Facebook anxiety

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I have Facebook mainly because so many of my friends and family use it and it's the easiest way to keep in touch with them. However I don't particularly enjoy using it - if I could just use the messenger feature and not have to deal with a timeline, I would. I seldom post stuff on Facebook and I don't really understand the whole newsfeed thing; it's an indirect way of socialising and I find it more difficult to use than interacting with people face to face. I've seen a lot of instances were arguments were caused by people misinterpreting the meaning of posts, and that's something that doesn't happen as much in actual conversation or can be put right far quicker and more easily. And of course people can be a lot more gutsy with what they say online because they're not in the other person's actual presence, leading to some heated (yet fun to read) pointless squabble in the comments section. Also I don't get why people choose to have a huge amount of contacts (it looks cool maybe?), a lot of whom they don't talk to or don't even like. I went through my FB and deleted everyone who I didn't know very well and were just there seemingly for the sake of it. Doing that made me feel so much more comfortable as I feel less exposed to unfriendly people or those I don't associate with... I know judging people via their FB profile is a thing too. To me Facebook just feels like a weird online popularity contest that can cause people a lot of stress and anxiety for little reason. I'm not sure though, it seems as if a lot of people are very comfortable using it and enjoy it.

Do you use Facebook? How do you feel about it? Personally I wish we all just used Skype and other IMs to talk online, heh.

Facebook definitely causes me stress and anxiety and I find myself comparing my friendships to all of these photos my friends post of social interaction and find myself lacking, but at the same time, I find it easier for me than direct social contact. That can also cause problems because it gives me the impression that I'm socializing and then a week goes by and I haven't talked to a real person to their face except for work and the grocery store and I wonder why I feel lonely.

I remember before facebook, when we DID only use IMs to communicate online. Well, IMs and message boards. I've always been drawn to computer communication, so much that when I was a teenager my parents would take away my computer keyboard so that I wasn't on the internet 24/7.

I know what you mean! Talking to friends on Facebook or an IM can be easier than in person but it's also less fulfilling and you can still feel lonely afterwards, it feels like you've not *actually* socialised. Thanks for the response, really glad to see others here can relate.

I don't use Facebook or Myspace or any of those things, I suspect that has probably hurt what little social capital I did have but I always hated it. What is the point? It just makes me feel horrible about myself, it always seemed like a competition to get the most "friends" which I don't really have too many people which makes me feel self-conscious.
The internet was better before all this social media in my opinion, people seemed a lot friendlier and more interested in reaching outside their social circles. Facebook basically just brings our real world social lives to the net, the whole appeal to me was getting away from that. Now I'm the freak that doesn't have a Facebook, can't win.

I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook that's mostly turned to hate in the past few years. I deactivated my account a few months ago. I think a lot of my problem with FB is that I tend to post pointed comments that get me into extended arguments online. Over time, I've realized those arguments seldom change anyone's mind. All that happens if I'm left feeling irritated and mentally drained - not a good feeling at all. I just don't have the heart for debating anymore.

I do use Twitter a lot, but mostly to talk to people who share my interests. I try to avoid controversy on there, so the stress is minimal.

Facebook is a huge cause of anxiety for me. I try to use it as little as possible, but keep it just to keep in touch with family. I was bullied horribly on FB before so my anxiety comes from fear of that happening again. I don't use my real name or picture online anymore because of it and I find that that has helped the anxiety a lot.

FB is a tool - it's up to you how you use it.

It's similar to when people complain about the TV - there's a simple solution: turn it off.

RE friends/news feed etc - delete everyone as a friend. You can still find them online and send them a message. The message thread will be saved - which makes life easier for getting back in touch.

I have FB but no friends on it at all. But I still use it to message people when I need to get in touch with them.

You can also choose how long you're on it for: it's very easy to schedule 10 minutes a week. Quick log in, check messages, then log out.


Most people in life are trapped in the sense that they are 'scared of missing out'. This can be seen with people going out at the weekend, checking FB every few minutes, checking the news etc etc.

I rarely visit here as I'm often busy. Do you know what I've missed out on?

Nothing.

I can relate to this a lot. I don't particularly enjoy having Facebook, mainly because my news feed is just filled with things I don't want to see or people fighting over something. My only real use for it is to talk to people. I would more than likely delete my Facebook if it weren't for the fact I'd lose touch with a lot of my family and other people. It feels like I'm basically forced to have it at this point. Not to mention it's quite a security risk, which is why I don't use real pictures of me on it. It does cause me a lot of anxiety, too.

It's a good tool to stay in touch with people, but I never got the whole social aspect of it, where people update their statuses and stuff. I actually deleted my facebook for about a year because I also had facebook anxiety. The thought of people looking at my pictures and old stuff I posted that I cringe thinking about now scared me. I don't like being tagged in pictures either, I haven't taken a photo in years.

Outside of forums, I stay away from any kind of social media. I started a Twitter account once, never tweeted and then canceled it later.

Twitter is interesting as a news aggregate, you don't have to put personal stuff on there or even interact with anybody.