Last month, I deleted my Facebook account after having used it since 2008. It’s been the full 30-day “waiting period” that Facebook requires, so it is well and truly deleted at this point, and I have to say that quite honestly, it’s a huge relief.

In the early days of Facebook, it was fun and exciting to find and connect with old friends. Sharing our lives and seeing what was up with everyone was a positive thing. Class reunions were planned, parties organized, groups formed – it was an easy way not only to connect online but also to plan face-to-face gatherings. I was an avid and enthusiastic user back then.

Things first changed for me in 2013 when my then-husband’s affair partner weaponized social media by posting public photos of their affair on both Facebook and Instagram. I’ve written extensively about this in previous blog posts, so I won’t belabor the point here. Needless to say, being lied to by my partner and then seeing his affair splashed all over socials was pretty traumatic. Unfortunately, it was really the only way I knew what he was doing, and that made it nearly impossible to just “look away.”

That was my first initiation into how toxic Facebook could be.

Over the next 12 or so years, I found myself in the midst of political arguments and misunderstandings, I was “yelled” at by “friends” whose ideologies were different from mine. I saw peoples’ true colors in ways I never would have imagined. The cruelty and meanness displayed on a daily basis started to take a toll on me. And don’t even get me started on peoples’ inability to fact-check…

I was reading through Facebook one day last month and feeling so sick to my stomach that I realized – almost like coming out of a stupor – that I didn’t have to be there. I didn’t have to log on and read that crap. I debated for about three days whether to delete, disable, or just stop engaging on that platform.

I had a handful of friends that I only communicated with on Facebook (Brad and Sam, I miss you!), but in the end, they’re intelligent people and know how to find me. And the bullshit was just getting too deep for me.

So I saved what I needed to and deleted my account. I was thoughtful and deliberate about it, and it felt GOOD to dump it. I also ditched Threads, which I didn’t use much, but I’ve held on to my Instagram for now.

Do I miss Facebook? Nope. I thought I might, but it had become such a downer for me that I don’t miss it at all. I’ve been spending most of my old Facebook time watching the Big Bear Valley eagles hatch their eggs, reading books, playing word games and Pokémon Go, and getting ready for a big family event.

Thinking about deleting Facebook yourself? I highly recommend it.

My life is certainly better without it.