For most people in Vietnam, life without Facebook is unthinkable. On average, a Vietnamese person spends 2.5 hours daily on this platform, whereas this figure stands at only 58 minutes for Americans and even less for those living in the UK, Germany and Japan.
Vietnamese people know too well why Facebook dominates their time online. In this country, almost any activity can be performed on Facebook. People share everyday moments, keep in touch with friends and family, read both real and fake news, binge-watch videos, host live events to sell stuff, join various groups of interest ranging from home decors to beauty tips, and even get updates from their workplaces as some companies prefer using Facebook groups as their communication center.
It’s a bittersweet vicious circle: If everyone else is using Facebook, you surely don’t want to be left out.
Just 2 months ago, never had I thought I could one day live without Facebook. Running my own business means staying active on Facebook as much as I can to communicate with customers, take orders, and advertise our products. My parents, now in their 60s and 70s, sometimes share personal updates on Facebook even before telling me. The fact that I’m currently not in my hometown also induces me to check Facebook daily to keep abreast of friends’ and relatives’ latest news. However restless this platform makes me feel, it’s always a trap that I can’t help walking straight into.
Taking advantage of the current Covid-19 lockdown, I closed my business and vowed to spend as little time on Facebook as possible by uninstalling it from my phone. I knew from the start this breakaway would create significant impacts, but not entirely sure to which extent.
Since then, 6 incredible things have happened and transformed my life considerably. Without further ado, here they are.

1. My days feel longer.

And I suddenly have more time. Whereas 24 hours a day were never enough for me to juggle between work, family and self-care before, there is now always some free time at the end of the day when I can comfortably ask myself, “What should I do next?”.
For the last 2 months, I’ve been using this luxurious surplus to complete two days-long online courses, practice yoga thrice a week, prepare healthy food instead of ready-made meals, and brush up on my long-forgotten German, all of which I always wanted but never had time to do before.

2. I’ve stopped getting easily provoked.

Facebook has recently become an upset trash bin for everyone to dump their anger. People complain about their bosses, boycott celebrities, voice their disappointment over public policies, and offend each other in the silliest arguments such as whether Coke or Pepsi would rule the world. 
What’s more dangerous was that even after I logged off Facebook, those bad vibes still insidiously festered. I vented my spleen when taxi drivers arrived late due to traffic jam. I ranted on about my husband’s absent-mindedness. My brain painted an atrocious world which I from time to time felt helpless against. I put the blame on myself, on life in general and on everyone else.
Thankfully, uninstalling Facebook has calmed me down.
Stop reading negative Facebook posts doesn’t mean averting my eyes from bad stuff. Instead, I’ve realized that rather than fuming at everything around me, I’d better channel my energy into activities that can help make an actual impact.
Over the past month, I’ve read more about politics to form informed opinions of the world. I’ve learned to reuse, reduce and recycle to actually take action against global warming instead of taunting non-believers. I’ve talked to people from different walks of life – our building’s security guards, the single mom next door, and an ex-colleague I could never bond with – to empathize more with them rather than making subjective judgments about their lives as before.
As it turns out, the realization that I am actually creating positive impacts rather than sitting there and complaining about life on Facebook is one of the best feelings I’ve had in my adult life.  

3. I’ve become happier with myself.

Have you ever noticed that compared to you, everyone else seems smarter on LinkedIn, prettier on Instagram, and cooler on Facebook? Don’t be surprised because that’s exactly how these platforms are built: They take advantage of our inferiority complex and persuade us to keep logging in to showcase our lives and spy on others’.
Similar to many Facebook users, I used to compare myself with others from time to time. I envied those who were vacationing abroad when I sat tiredly in my office, those who looked 10 years younger in the same photo where my eyes resembled a panda’s with dark circles, and those who boasted that they could juggle work, family, and personal life effortlessly whereas managing just one of these three was already a challenge to me.
Uninstalling Facebook gives me the chance to sit back and reflect on myself, warts and all. Self-deprecation is gone, leaving behind an overwhelming sense of gratitude for everything life has bestowed upon me – a sunny balcony to chill at, a loving husband who’s also a great friend, a fridge I can fill up with a variety of food anytime I want, and a multitude of many other things I never seemed to notice. There’s no point in staying competitive on Facebook when I’m a unique individual who’s already leading a much more fortunate life than millions of people out there in the world.

4. I waved goodbye to my old friends Migraine and Eye fatigue.

It doesn’t mean they’re gone for good. Yet rarely do they come back these days.
Before breaking away from Facebook, I scarcely considered my headache and eye fatigue a priority. This negligence did not stem from ignorance, but rather from the fact that everyone else was having the same sort of problems.
Everybody knows how detrimental too much screen time can be to their health, but not many actually do something about it. Some ex-colleagues of mine even proudly mentioned their headaches, sleep deprivation, vision problems, and back pains as evidence for how hard-working they were. It’s a shame how this modern world endorses overwork while keeping us all from taking enough care of our wellbeing.

5. My weekly expenses dropped by 30%.

Facebook’s powerful ads, which can be tailored exactly to each consumer's needs, are among the rationales behind people’s temptation to consume excessively nowadays. In addition, features such as live selling, buy-and-sell groups, and marketplaces also make Facebook a massive commercial platform where people mindlessly squander money as a quick fix to their restlessness. 
Uninstalling Facebook minimizes my exposure to all of these temptations. After two months, I’ve found myself consuming less inessential items such as clothes I never bother to wear and nutritional supplements I’m too busy to take. And guess what? I have been able to cut my weekly expenses by a whopping 30%!

6. I feel more energetic.

In his book “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck”, blogger and author Mark Manson mentioned the emotional drain modern people face daily as we channel too much energy into things that do not matter to us.
I’m not a fan of this book, but his statement rings quite true to me. As I invest too much daily energy into frivolous celebrities’ scandals, bitter complaints from people who make a drama out of everything in their life, and trivial entertaining videos on Facebook, I get bored and become lethargic quite often when it’s time to deal with more serious matters in my daily life.   
Uninstalling Facebook from my phone was the answer to my liveliness’s call for help. Without getting mentally exhausted from consuming meaningless Facebook content, I have been able to regain the energy needed to sort out old clothes for charity donation, send emails to old friends, call my parents more often, and joyfully do many other important things I used to procrastinate.

What’s next?

As long as I’m still living in Vietnam, quitting Facebook for good is almost impossible. Nonetheless, these 6 things that have happened since I removed Facebook from my phone ended up touching and improving many aspects of my life. I’ve started to have a more positive outlook, become physically and mentally stronger, made some savings, and remained calm and content during such turbulent times.
If uninstalling Facebook from my phone alone can be that beneficial, I can’t imagine how brighter my life would be if I could detach myself from it completely. Maybe I can try that next time, but hopefully not in another lockdown.