Hellobee Boards

Yes! I think it's been a year and a half! Do it! I didn't do it for the same reasons but I like being a bit off the grid.

I did for a while, but I'm back on now in a much more limited way. I deleted my old profile, started a new one with very high privacy settings and now I have something like 50 "friends", made up of family and close friends, vs the 400+ that I had on my old account. It is so much more manageable and much less of a time-suck this way!

I will also add that my husband and I have moved all our photos to a Flickr site and we don't post "albums" or anything to fb. We don't plan on posting many pictures of LO. So we share with fam/friends via Flickr

Yup. Almost a year ago. I did it because I wanted richer relationships with people I actually am friends with. I also wanted some privacy since I knew we would be trying for a baby this year, and I did not like the idea of having photos of my future kid all over the internet. I started a new admin account for my business page and to be in photography groups and am now in a HB due date group. I was on it from the start, when a university email address was required. Honestly I love the change and don't miss it, I have more authentic interactions with people in my life since I don't know what they are up to all the time. But living a little more unplugged was my goal.

I have IF and although those pregnancy announcements are hard, I can't cut the cord on FB. If pregnancy posts keep popping up, I'll hide that person. For some reason it's hard for me to see newborn and infant photos, but once they get older, it's not as bad. I'll un hide people then.

Also, since I'm across the country from most of my friends and family, I actually enjoy being able to keep up with them.

No, I have family that lives on the other side of the world and I'd never see photos or hear about their day to day without Facebook.

Our friends had twins last year and hours after birth she started posting no less than 10 pictures a day, all with stautuses like "oh the life of a twin momma." "People I'm a twin momma." Here's what I don't get- why not just enjoy and live your life and enjoy those new babes!?! She's spending more time documenting every yawn and bottle feed than actually living the moment. Both sides of the family live in Cali, and as close friends we honestly don't care "that" much! Also, you're not the first ones to have twins!!! sometimes I feel like it's a constant competition among people on facebook to brag the most and see who has the best life and best kids. It's worse than the "I love him so much nothing else completes me," posts only to hear their getting divorced 6 months later. Now DH family lives across the country but we plan to use 23 snaps to share pictures. Facebook is not the only medium, and with those lax privacy settings there's no way I'm posting 100+ pics of my children on there.

I deactivated my account almost 2 years ago when I was in the thick of TTC and infertility. I just couldn't handle having FB as an outlet to torture myself by looking at everyone's photos of their babies and the neverending "we got pregnant on our first try" posts. It was the best decision for my mental health, I felt like the people that really mattered, I would keep in touch with. And I have. Sometimes I think about going back to be able to connect with the Hellobee November 2013 mamas. They are a great group, and they migrated over to FB - but I can't bring myself to join FB again. I'm happier without it. Can't believe it's been almost 2 years!

I ditched it for the last few months of my pregnancy because everything I read was making me irrationally angry. It wasn't necessarily facebook's "fault" but I was in such a bad place mentally and emotionally that I needed to get rid of it in order to cut myself off. I'm glad that I did; I really did not miss it, but I'm not a frequent facebook user to begin with.

It's pretty easy to deactivate and come back if it's something you need to try.

I don't really consider facebook to be a method of communicating with family and friends even though we live away from everyone -- I personally think facebook sort of substitutes for real communication in a lot of cases, so I was glad to be forced to reach out to stay in touch with those I am close to.

I don't rely on FB to maintain my real friendships. But it's a fun way to keep up with acquaintances (and sometimes to enhance my real friendships by seeing photos or reading about minutiae when I haven't talked to someone in awhile.)

But, I do think it's a timesuck, especially since I interact more with acquaintances there than with my real friends.

@sweetooth: I still think you should set up a different account just to connect with us on Facebook and then no drama :).

I personally love the connection to friends and family that Facebook gives me. I have great friends from college that I don't get to see often because they live too far and Facebook let's us all know what's going on in each other's lives. Those of us with kids share pictures, others share their vacations, and one girl is sharing her journey as an adoptee to find out more about herself.

I also stay in touch with family, with the November '13 mamas from here, with babywearing groups and garage sale groups. I like the connection, but if you don't like it, then you don't need to use it :).

I think it's a necessary evil. I actually gave up on facebook about 6 years ago but nothing drastic like deleting my account. I just don't login all that often. Maybe twice a year? It's funny I have to confirm who I am every time I log in by correctly answering questions about my "friends".

The reason I did this was because it really was too much for me. Also at the time I decided to do this... I really didn't like the person I was and I was spending a lot of time stalking people on facebook and comparing my life to theirs. I felt that was a bit unhealthy and stopped logging in to do other things like actual hobbies and trying to improve myself.

One thing I know about facebook is don't' compare yourself to otehr people... that was a slippery slope I fell into and "most" people aren't actually as happy as their facebook profiles say they are, so you are actually comparing yourself to probably the "best" imagine a person is trying to put out there.

Good luck! Do what's right for you.

I thought I would post this here

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/17/living/national-unfriend-day/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Third-grade classmates

Sure, it's sort of fun to get a friend request from someone you bunked with at summer camp or chased around the playground at recess. You look at their photo, judge them on what they're up to now and conjure up a distant memory or two.

But then ... nothing. Unless you live in the same city and have lots in common -- "Wow, I love Renaissance fairs too!" -- chances are your rekindled "friendship" will never go anywhere. Put it out of its misery.

Oversharers

"Waffles for breakfast!" "I'm so sick of my morning commute." "Here's the 11th slide show this week of my kid. So cute!" Some people share so much that their posts become social white noise, like radio commercials.

Worse, their posts take over our feeds like kudzu and crowd out news from friends you actually want to hear from. Lose 'em.

That friend of Ricardo's you met two years ago at that party

You talked about football, or "Mad Men," or something. He seemed fun. "Hey friend me and I'll friend you back!"

Have you spoken since? No.

Exes

Unless you truly have become pals, why are you friends with your ex on social media?

To alleviate guilt? To show how grown-up you are? To access their profile and think catty thoughts (ooh, he's gained weight)?

Bad reasons, all. Stop.

Those irritatingly fabulous couples

Yes, we all tend to post stuff that makes us look good. But then there are friends whose Facebook personas are like something out of an infomercial.

Look at their fabulous lifestyle! Their Architectural Digest home, their honor-roll children, their impressive 10K results, their amazing meal at that hot new restaurant, their vacations to Bali and Tuscany.

No bad news, ever. And every picture of them looks practically Photoshopped.