Why you should quit Facebook too

Moderation, how does it work?

On a side note, Spotify's Facebook only policy makes me rage like nothing else. I would kill for a normal username that I could use to open up my playlists on other people's computers running spotify. If you don't know, usernames on Spotify are a sequence of numbers that you'll never remember. There are pages of forum and support posts about it and Spotify doesn't care.

Everyone tries this for a month because they feel the need for productivity, tells everyone for the first week they quit, eventually comes back.

I love these posts that purport to tell people what to do. Not as bad as the ones who aim to tell you what you are thinking, but almost.

I'm taking a partial break from Facebook. I consider it a tool for broadcasting information to a network of people who know me, and I ignore everything else (especially the part where I could spend hours each day consuming all of the information that my friends broadcast). That way I can get some eyes on my personal projects and give others a chance to passively keep up with my life. (I would miss this aspect if I were to leave Facebook entirely -- I don't feel like emailing a group of people everytime something important happens.)

Occasionally I break my rules and skim the news feed, but since I'm not on the service all that often, most updates just seem mundane, so I zero-in on the bigger things like life events and stuff that people might not always email me personally about (but that I wish they would). It's nice to feel a little connected still, without letting it become a huge time-waster.

I installed Nanny for Google Chrome and leave it enabled during the work day, blocking Facebook, HN, Amazon.com, and my other vices. It helped me to break the "Facebook habit" that we're all familiar with. Sure, I check in every once in a while, but not as habitually as I once did.

Sounds more like a list of reasons to quit Hacker News to me. I refresh that way more often than Facebook.

I consume Facebook with an RSS reader. It is quick, efficient, filters out the crap, and ensures you don't miss anything without constant refreshing.

If you keep your friend list small (< 70) then it's not too addictive since there's not that much content (unless you're a stalker) and it's actually a meaningful way to communicate.

You should not force yourself to quit X/Y/Z, rather, you might want to choose a balanced approach: limit the use of such sites to 5-15 minutes a day, a have best of both worlds.

Try rhapsody - its similar to spotify but works without facebook.