Feeling bogged down by social media and constantly comparing yourself to everyone else’s ‘perfect lives’?
One woman says her life has changed for the better in just seven days after removing the Facebook app from her phone. Taking to TikTok, 24-year old Hollie revealed the ways in which she’s already began to feel better as a result.
“I no longer ‘doom scroll’ and waste my time reading other people’s business instead of focussing on my own life,” she began. Doing so means she no longer means she compares herself to others, nor does she “feel any pressure to change to fit in”.
Hollie continued: “I used to sit and compare myself to others even down to the clothes they wore and tried to change who I really am in order to be like them.”
Similarly, she says she no longer feels “forced” to have thousands of “friends” as she previously did on her Facebook profile. “None of them bothered with me,” she cursed.
Another stress Hollie has alleviated is the “need to please” everyone online. “I always used to feel anxious before posting [on Facebook] and felt like certain people hated me if they didn’t like my post,” she explained. “I don’t have to feel like that anymore.”
Deleting the app also means Hollie can put her time and attention into the relationships that really matter. “I feel more present and able to give my loved ones my all,” she revealed. “I was so bad for having my phone in my hand 24/7, scrolling through rubbish rather than being present in the real world.”
She closed by urging others: “Go ahead and delete that app for your own happiness.” Several others shared their success stories in response, explaining how they too have benefitted from removing Facebook.
“I deleted it in early 2012 (nearly 13 years ago) and have never been remotely interested in going back to it,” one person said. “It’s toxic.” Similarly, a second TikTok user said: “I deleted it years ago and never looked back. I don’t like sharing my personal life and I don’t care what anyone else is doing either.”
A third gushed: “There was a huge improvement in my mental health once I deleted Facebook. People don’t see how soul destroying some social media can be.” Meanwhile, a fourth shared details a slightly different approach: “I deleted all the people on my friends list and keep it to follow places so I always know when events are happening I can take the kids too like parks, places, theatres, local things – but no people!”
According to analysts at Herd Digital, 44% of the UK population used Facebook daily in 2024. Facebook has 44.84 million users in the UK with the average user spending 23 minutes on the platform every day.
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