Asklemmy

I’m British and quit Facebook and Instagram after Brexit.

Once the Cambridge Analytica stuff came to light, and I realised how these platforms could be (and were being) subverted politically to spread misinformation it was the final push I needed.

Seeing the Covid anti-vax stuff that followed only reinforced how I felt.

I never really used twitter, and decided to leave it that was when Musk took over.

I 99% stopped using Reddit after the 3rd party apps stuff and it became clear what their ambitions for the platform were (although I still check certain things there occasionally).

I only really used Reddit, so during the API crisis I left.

I signed up for Twitter in 2020. After Elon took over, stuff changed for the worst day by day. The app is now horrible. I got tired of it so I deleted it

FB: I gradually felt more bored with it, so I started to log in less frequently. I think I haven't logged in for at least five years, but I had already stopped using it regularly about a decade ago.

Twitter: As above, but the toxicity of the environment was what pushed me away.

YouTube: Newpipe. I only log in when I really, really really need to message someone on the platform or if I need to upload content (like once in a year or less).

Reddit: the API change, although I have logged in a couple times last year to ask things we don't have active communities for here. Niche stuff.

Deviantart: their Eclipse "upgrade", which trashed all the search system and the way art circulated.

Reddit API change, I never use any others

I quit Reddit when they killed third party apps, I quit Twitter when Musk bought it.

I left fb when I realized I was on it out of obligation and not because I wanted to be on it. The experience was degrading minute to minute. So I just decided to delete the account one day.

Never been on Twitter as I find in rather dumb long before it was bought by Musk. I am still hanging onto my reddit account because some of the communities are not there elsewhere.

Snowden revelations in 2013

I killed Instagram and Whatsapp recently when Mark started buddying up to Trump.

Deleted Twitter shortly after Elon took over, which bummed me out since it was a good place for software development information.

Quit reddit after the API ordeal when I didn't want to use the official client.

I was a long time user of each platform, and I was bummed when I had to leave each.

Now I have bluesky, lemmy, mastodon, and some occasional discord servers I hangout on. I miss Instagram as a time waster, but I'll survive without funny dog videos and fitness models.

I quit Reddit and deleted my account after nearly a decade last week. I just found it to be a source of consistent stress. It got to the point where the most innocuous comments kept getting me temporarily banned from subreddits. The final coffin nail was when somebody posted an article about how the Trump administration scrubbed all the information on HIV/AIDS from government health websites. I replied in the comments, "Double plus good." Apparently Redditors thought that I was endorsing this censorship as a good idea and downvoted me. So to clarify, I edited my comment and said underneath, "For those downvoting me, read the novel 1984 by George Orwell." That's all. I didn't say, "You fucking idiots need to read a goddamn book!" I simply cited the reference for my original comment. For this statement I got a three day ban not just from the subreddit but all of Reddit due to harassment. The ban was automatically imposed by the bots, so I had an opportunity to appeal and have a real person review it. I did so, fully expecting anybody who actually looked into it to be reasonable, but they kept the ban in place, so I decided enough was enough.

I didn't delete my accounts, I just use them much less.

I didn't exactly force myself, it's just that every time I are then doing shitty things I automatically associate their socials to the dire political situation in the US so I end up not using them.

Also, the advertisement: there's none in the fediverse, when I'm on the big tech apps I'm not used to adverts anymore

I don't consider anonymous forums social media so I've never had a social media account.

Musk unbanned Trump from Twitter.

My family relied on Facebook messenger for communication for a long time so I only just recently deleted it and Instagram after Zuck announced hate speech was explicitly allowed

Twitter/X was easy for me, as soon as Musk touched it I closed that account. Wasn't too active on there anyway.

Still on Instagram but planning to close that soon. Facebook is a bit trickier with all the older friends/family on there that probably won't move elsewhere. Then again most of the friends/family I see regularly already stopped posting/commenting on Facebook so there's a lot of dead accounts on there.

Left Reddit during the API exodus.

back when one could make the little text ads in facebook i saw how one could use the facebook graph to basically zero in on one person and then thought "wow this is gross imagine if i was a bad faith actor zero-ing on one facebook person to target them repeatedly through these little text ads" and that was enough for me off of facebook.

that was like 2008 or so.

when I saw the graph and the possibilities of bad actors abusing it i drove myself off most social media. here isn't too bad. i like the federated nature.

Everyone I followed on Twitter left for Bluesky

What made me leave Facebook was discovering Reddit. What made me leave Reddit was getting banned lol. What made me leave Twitter (or never actually ever bother much with it) is that it seems more like a big popularity contest than 'social' platform to me. Besides, if it was really social, there wouldn't be a character limit that benefits marketing speak and hashtags more than constructive conversation.

Never saw the point of places like Instagram that are based on being able to upload photos. Big deal, you can upload photos anywhere. And the only time I use YouTube is when I'm in the mood for music videos. I have less than zero interest in watching people's crappy home videos, it's like reality TV but even more boring and brain rotting. And I've got better things to spend my time watching. Oh, and I tried TikTok but noped out very quickly. I see absolutely no value in being spoonfed content by some shady algorithm as opposed to choosing and curating your own content.

Personally, I do not care if the platform that I'm on uses my data to advertise to me. I fell in with the 'privacy' crowd like a decade ago and did my time shaking my fists at big brother but I just don't care anymore. None of this is new. As long as the people on the platform are the kind of people that I could get along with, I'm fine. And quite capable of using an ad blocker if I so desire. I couldn't care less if Reddit used my posts in the Xena or She-Ra subreddits to advertise romance fantasy novels to me. There's more important things to focus on.

I was done with Facebook before Trump 1.0 even happened. Never got into Twitter. Left reddit with the API Exodus. Lemmy is top 2 social media for me these days.

Advertising and constant rage politics, far right idiots, armchair politicians and relatives and friends who wanted to constantly fight, argue and disagree

Socially I quit Facebook back when it was Facebook, when I was just starting to have extreme anxiety attacks because of repressed memories from my childhood and the people I had considered friends started spreading libelous claims behind my back and the fallout was either being unfriended by people that had been relatively close friends, and posts that I commented on became barren dessert's, it was obvious people were isolating me out, what I didn't know until much later, was that people were telling them I was a danger to others in whatever specific way would freak them out to make them isolate me. For instance some women were told I would sexually assault them if we were ever alone if they were particularly afraid of that, or they would say I would rape their kid's if I had alone time with them. The weirdest was that I like to rape old ladies because I like the texture of their paper thin skin. Weird fucking shit from very sick, demented minds. I was already having anxiety attacks because of having my face bashed in when I was 2yo by a cop, intentionally. So being further abused on Facebook was a no brainer on things I won't partake in. The truth is I wasn't a danger to anyone, but I know who it was saying those things about me, the police in my old town know who they are and they did nothing. I am definitely a danger to those people now. But I'm states away, so how much damage could Lil ol me really cause with a 3/4in thick, 6ft titanium rod...