For seven years I had an active Facebook page.
7 Years!
My roommates talked me into joining while I was at college even though I didn't really have much to do with the internet before that and then I was hooked. I wasn't like one of those crazy Facebookers that play all the games and post a new status each time they enter and leave a room but I did keep my friends and family up to date and probably posted a new status once a day and maybe a few new pictures each week.
But due to come recent changes in our lives I decided that it was best that I "give up" Facebook. (At least as much as I can since I still need to be able to share our articles on our LHL Facebook page!) So one night I deleted all my photos and gave a short explanation to friends and family what was going on and that there would be no more pictures from me on Facebook for these reasons:
1. Facebook's privacy is a joke. No matter what you have your settings at the public can still see pictures, what you like, and everything. I take my online security very seriously so this was not cool with me!
2. Facebook is addicting. You may not think it is but try and quit and then see how you feel.
3. Facebook is just weird. Before I stopped using the personal side of Facebook I often thought about how odd it was to be this connected with certain people that I don't even have a real life relationship with people.
I didn't want to be completely disconnected with my out of town family though so I added them all to my private blogger blog. Did you know you can set up a free blog on blogger? You can even make it completely private so your readers have to sign in through their email accounts to read. Much better privacy settings then leaving everything exposed to the public!
Since I stopped using Facebook I will tell you that it hasn't always been easy. I snap pictures I think I should upload or something happens and my brain automatically goes to a status post. And I didn't even use Facebook that much! The first few days were hard but now I'm totally enjoying my Facebook free life!
I also mentioned in the title of this post that I don't have a smartphone either.
I used to.
I had the smartphone for a full contract term, 2 years. During that 2 years I paid $30 a month for an unlimited data package which I almost never used, maybe to check my email here and there. After a while I started to feel like I did with Facebook...too connected. We decided to cancel it after the 2 year contract was up.
For something I hardly used and really just made me uncomfortable we spent $720 on over 2 years!! That's insane!
This article might seem off topic but I wanted to share with you something that I did to simplify my life. I don't regret doing either of these things and they have made our lives better because of it! What you decide to do with this info will be up to you.
But don't forget that if you do decide to go off Facebook make sure you sign up for the Little House Living emails so you still get all these ideas sent right to your inbox! You even will get a free ebooklet with My Favorite Childhood Recipes for signing up!
Find more Simple Tips on Little House Living.
Disclaimer: This post may contain a link to an affiliate. See my disclosure policy for more information.
{ 41 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post!!
Recently, I started stepping waaaay back from Facebook, it has been a blessing! I never realized how much time I spent on there until I stopped. Absentmindedly I’d check Facebook without giving it much thought. That’d turn into 20 minutes of time on there.
I do have a smartphone and deleted the FB app off. What peace!! I still find my smartphone useful. If I need a store coupon or have to look up a recipe quick on the go, it’s helpful. For me, Facebook was the biggest time waster and joy stealer in my life.
I got rid of my facebook in October and it brought such peace to my life!!
My husband and I deleted Facebook two years ago and never looked back. I was amazed at how much I didn’t miss it.
I have gone off Facebook a number of times but always end back on. There are a few people who I just love to stay in contact with and see all of their pictures. I really missed that. I would love to be off for good but have not had the courage to do it yet.
On the other hand I have NEVER had a cellphone let alone a smartphone. I am in my early 30′s. I have never sent a text and I don’t want to. I cannot stand how rude it makes people. Texting at the Thanksgiving dinner table is NOT okay. Sadly I could see myself doing something like that so it is better that I stay cellphone free. I was talking to my hubby this morning and I estimated that I had saved over $6000 by not having a cellphone.
People ask me all the time how I have time to homeschool my 4 kids, garden, can, make soap, make our bread, sew, make all of our household cleaners, and keep a semi- tidy house. We have no TV, no cell phone, I teach my kids how to work with me, and I spend limited time on the computer. It is all about priorities.
BTW I made your cheese crackers this weekend. My family ate the whole batch in 1 sitting. My husband even ran to the store to buy pepper jack and sharp cheddar to make more. My kids renamed them Puff-ups. Thanks for the recipe. Another item I can forever cross off my grocery list. That makes me very happy.
I stick with Facebook because otherwise I would never know what is going on with our adult children. The reason I got on Facebook was to see pictures of our out of state grandchildren. I feel the same as you do about many things about Facebook but I find it very valuable for keeping up with family. I really do not see myself getting a smartphone but my kids are really trying to talk me into it.
I just cancelled my cellphone. It has been freeing—I don’t have to remember it when I go places, I’m not talking while driving, etc. Still have my hubby’s because of our business so I can use it if taking big trip and wanting piece of mind. I love it….my friends/family think I’m weird though—and folks think it won’t last. Me…I don’t miss it!
I have to ask– through what company did you get $30 for unlimited data on a smartphone? the cheapest i have seen around here is $45 on a pay as you go phone. i am using an old, uncool flip phone that i actually like, but this $60 phone bill for the limited use of it I have/need has to change!
And I love the idea of deleting facebook! We all know what a black hole of time it is, but you also mentioned some very important privacy issues that will only be more important in the future, Lord willing.
It was through Verizon but it was back before they changed around that whole unlimited thing.
I totally agree! I have an ‘OLD’ Nokia Tracfone and spend $20.00 every 3 mos. to keep it activated. I rarely talk and only text when needed. They have other plans but this works for me…….just FYI.
No smartphones in this household – I am on the internet quite enough as it is!
And I am taking the plunge and closing my facebook account now. Thanks for giving me the push to do this!
I have been off FB for awhile now. I did find out that deactivating and deleting FB accounts are two different things. It’s a “roundabout” way to delete it and it takes two weeks for them to get rid of everything. If you deactivate, they keep everything you have on there and just hide it. I couldn’t tell you now how to do it, but a web search should bring up directions to delete.
I use my smartphone for work (my own work mind you, but it’s still work *chuckle*) so it’s not going anywhere. But FaceBook is something I use for a few minutes a day to check on my daughter (who lives far away) and to see how some old friends are doing. Unlike most, though, I think I’ve met 85% of my “friends” on there, face to face. More than half are people local to me. If you add in my relations (both blood and heart) I’d put the number at 75%.
I did get addicted to it for a while, played games and such. I don’t do it anymore. I’m just not interested! But I like to see how my kid is doing, see her photographs, chat with her from time to time. 
And it can be a decent business tool (for a variety of reasons!).
Now… I could ditch cable without a blink, but the rest of the family would have fits. Cell phones are a necessity both for me and hubby (I use it both for blogging and for my ministry work, and he’s a programmer and uses it for programming), so that won’t ever go. But our kids don’t have phones (I know kids who, at age 7 like ours, are already phone owners!), nor will they until they are MUCH older. They have restricted television access. They have chores. They are on the local swim team and take karate. They garden in the summer, and shovel snow and stack wood in the winter. *shrug* They don’t seem to miss the DS or whatever the latest game system is.
Hello,
loved your post. I too quit Fb ( do you still have a blog FB page ?)
I left b/c of the privacy issues . I hate that some sites Only use FB link to post comments..
I am a 51 yr old mom & grandmom.. I love reading the blogs of young moms & their out & out devotion to family & home ! there is hope yet for a country that
still has some with their priorities straight
I was a single mom, had to use daycare & later when we married ( 26 yrs ago ) I provided daycare.. so I have been on both sides so to speak . with out a doubt being a sahm is the best for the kids..
since the arrival of our 2 nd daughter 16 yrs ago I have been a sahm… & love it. we also home educate & that has been a blessing far more then we ever imagined.
anyway.. just wanted to let you & those young mothers like you who speak out for HOMEmakers.. cuz that is what we do.. make a house a home..
God Bless, Lisalynn
Thank you for your post. It is encouraging to hear a perspective from the end of the journey of home educating and being a sahm. Do you remember the days when you wondered if it was going to make any difference? Being counter culutural is sometimes so difficult. Thank you again.
I don’t agree with not having a cell phone in this day and age.. It most definitely is not safe to be without one. Our kids got one when they started driving, not texts just in case of emergency. One daughter called to report her own auto accident. So never be without one and if God forbid, something happen to your child they can track there whereabouts if the phone is on. No smartphone here but do text to keep in touch with 2 kids. So much cheaper for long distance phone calls too with a cell. No need for landlines anymore. FB allows me to read many blogs to learn self sustainability subjects. I NEVER hvae played games and won’t as I spend time just trying to make a living. No time for games that play at life.
My husband and I have a FB account, mostly to keep connected with out of state family. We realized between our 2 cell/smart phones and internet we were paying almost $2200/year! We gave up our smartphones and found a FABULOUS compromise to a cell phone. Verizon has a home phone line option that is $19.99 per month. But, because it runs off of a device that is similar to a hot spot, you can take it with you anywhere! I can’t text or send pics, and I do get crazy looks when people see me talking on a corded phone when I wander through the store, but who cares!
)
Great article! With all these gadgets to make our life easy-easier, it does not. More people are stressed and always in a hurry. I got a cell phone in 2001 when I started trucking. Still have a cell phone as it is my security and you never know when 9-1-1 needs to be called or other numbers. Pay phones are extinct or almost and that is why I keep mine. I do not understand why people have to talk all the time on one.
Facebook is my way to stay connected to family, friends, and much more. I have cut back on my usage to it.
I’m so glad to read this post! I have often felt very alone in my decision to not own a smart phone. So many people I know think I am quite odd to not make this leap. I just truly hate being a slave to my phone. I was just thinking this morning that at the end of the month my contract is up and wondering if I should take the plunge. Your post has reminded me why I would be so unhappy if I did. Yesterday I deleted my facebook account for all of the reasons you mentioned. Personally, I take the title of “friend” seriously and so many of the people on my account, even though I knew them once in my life, I would not consider them a friend. I don’t like how so many people on FB represent themselves and their life as perfect which would leave me feeling less than adequate.
I have never had a face book account…..I just don’t understand the concept……my sister keeps saying —it is great to keep up with family and reconnect with friends….I keep up with family through snail mail and email…..I am connected to all those that I consider important from my previous years through email and snail mail……if they aren’t important enough already be keeping up with, then way would I want to try to connect to them in such a public way……I’m proud of you…..think that you made the wise decision.
I do have a smart phone though but because my daughter is miles and states away it is a way for us to text and talk so that we maintain our closeness plus we have two homes and I depend on the smart phone at one of the houses.
I cancelled my Facebook page over 2 years ago …… what a relief. Have NEVER missed it. I keep up with my family and friends by email or write them a letter and mail it along with pictures.
I do have a smart phone, it is an older phone, I pay $12 a month which gives me 250 talk minutes 250 texts and 10mb of data (which is not alot and only used for sending/receiving picture texts) but I only use the phone as a phone/texting and to sync my calendar to my main calendar, which is a must for me I am so forgetful. I only ever surfed one time on the data and that was just a real quick look for a business phone number. The phone can be used to surf on wifi instead of cell data which is nice.
I do not have a cell phone of any kind. I still use the old fashioned plug in phone. I am on facebook for only one reason to make sure my family is okay.
All I post are things that you can read in any magazine or news paper etc and my family does like wise.That is how we know each other is well.
I did the same thing as you Melissa. I decided I didn’t want my life being public anymore and yes Facebook and other social media are VERY addictive! I did try to reactivate my Facebook account simply to view pages I liked and I only had litterly a few friends, one of them being my boyfriend. I had deleted all my pictures, profile and everything so that there was no info on me. But even after doing that I decided it was just a waste of time. So diactivated once again. I also now enjoy a Facebook free life! I do have an older Iphone 3gs, and I did have a game on it that I discovered I was playing CONSTANTLY. Do I deleted it. I’m now determined to become “unplugged” from technology at home as much as possible (I’m writing this at my work) LOL! I’m starting to discover that it was better when I was little and there were no cell phone (well maybe car phones), no internet, no cable tv, none of that. I played outside all the time and went camping at recreational events with my family. Those were the best times. That’s what I want to get back to.
I found this extremely helpful. I would totally agree on many points. However I find it very strange that your opposed to Facebook, yet has of today you still use Facebook Page for Little House Living. LOL. Not judging. Just pointing out a discrepancy in thinking. https://www.facebook.com/LittleHouseLiving
My wife and I enjoy your Site. Lots of useful info. Keep up the good work.
God Bless.
I still use Facebook for business but not my PERSONAL page
I do not have a smart phone any longer either. I found it too expensive for what I used it for also. I do use Facebook to keep in contact with friends and family. I am though careful on what I post on there. I do not spend as much time as I did before on there. I am trying live drama free.
After reading your post I deleted people I went to school with and never see or if I do see them at the grocery store they don’t even know who I am. So I hit that delete button a lot. I also thought of what you said about the privacy issues. I am not getting off of FB completely because I want to stay connected with out of state family and our BSA troop family. But, I will be deleting personal info and start making better choices on FB. Thanks for the push in the right direction. ALso, we don’t have smart phones – just old flip phones to communicate with the immediate family. Thanks for all you do!!
Thank you for such an interesting blog. I have never been on Facebook and don’t intend to venture there. I keep getting their annoying announcements that someone wants to be my friend, of which I delete immediately. Obviously, my e-mail was given to them through the other person.
We just got new Droid phones and I do not like them. We keep in touch with our adult children via text this way, but they are just another expense I sincerely wish we did not have. You are a very wise person!
I have a minutes hone, through Net10, and that is only because my daughter has seizures. This alone saved me 60 a month. I pay 20 dollars for 60 days. I do not upload pictures onto Facebook. I like haing that hang out, to get ahold of people, but frankly, I use my account for blog updates, such as yours. It was freeing when I started using it for a personnal reminder then getting invilved with it. We also ditched the dish. We have a Roku– but for the most part all the locals are off from an antenna–I decided I was overloaded.. once we got rid of the dish it was amazing how much time we had to do other things– like family games, which we are doing about three times a week now.
We love family game nights!
I noticed this as well and ditched facebook. I am so glad I did I don’t miss it either.
I have fb but I am not addicted to it at all because I rarely post anything of interest and very honestly, I don’t think it should be anyone’s business what I am doing at any given moment of the day, but I totally understand that its addictive and can take over your life. Unfortunately my children (teenagers) ARE addicted and its causing many problems in my household. I just realized because of the posts and comments before mine that I can (dah) block my children from visiting fb from our home computer. One problem down! Great posts and thanks for this!
This post has really been whittling away at me. I have wanted to give up FB, the people, the post the attitudes and for me the waist of time. I am a recent grandma and after 24 years of stay at home wife mother ad homeschooler I am finding myself in a situation I hadn’t planned on. Divorced, so i do spend to much time on FB mainly waisting it!!! I am starting ot rather trying to get a home business started, growing and selling plants from my garden, herbs and house plants. I’ve been told FB can help me get my word out but something in side just keeps telling me NO! There has to be other ways? I don’t know
I personally think Facebook is ok for business. It’s basically just another advertising method and a good way to connect with your followers/buyers. It’s the personal posting that really sucks you in!
I gave up Facebook over a year ago and haven’t looked back. I gave up my smartphone at about the same time. I don’t really miss it. Sometimes I think the new features are cool, but when I realized how much my family is caught up in technology (so much so that I had a nephew practically ignoring us while playing games on the computer, a niece who hugged me quickly and then went back to her phone, though thankfully, she put it away after several minutes and started connecting with us, and a sister and brother-in-law who had to show my parents all of the cool things about their phones instead of just relaxing and being with the family without talking about their phones for once), I realized how disconnected we are from people. Facebook would constantly make me angry because of the crass things I often saw, and though it connected me to family and friends I rarely see, they were often the ones posting offensive items. So when Facebook refused to take down pages that advocate and make fun of violence against women (specifically rape), I’d had enough. It does make life more peaceful. The Amish really do have something there is cutting themselves off from the modern world. Every piece of technology we get rid of makes our world that much more peaceful. That is why God didn’t invent technology. I’m now seriously thinking about making candles our soul source of lighting (starting out a few times a week maybe) to see how we feel vs. when we use electricity.
Thank you for posting this article. I never thought about giving up fb but reading your article gave me good reasons to give it up. For me I realized I was connecting more with those on fb and not working on the relationships with people I was really close to. Also it was a big timewaster.Thanks for being honest and writing about this.
I recently liberated myself from Facebook and my only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner! I totally agree with your description of it as ” just weird”!
I don’t think there is anything wrong with either FB or smart phones. They don’t control you. You choose how and when you use them. If I spent just 5 minutes with every member of my family that I communicate with through facebook, it would eat up my entire week! Now I can post how we are doing, everyone see’s it if they are on and I don’t worry that I’ve forgotten anyone. I also find alot of good recipes, quotes, ideas on FB. I’ve spent more time today, just reading these responses than I do on FB. The internet has opened up many ways of communicating and posts like this are one just as FB and smart phones are. As with everything else in life, use with moderation.
Merissa – Great topic! I’ll be in the minority here and say that I really enjoy having a personal Facebook page as well as a business one. Yes, the privacy stuff lacks. I do not like it if I want to make a “political post” to just one friend, that everyone would see it. So I just restrain myself and don’t do it. But to me Facebook is what you make it, I’ve never found it terribly addicting. It has been so wonderful to reconnect, even if it is at arm’s length, with old friends who I probably would have lost touch with forever. I think Facebook is what you make of it, it can be an addictive time suck or a great way to stay connected…and, ah, I was going to send you a friend request, I guess I’ll scratch that!:) Again, great topic, love your site! – Kevin
Oh feel free to friend request me, just don’t expect to see any status updates or pics:) Less clutter in your feed!
Hi!
Great post! Refreshing to hear how many others are removing things from their lives as we all aim to simplify.
My husband is serving in Afghanistan. The minute he returns, our personal Facebook pages will be finished in our home. Business must remain, however. For the past 5 years, however, it has been one of the few ways we have been able to stay connected, and family has been able to keep him updated.
Janette
Decent article. Regarding privacy, anyone who interacts in anyway on the Internet only has the illusion of privacy. Anything online can be accessed if someone really wants to access it. I generally try to follow the principle that if one doesn’t want something on the front page of the newspaper then one probably shouldn’t post it anywhere, private blog or not.
I’ve been able to secure my FB in a way that keeps what I want where I want it… Took some work… then again I’ve been an IT professional for over 15 years so maybe that background helps a little. FB could certainly make it easier to keep things private but again back to my original post about the illusion of privacy. Best Regards!