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Comment by gmemstr | Hacker News Reader

I would love to dump feeds, get off Twitter and nuke my Facebook, but the sad thing is I can't. They are legitimately tools (moreso Twitter in my case) for networking and connecting with people. Twitter is used daily for talking to friends and reaching out to people, and Facebook is pretty much required so I can talk to colleagues because apparently texting is antequated. I'd like to move everything off social networks and rely on Telegram or SMS, but it's not possible. If anyone has suggestions how to get around this I'm more than willing to try something else out.

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I built an extension [1] that might be helpful to you. It blocks only the Facebook news feed but still allows you to use Facebook normally otherwise. I found the news feed was always the thing that drew me in mindlessly - I'd go on there to send someone a message and end up just scrolling for hours.

I don't believe Facebook is on a path that will end well for itself. Anecdotally it seems there's an increasing number of people like yourself who are fed up with Facebook and looking to dump it.

[1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/news-feed-eradicat...

Love this extension. Would love to see support for other feeds added as well (Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)

Came here to post this. It has drastically reduced the time I spend on Facebook but still lets me access the parts of Facebok I "need". Thanks so much for making it!

Nice! Have you seen https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/convert-facebook-n... ? I use it every day.

I've been using this for quite some time with great success.

Thank you.

Do you see these people in real life? Tell them you are reachable on your cell phone, messenger app xy, and quit that digital junk!

Talking to friends face to face is actually more rewarding and creates a closer bond than texting or other communications where you are physically apart. With many of my real life friends I’m not friends on Facebook, Twitter, etc. and no one cares. We actually have something to talk about when we see each other because we don’t constantly check each other’s feeds. We have each other’s phone numbers and use a common messenger app to organize and meet, or if we haven’t seen each other in a while to see how the other is doing.

If you need Twitter or whatever medium for networking, set time limits. If you need Facebook to talk to colleagues … and talking to them in the office is not an option for whatever reason … set time limits. You don’t have to be available 24/7 for them and you don’t have to check 24/7 on their lives.

I used to feel similarly and used these networks daily, but I stopped logging in after graduating college in 2010 and deleted the accounts a short while after. As a result I started my professional life without these networks.

It is possible to survive without them, and maintain a social life.

>Twitter is used daily for talking to friends

Have you ever considered that this might be a symptom of a problem, not a benefit?

I just finished a month long overseas trip without tweeting or posting about it daily. This gave me the opportunity to catch up with various friends in person to share stories. It also helped me stay present with my overseas friends during the time I was away.

Daily contact is convenient but, barring a subset of lifestyles, not essential.

As someone having gone through that exact transition:

It is possible, you just have to do it. The “I can’t” is all in your mind, unless your job is directly dependent on it (ie recruiter).

Tell your messenger friends that you are closing your account and now reachable by phone call/email/sms/paper mail only, close your twitter, Facebook, etc, just do it.

Does it come at the cost of losing “networking” and similar intangibles, and having fewer people asking you to hang out (because let’s be real, there will be parties that people organize solely via Facebook that you might not hear about)? Yes it does. You will miss on opportunities, and you might lose friends.

Is what you get in return worth it? Many people do feel that it is, but that’s really for you to decide.

But if you believe it’s worth it for you, you just gotta rip off the bandaid.

> and Facebook is pretty much required so I can talk to colleagues because apparently texting is antequated.

Then only check it during work hours?

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