Feeling overwhelmed by the pressures of social media and the constant need to measure up to others’ seemingly flawless lives?
A 24-year-old woman has shared on TikTok how ditching the Facebook app from her phone has transformed her life in just a week. Hollie detailed the positive changes she’s experienced, saying: “I no longer ‘doom scroll’ and waste my time reading other people’s business instead of focussing on my own life.”
She’s stopped comparing herself to others and feeling the need to conform, stating: “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.”
Additionally, Hollie mentioned she doesn’t miss having thousands of Facebook “friends” who didn’t engage with her: “None of them bothered with me,” she remarked.
The decision to remove the app also relieved her of the anxiety 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 said. “I don’t have to feel like that anymore.”
Now, without the distraction of the app, Hollie finds herself more present and attentive to her real-life relationships: “I feel more present and able to give my loved ones my all,” she disclosed. “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 concluded by encouraging others: “Go ahead and delete that app for your own happiness.”
Several individuals responded with their success stories, detailing 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.