoughts. And besides, it's also useful to be independent, to be able to insist on one's own, even if the whole world is going to hell. This is an invaluable skill and the realization that you can do it. It in itself already makes a person stronger and more confident. If a person was able to give up all social connections on the Internet, even if only for a few days, could listen carefully to what his own inner voice says, found the courage to choose his own path, follow his intuition, implement his ideas and live full life.
In the conditions of the current reality, to be independent, to live without social. networks and living your life is not easy, it requires the sacrifice of almost everything that you have. But, perhaps this is the only thing that is really worth such sacrifices. Of course, achieving freedom and independence will take time and require a lot of effort. There will always be a temptation to return to the familiar and cozy world, where they are carefully fed with streams of memory-erasing information, where the lack of real business can be retouched by building cities and business empires in applications, and the lack of real communication can be replaced with messages and likes. But this is not a reason to give in, the prize that will go to the one who survived and did not succumb to temptations is huge and valuable.
Prize - real life, real friends and enemies, real successes and problems, real cities and business empires. It really is worth everything that you have now on the monitor screen.
